Teachers' Response to the Sudden Shift to Online Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Policy and Practice (original) (raw)
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Education Sciences
Research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational institutions in Ireland has primarily focused on third-level courses and initial teacher education programmes. Little research has captured the experiences of practising post-primary teachers and their students as they made the transition to online learning. This study begins by examining the digital context of post-primary education in Ireland prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, paying particular attention to ICT policies and their recommendations. Following this, the importance of schools as more than a centre for curriculum delivery is examined, as well as the potential challenges adolescents face in non-face-to-face contexts. In total, 49 teachers and 130 students participated in the study by completing online surveys about their online learning experiences. The findings indicate that although teachers felt underprepared, many benefits to online learning were identified, especially around assessment and the provision o...
Learning Environments Research, 2022
School closures because of the COVID-19 emergency forced a rapid transition to distance learning worldwide. In this study, we investigated teachers' experiences with distance learning during the first Italian lockdown. A sample of 270 primary and secondary teachers answered a semi-structured questionnaire administered between April and May 2020. Didactic modalities, students' and teachers' difficulties with distance learning, and teachers' feelings during school closure were investigated through open-ended questions. Content analysis indicated that most teachers adopted both synchronous and asynchronous modalities, which resembled the traditional classroom learning environment. Moreover, technological weaknesses (lack of proper digital equipment and poor digital skills) and lack of interactions appeared to be the main threats to the quality of distance learning. The implementation of distance learning in primary schools emerged as more challenging than in secondary education. Furthermore, most teachers experienced negative feelings during online teaching. However, 13% of the sample reported a sense of resilience and opportunity. Particularly, older teachers reported more resilience compared with younger teachers, indicating the importance of experience in managing stressful teaching events. Overall, findings suggest that-in this novel educational environment-teachers' role has changed significantly, placing strong emphasis on the ability to encourage communication, discussion, and contact with students. Future work should focus on how information and communications technology could sustain meaningful interactions between students and teachers, especially in primary education.
Sustainability
During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions around the world were forced to move from face-to-face lessons to distance learning. The application of distance learning fostered the use of new tools and applications that impacted the school system and produced several challenges to be addressed. This paper provides an analysis of distance learning tools that have been used during COVID-19 in Italian schools and the related emerging needs and challenges. A quantitative survey was carried out by using a standardized online questionnaire that involved 420 Italian teachers of different ages, gender, and teaching areas. This survey collected information about experiences, opportunities, and challenges of distance learning, used tools, and students’ inclusion and involvement. In addition, this work analyses emerging technologies and how they can be integrated into distance learning tools to overcome the identified challenges.
Online Teaching and Learning at Primary School During COVID-19 Pandemic
International Journal of Asian Education, 2022
This study intends to explore Indonesian primary school teachers' and parents' perceptions of online learning and teaching in the COVID-19 pandemic situations. Particularly, this study intends to identify the significant challenges encountered by the Indonesian teachers and students' parents during the sudden shift of teaching and learning. Semi-structured interviews with a series of open-ended questions were used to collect information. Eleven teachers and students' parents from public high schools in Gorontalo province participated in this study. The results indicate that lack of technological devices and the cost of internet data connections are among the problems faced by teachers and parents. Ultimately, several recommendations were suggested for better action and successful implementation of online learning, particularly in underdeveloped areas in the eastern part of Indonesia.
Sustainability
The research focuses on identifying challenges and lessons from distance learning experiences in Italy during COVID-19, on opportunities emerging from a more digitalized school in the post-COVID-19 crisis, and on preparedness for potential future emergencies. The study aims to analyze different teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and perspectives on distance learning and provide suggestions for addressing crises and emergencies. An online survey based on a semi-structured questionnaire was conducted targeting primary and secondary school teachers and including schools whose students are only from urban contexts and schools where students are also from rural areas. The main results indicated that teachers were resilient and proactive and found strategies and good practices to deal with distance learning, although several open technological and pedagogical challenges remain unsolved. Finally, some recommended priority actions for stakeholders and policymakers have been provided to fac...
R&E source, 2022
In the proposed paper, the authors present the results of a questionnaire survey on Slovak secondary school students' experiences gained during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questionnaire surveys have been carried out within an ongoing research project focused on the limits of online learning in secondary schools and on new opportunities brought by the involuntary transfer from school-based to distance learning during the pandemic crisis. The research sample consists of secondary school students who, in June 2020, were questioned about their experiences with online lessons during the first wave of the pandemic, and, in the academic year 2020/2021, a questionnaire on their experiences gained during the second pandemic wave was administered to them. Even though the results point to certain issues and fields which need to be improved, students showed overall satisfaction with the live-streamed lessons during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Case Study on Online Teaching during the Covid-19 Pandemic Perceived by Primary School Teachers
International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies
Research shows that teachers are one of the most influential factors in student learning in online classrooms during the COVID -19 pandemic and discusses teachers' efforts to get the most out of their online classrooms with their students. However, how the teachers experience online teaching is understudied. To address this concern, this case study aimed at revealing the experiences of primary school teachers in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on the difficulty in teaching different subjects such as mathematics and science. The participants were 12 primary school teachers working in different places (e.g., village and district) with various professional experiences in years (such as 1-10 years and 11-20 years). The data was generated through semi-structured interviews and analyzed by content analysis. The results revealed four main themes, namely guidance and support, planning and instruction, technical issues, and the use of technological to...
Online Education during the COVID 19 lockdown and school closures in Spain. Teachers' perceptions
ALOMA, Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Eduació i de l’Esport, (39),2, 2021
This empirical study explores non-university teachers´ attitudes and perceptions with regard to online education and ICT use during the COVID 19 lockdown and the accompanying school closures in Spain. It is also aimed at uncovering some of the limitations of ICT that have been found in certain areas, and at detecting potential differences of opinion about online education among teachers at different educational levels. An ad hoc online questionnaire was designed for the purposes of the study, and it was completed by 700 teachers from all over the country. Results show that the applied instrument is valid, reliable and capable of discriminating different views about online education in different educational stages. Findings show that teachers´ perceptions about online instruction are not favourable, and that teachers in compulsory educational stages had more negative views than those involved in more vocational courses. Many participants also reported that online teaching implies a work overload and an additional economic burden to teachers. In addition, online instruction brings with it serious difficulties stemming from the lack of emotional connection with students. Based on these results, it is concluded that the school closings caused by the COVID-19 lockdown required an exhausting process of adaptation on the part of teachers, who were forced to modify their educational strategies. They had to find unprecedented new ways of interacting with their students.
Teachers Experiences on Remote Learning During the Covid-19 Period
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, and warned about its highly contagious nature. Throughout the first quarter of 2020 many governments closed their schools temporarily in response to COVID-19 spread where more than 1.5 billion enrolled students of all ages from all around the globe experienced interruption of education. This aimed at reducing the chances of humans infecting each other with Covid-19, especially in places humans interact closely including educational institutions. This paper explores the experiences of the teachers on remote learning during the covid-19 period in four counties in Kenya gathered through a survey conducted in February 2021, collecting data by administering both open and closed ended questionnaire. The objectives of this study were to establish: availability of digital infrastructure for remote learning; the digital teaching and learning resources used by teachers in remote learning and teachers digit...
2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all sphere of human life and the schools across the country are closed due to the risk of spreading the virus, online teaching has become a major alternative pedagogical strategy among the private schools in particular. This article reports a study that explores how private school teachers perceive and adopt technological learning, how they transfer their technological knowledge and skills into the online classroom and how they self-assess their practices. This is done through a phenomenological study focusing on the meaning the participants make from their lived experience on ‘technological learning and application’ in the face of the pandemic. The study found that dealing with uncertainty and fear of the COVID-19 and the additional pressure for doing online teaching amidst the crisis evoked frustration and anguish among the teachers. Despite a number of challenges and crisis, teachers, however, learn to deal with the technological challenges a...