Examining Faculty Readiness to Teach Online: A Comparison of US and German Educators

Abstract

With the increase in the number of online courses being offered, it is important for faculty to be prepared to teach online. In this study, we examine US and German faculty perceptions on their preparedness to teach online based on the perception of importance of teaching online competencies and their efficacy to teach online. We also examine factors (gender, age, country located, academic discipline, academic rank, method of teaching, years of teaching, years of teaching online and level taught) that are related to US and German faculty perception of the importance and efficacy of online teaching. Overall, the US faculty rated the competencies higher compared to the German faculty both in perception of importance and self-efficacy. Significant differences in the perception of the importance of competencies were noted based on gender, training, level taught, rank, and age. For self-efficacy, there were significant differences between the faculty in teaching format (synchronous, asynchronous or hybrid format), years of teaching online, and age. This study has implications for instructors who teach online, for instructional designers who offer professional development for online teaching and for administrators who support online learning at the universities.

University Students’ Readiness for Using Digital Media and Online Learning—Comparison between Germany and the USA

“…This cultural practice might make the move to online teaching harder in Germany. While examining instructor readiness for online learning, it was found that German instructors rated themselves lower in terms of importance and confidence in course design, course communication, time management and technical competence in comparison with U.S. instructors [93].…”

“…Finally, keeping the current pandemic in mind, the question about the readiness of university staff for online teaching must arise. The staff needs competencies in online course design, communication with students, time management and technology tools to design effective online learning in higher education [93]. Martin and colleagues [93] examined that U.S. faculties rated their faculty readiness to teach online higher compared to German faculties and argued that this could be based on many barriers concerning online teaching in German tertiary education.…”

Impact of Faculty and Student Readiness on Virtual Learning Adoption amid Covid-19

“…Faculties must get ready to take virtual classes with the surge in the distance learning demand (Martin et al, 2019). Some conventional pedagogy users are new to online instruction and lack structured education about how to teach online effectively (Gülbahar & Adnan, 2020;Kyei-Blankson, Ntuli, & Blankson, 2019), but they were required to transform, build and introduce online learning (Cutri & Whiting, 2018;Rennie & Morrison, 2013).…”

“…As the number of online courses offered grows, it is becoming critical for the faculty to be trained to teach online (Martin et al, 2019). Given that a substantial number of instructors are unexpectedly asked to transfer their classes to an entirely electronic world, it is necessary to take stock of the tools they have exposure and how they have accessed (Brooks & Grajek, 2020).…”

“…Earlier studies have shown that teaching virtually over the internet often require a great deal of time, most commonly taken from the devoted time for research and studies (Bussmann et al, 2017;Raffo, Fisher, & Raffo, 2015). As a consequence, senior professors are found to consider the virtual classes less important than junior lecturers do (Martin et al, 2019). Hence, faculty readiness to readjust the time and efforts may play a crucial role in the success of online teaching and assessment.…”