Dikla Barak, Merav Aizenberg and Gila Cohen Zilka
The purpose of the study is to examine whether the remote teaching experience of instructors in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic has improved after one year.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine whether the remote teaching experience of instructors in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic has improved after one year.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved 75 instructors teaching at an institution of higher education in Israel, who answered twice (once in 2020 and again in 2021) a quantitative questionnaire that examined their remote teaching experience.
Findings
The hypotheses about greater use of digital tools and about more positive attitudes of instructors toward remote teaching and learning at the second measurement than at the first one were confirmed. This hypothesis about lower levels of technical difficulties in remote teaching at the second measurement was not confirmed, but the level of reported difficulty was already low at the first measurement.
Practical implications
It is recommended that academic institutions continue the trend of deploying innovation in teaching with confidence in the ability of instructors to adapt to change. At the same time, instructors should be provided with mental and technical support.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined the change in attitudes of instructors toward remote teaching over time. In the present study, we used a repeated measures design, which made it possible to monitor the instructors’ adaptation to remote teaching. Adaptation to the new teaching method can contribute to innovation in teaching in academic institutions and to improvement in its quality.
Details
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The purpose of this current study is to follow the development of preservice kindergarten teachers during the practicum phase of their teacher education studies in the time of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this current study is to follow the development of preservice kindergarten teachers during the practicum phase of their teacher education studies in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the first period of lockdown.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample included 38 preservice kindergarten teachers in their third and final year of studies who worked in kindergartens as student teachers. Data were collected using reflective journals written by the participants during their studies, after returning to work following the first lockdown. The author analyzed the data using the life-story narrative method.
Findings
The analysis identified four different types of early education preservice teachers based on their ability to cope with the shift in work conditions. The discussion offers insight into participants’ ability to effectively implement the professional tools they had acquired in the program and during the practicum.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include reliance on data from reflective journals, which may be missing details that would have been collected face-to-face. The study has important implications for the functioning of kindergarten teachers in times of crisis, which should be taken into account in the design of the teachers’ training programs.
Originality/value
The effect of the pandemic on the quality of the preservice kindergarten teachers’ training process, and its implications for functioning in other types of crises are discussed.