Abstract
This study uses a sequential explanatory mixed method case study approach to explore feelings of self-efficacy about learning and teaching during the shift to emergency remote instruction among faculty and students at Chestnut University (pseudonym), a large, private, comprehensive research university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States during Spring 2020. New modalities for teaching and learning resulting from the shift to emergency remote instruction rendered many classroom-based experts online novices. This study found that, in general, most faculty and students at Chestnut University reported high levels of self-efficacy teaching and learning online. Factors such as age, gender, previous experience teaching and learning in virtual spaces, and having a dedicated workspace for online teaching and learning influenced feelings of self-efficacy.
TopIntroduction
The COVID-19 pandemic beginning in the spring of 2020 drastically changed processes associated with teaching and learning in schools, colleges, and universities across the world. To limit the spread of the virus, institutions of higher learning shifted to a new instructional model: emergency remote teaching (Quintana, 2020). Emergency remote teaching is defined as “a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances” (Hodges et al., 2020, p 7). These alternative modes include synchronous and asynchronous classes leveraging a variety of learning technologies such as learning management systems, video conferencing tools, and online lab tools. The shift presented unique challenges for professors and students alike. Students and faculty on campus knew how to engage in on-site lectures, labs, and other face-to-face learning opportunities. New modalities for teaching and learning resulting from the shift to emergency remote instruction, however abruptly rendered many classroom-based experts as online beginners.
Along with nearly all other institutions of higher learning across the United States (U.S.), Chestnut University (pseudonym) moved all instructional programming to emergency remote teaching and learning in March 2020. As novices, both students and faculty were challenged to find their way forward in this new situation and resultantly, questioned their capacity to execute control over their own teaching and learning and succeed in modalities previously unfamiliar to them. In an effort to better understand how Chestnut students and faculty persevered, this study utilized a sequential explanatory mixed methods case study design to explore participants feelings of self-efficacy about teaching and learning in online environments during the shift to emergency remote instruction. The authors chose to situate the research in Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy. Bandura (1995) defined perceived self-efficacy as “the beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (p. 2). In essence, an individual’s perceived self-efficacy is foundational to their overall motivation and well-being, and it was important to understand whether students and faculty believed they were able to succeed when the environments in which they were accustomed to quickly and drastically changed. This chapter describes the specific COVID-19 related context of the study, provides an abbreviated review the literature on self-efficacy and learning online, and discusses the rationale for the mixed methods research design used to study self-efficacy with participants engaged in emergency remote instruction. Results are explained and implications for the field are also explored.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Asynchronous Instruction: Teaching and learning delivered via online tools and designed and completed by the learner within a range of time (days or weeks). This teaching and learning can include recorded lectures, readings, online quizzes and exams, discussion boards, and more.
Comprehensive Research University: Term used to describe a US-based institution of higher learning that awards bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees across a wide range academic fields and whose faculty do substantial grant-funded and peer-reviewed research across these same academic fields.
Collaborate: A videoconferencing tool embedded in the Blackboard learning management system. Users can communicate via video, audio, shared screen, chat, emojis, polls, and interactive whiteboards.
Zoom: A web-based videoconferencing tool available as a subscription or as a free tool with more limited features. Users can communicate via video, audio, shared screen, chat, emojis, polls, and interactive whiteboards.
Emergency Remote Teaching: Synchronous instruction delivered live to students by an instructor using video and/or audio-conferencing tools when the instruction was originally planned to take place face to face.
Self-Efficacy: The belief that one has the skills, knowledge, and disposition necessary to accomplish the task at hand.
Disability Services: Umbrella term used by US-based institutions of higher learning to describe services such as notetaking, audio textbooks, and extended time on exams to students with recognized disabilities that impact learning.
Online Course: A set of web-based learning modules, usually at the secondary or tertiary levels of schooling, designed to be completed asynchronously by students. Students engage with content, peers, and their instructor through digital tools.