Teaching in emergency remote classrooms: reflections for professional learning

Chinese character instruction online: A technology acceptance perspective in emergency remote teaching

While previous studies in the literature may have used the concept of a community of practice (CoP) to investigate its role for teachers’ professional development, this study identifies the role of a teachers’ CoP in navigating the challenges in online/remote teaching faced by six teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in a university in Thailand during the COVID19 pandemic. This study employed a purposive-convenience sampling method with an individual online interview to gather qualitative data. Findings revealed that although teacher-participants pointed out the lack of students’ interaction, lack of time to do assessment and feedback, and the lack of students’ concentration in online teaching, they greatly acknowledged the role of the teachers’ CoP in navigating the demands and challenges of online teaching during the pandemic. Some of the ascribed roles of the teachers’ CoP in online teaching include; a support group, a source of solutions to online teaching issues, and a learning community. Implications are discussed and suggestions for future studies are offered.

Background Effective teaching of university chemistry in an online environment not only requires teachers to have specific discipline content knowledge; it also requires them to have knowledge and skills in technology-enhanced teaching practices. When transitioning from traditional face-to-face teaching into online contexts, teachers must learn new strategies and methods, along with a shift in their beliefs. Whilst online learning of chemistry is commonplace in many higher education institutions globally, the integration of computer and digital technologies in teaching chemistry in developing countries had been limited prior to the 2020 pandemic. Purpose In this study, the experiences, perceptions, and teaching strategies of university chemistry teachers in the Philippines have been explored during the transition of their instruction to emergency remote teaching at two timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sample Data were collected in the form of survey responses from 139 participants representing 35 universities and colleges across the nation. Results No strong relationships were found between participants’ experiences and their academic rank, length of service, or institution type, suggesting university chemistry teachers took similar approaches to quickly adopt and adapt available technologies to deliver the required curriculum. Since the Philippines continues to struggle to establish a robust infrastructure to promote online and technology-enhanced learning, participants had to devise pedagogies and practices that would allow accessible learning experiences for their students by curating online tools that would require minimal bandwidth and low internet data consumption. Using abductive methodology, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework was employed as a guide in interpreting university chemistry teachers’ experiences and perceptions about their implementation of emergency remote teaching using online technologies. Whilst participants had limited prior experiences in employing online learning pedagogies, key elements of the CoI framework became apparent through the new technologies and practices implemented by university chemistry teachers which fostered teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence.

Service-learning partners, including a faculty of education and local school district, engaged in collaborative inquiry to support in-service and preservice teachers who were engaged in emergency remote teaching during a time of crisis and school disruption. This article illustrates how service-learning partners designed a professional learning series in an online learning environment to support in-service and preservice teachers adapting to teaching online. This article shares the instructional design process used to develop the series, insights about how the participants responded during the sessions, and a set of recommendations to inform design teams involved in developing professional learning or other types of non-formal learning opportunities for teachers.

Background In order to continue educational provision during the Covid-19 pandemic, many education systems switched to some form of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in 2020. Research suggests that this may have disproportionately affected students from underprivileged communities. In this context, there is, therefore, a pressing need to consider how ERT may have impacted learners who are likely to be most affected by educational inequalities, including newly arrived migrant students (NAMS). Purpose As studies have highlighted the particular importance of interaction for effective distance learning, the research aimed to examine how NAMS in Flemish secondary schools experienced interaction with learning content, teachers and fellow students in online classes during ERT. Methods A total of six semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 23 NAMS from six secondary schools in Belgium. The interviews were centred on questions about participants’ experiences with online interaction and participation. All focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, after which transcriptions were coded and analysed qualitatively. Findings The analysis revealed that, during ERT, participants reported experiencing a higher amount of learner–content interaction, mainly consisting of self-study material and tasks. Participants also indicated a lack of learner–teacher interaction, which was attributed to the shortage of speaking opportunities and students’ decreased inclination to interact with instructors. In addition, most participants reportedly experienced few opportunities for learner–learner interaction during online classes. Conclusions Study findings provided insight into the NAMS’ experiences of being suddenly and unexpectedly compelled to be autonomous learners during ERT. Students’ reports suggest that the quality of learner–content interaction may have been compromised by limited learner–teacher interaction in the ERT situation. This draws attention more generally to the importance of interactive learning in the support of NAMS and the need for educators to be empowered to develop interactivity-rich remote learning environments.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency remote teaching in higher education institutions across Turkey in 2020 has become mandatory as of March. Emergency remote teaching practices added new applications for most of the instructors such as virtual classroom, online teaching, distance evaluation; those revealed different opinions based on experience on the positive and negative aspects and quality of the applications. This research was conducted to evaluate all these experiences held at a state university with a distance education center and a distance education database system but having only limited experiences on online courses before the emergency remote teaching in Turkey. The data set of the study was composed of the opinions of a group of instructors who participated in the distance teaching process for the first time and the official correspondence and reports made to organize, manage and evaluate the process during the first period of emergency remote teaching. The research is a qualitative case study where data obtained from different data sets are analyzed comparatively, inductively, and deductively. The results of the research show that within the scope of emergency remote teaching, the regulations regarding the application content in different faculties of the university should be differentiated, and this can be partially met during the emergency distance education process. In the context of effective and efficient use of the emergency remote teaching process, positive/negative situations have been experienced in terms of adapting to the database used in the teaching process, adapting existing teaching approaches, measuring and evaluating learning outcomes, and ensuring the participation of students in all these. Although instructors generally consider distance education as more student-centered practices and find the opportunities, it will provide positive in this context, but the effect of compulsory emergency remote teaching on learning outcomes was uncertain. Some suggestions are presented for the efficacy, effectiveness, and efficiency of the implementation.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic came with a lot of disruptions which saw so many organisations and institutions shut down. Part of the changes brought about by the pandemic was the closure of educational institutions globally, thereby forcing the migration to emergency remote teaching and learning. Whilst some nations grappled with the challenges associated with this shift in the mode of teaching and learning, others tapped into the opportunities inherent in it. This study located in the interpretive paradigm employed a qualitative case study design that explored lecturers’ reflections on emergency remote teaching and learning at a university in South Africa during the intense stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Technology Acceptance Model was employed as a lens to make meaning of how lecturers perceive emergency remote teaching and learning in the science and technology cluster. The sample for the study consisted of nine participants, recruited from Science and Technology cluster, representing Biological/Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Physical Sciences and Technology Education faculties. The sample was selected through purposive and convenience sampling. Findings from the study revealed both challenges and opportunities for emergency remote teaching and learning. The challenges identified included, lecturers’ lack of readiness, students’ internet-related issues, and inability to execute practical tasks online. The positive aspect included improved skills in the use of ICT and diverse online platforms for both lecturers and students. Based on the findings, the study recommends that students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds be provided with the necessary ICT infrastructure to ensure their effective participation in online learning. Keywords: COVID-19, Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL), lecturers; reflections; South Africa

For residential universities, the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 academic year necessitated the suspension of in-person lectures and a swift transition of classes and other in-person activities to emergency remote teaching (ERT). This included the academic module mentoring programme, cognisant of the potential challenges experienced by first-year students during a period of ERT. The role of an in-person module mentoring programme before ERT was only to provide academic support to first-year students within an introductory financial accounting module to promote student success. This study investigated the role of an academic online mentoring programme for students in an introductory financial accounting module during ERT. A web-based survey was conducted to source the perceptions of both mentors and mentees who participated in an introductory module academic mentoring programme both before and during ERT to analyse whether the role of the academic module mentoring programme had shifted beyond that of academic support in an ERT environment. While academic support remained at the forefront as the main perceived benefit of the online mentoring programme, with the transition to ERT, the findings of this study illustrate an altering role that is more inclusive of additional psychological and peer support and engagement perceived benefits for first-year students who participated in an academic mentoring programme for students in an introductory financial accounting module during a period of ERT. Understanding student perceptions of the value derived for first-year students from an academic online mentoring programme is important in understanding first-year student needs and to provide relevant and applicable training to first-year students to promote student success during ERT. The findings of this study provide insight to institutions and in considering the addition of academic interventions such as offering academic online mentoring programmes during ERT and highlight the perceived value-add from both a mentor and mentee perspective.

Faculty satisfaction and perception regarding emergency remote teaching : An exploratory study

Colleges and Universities across the country closed campuses in March 2020 as the coronavirus spread worldwide and transformed into a pandemic. It became evident when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made recommendations for social distancing that would not allow the return of normalcy on campus for the rest of the semester. Professors and instructors across the world made the transition from their face-to-face classes to emergency remote teaching in one of the most disrupted academic semesters in decades. Students transitioned with their professors into one of the most unprecedented shifts in academia that has ever been accomplished by going completely online in a matter of weeks. The term Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) was coined by the academic community early on to signify the contrast between the quick transition of face-to-face courses to an online platform and a high-quality online education. Expectations for educator traits in this unprecedented time included flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to meet students where they can. With lack of shared governance, institutional administration required faculty to attend professional development trainings and design to develop new online courses to transition their ERT to quality online courses during the 2020 summer months. In this phenomenological dissertation study, seven community college faculty members express their experiences in the efforts they made in transitioning their ERT courses to quality online courses. This study revealed what components of the professional development were impactful and prompted lasting change, and what lessons were learned that should be avoided.

The strike of COVID-19 pandemic has affected various sectors tremendously, including the education sector around the globe. This situation has forced the closure of most educational institutions, which include higher learning institutions. Since the Movement Control Order announcement, most teaching and learning processes in higher learning institutions were transferred online. The shift to online learning brings different challenges for teachers in higher learning institutions, including English teachers, regarding technological skills and assessment. In this study, the researchers adopted a multiple case study to explore the strategies of 34 English teachers from nine universities in Malaysia, Indonesia and Maldives to overcome the challenges during Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning. The data was collected through focused group interview sessions, individual open-ended responses via Google Forms and Whatsapp discussion threads. The recorded sessions were transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVIVO software to identify the common categories and themes. The findings showed that the teachers of English overcome problems concerning their technological skills by seeking help from their colleagues, attending courses, training and webinars and choosing suitable platforms for online learning, also conducting better online assessments. The faculty could also provide more webinars, online training, and courses to help teachers to perform better during online learning. This study is believed to shed some light on aspects that need to be considered while planning and executing a meaningful ESL online teaching and learning experience in higher learning institutions, particularly in developing countries.

English is one of the languages that are used in universal and the important thing to all people learnt nowadays. As an EFL learner learning English is not easy especially in a pandemic situation. The students cannot study face to face and should change into emergency remote teaching. In doing the online learning the students find difficulties such as they have a limited time in learning. The aimed of this study is to explore the anxiety level of students and teachers in learning English during emergency remote teaching. Therefore, study through online learning is a new thing for them. The method of this study was quantitative to collect the data. The data was done by doing the survey and giving a questionnaire that was develop based on FLACS. The participants of this study are 183 students of 10th grade and 4 teachers of English language in vocational high school in Bangli. The result of this study showed that the students’ anxiety was mildly anxious or it can be indicated as a moderate level of anxiety and for the teachers was relaxed or it can be indicated as a low level of anxiety. It can be concluded that the students in learning English not enjoyed but not nervous it is in the middle. For the teacher, they really relaxed in teaching English during the emergency remote teaching.

This single-subject case study dwells on the classroom management (CM) practices during emergency remote teaching (ERT) that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The participant is an English teacher, teaching young learners (aged 6-8) during the time of the study. Under the qualitative research framework, the strategies and views upon CM practices were derived from observation of 20 lessons, 4 weekly reflection reports, and a semi-structured interview. The data were transcribed, analyzed using in-vivo and descriptive coding methods, and interpreted with relating to the existing literature. As a result, it was found out that there were many factors interwoven in this subject matter, giving rise to an intricate network of developing strategies, perceptions, and roles. In this vein, various teacher roles/resources, dynamic learners’ roles, a toolkit for dealing with CM issues, the intervening surrounding factors affecting the course of CM during ERT were presented and discussed within the related literature. Accordingly, practical implications upon ameliorating this process and recommendations for enhancing the understanding of the subject matter were provided.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) and its pandemic, emergency remote teaching must be implemented. This has brought significant problems and difficulties for students due to this unusual circumstance, EFL students must learn to adapt their abilities. Because of the widespread use of technology in education, the quick transition to complete online learning necessitates some adjustment. EFL students must be able to handle online learning that is performed through technology integration and utilizing technological tools they have never used before in a short period of time. In response to emergency remote teaching, this study examined how engaged EFL students are, as well as their perceptions of such engagement. One hundred ninety-one students from four state Islamic universities in Aceh filled out an online questionnaire adapted from McColskey (2012). Both descriptive and thematic methods were used to analyze the data. EFL students demonstrated their level of engagement in all three categories of engagement: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. Positive responses and feelings of satisfaction were shown during emergency remote teaching. It indicates that EFL students have a better grasp of how to use technology in education. It is essential to constantly enhance their skills and have enough equipment and infrastructure to facilitate online learning.

University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university commenced emergency remote teaching (ERT) in February 2021 in other to control the spread of Covid-19. After a full session of learning through this mode, this paper investigated determinants of undergraduate students’ satisfaction with the institution’s ERT. Proportional-to-size sampling was used in obtaining the sample size of 366, while respondents were selected using convenience sampling. Data collection was through a structured questionnaire and data were collected on the factors—attitude, affect, motivation; perceived behavioural control (accessibility, self-efficacy, ease of use); and cognitive engagement. Findings showed that all the variables except accessibility had significant relationships with students’ satisfaction. However, only motivation to learn (β = 0.140, p = 0.019) and cognitive engagement (β = 0.154, p = 0.005) were significant predictors of students’ satisfaction with the ERT. The study emphasized the need for the institution to take steps towards ensuring that online learning is interesting and motivating for students, such that when faced with such abrupt change in learning mode in the future, students are motivated to learn and are willing to invest their mental effort into understanding their academic work, which may ultimately improve their satisfaction with the learning process.