Expectations, Challenges and Suggestions for Faculty Teaching Online Courses in Higher Education

Abstract

Research on online education has predominantly focused on issues related to student attraction, attrition, retention, and motivation, among others. Little attention has been paid to online instructors and yet, the quality of online education requires educators who understand the expectations of online instruction. Using an online survey, this study examined the expectations and challenges for online instructors and the suggestions for improving online instruction. Based on the data collected from seventeen faculty who teach online courses at four mid-western universities in the US, facilitation, instructor presence, and technical support stood out prominently among the expectations. The major challenges for online instructors were: large class sizes, academic dishonesty, lack of connection with students, too many emails, and lack of student self-discipline. The study recommends viable professional development for online instructors as a pre-requisite to teaching online courses.

Challenges of Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an English as a Foreign Language Context: A Process Tracing Approach

“…they were not self-directed) and, thus, hindered the class. They could be also described as lacking self-discipline, a problem that has already been observed among students in online education by Sithole et al(2019). Such students can cause 'communication problems' too, as they did in Mina's class.…”

“…Online learning, which played a complementary role in traditional mainstream education in the pre-COVID-19 era, has now dominated global education (Tsar, 2020). This sudden growth may be at the expense of quality if adequate pedagogical practices are lacking (Sithole, Mupinga, Kibirige, Manyanga, & Bucklein, 2019). This sudden shift from the traditional to online method of instruction may affect the quality of teaching and learning especially in countries in which their educational systems suffer from technological infrastructure limitations.…”

“…As Rapanta, Botturi, Goodyear, Guàrdia, and Koole (2020) contended, teachers lacked pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching online classes which mainly consists of technical and administrative features of online teaching instruction. Other challenges in teaching online classes may for instance, include student readiness, self-discipline, computer technology requirements, time zone differences (Sithole et al, 2019). Beside knowledge about developing an appropriate curriculum, knowledge of different challenges (technology-driven or content-speci c) in online language education can contribute to the e ciency and effectiveness of the online course.…”

“…It is noteworthy that this trend is driven by ever-increasing demands for exibility and the need for an education suiting student lifestyles. Still, concerning the requirements of online education and more speci cally language courses, teachers' expectations and challenges remain vague and inconsistent (Sithole et al, 2019). In English online language setting, apart from common technology-related issues, teachers may face challenges regarding delivering the content to students which may lead to confusion while teaching different language skills and subskills.…”

Letter to the Editor: Resources and recommendations for a quick transition to online instruction in physiology

“…Changing the methodology we use to teach is difficult (24). We should not expect the same results when this change is done "on the fly" versus a well-planned out transition (21,25). Furthermore, it is very difficult to fully recreate the in-person classroom specifically in online teaching's ability for personal interactions in a virtual space (13).…”