One year later: digitalized higher education in pandemic times. An international study of higher education faculty’s response

Abstract

The paper describes the international research conducted in collaboration between the University of Padova, University of North Texas, and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. The study explores how higher education faculty involved in professionalizing courses for the educational area perceive the pandemic-induced transition to digitalized education (DE), after one year of experience with it. This paper introduces the second phase of a research study that began as early as spring 2020, with an online survey distributed worldwide. It seeks to investigate possible changes after one year of digitalized education related to (1) perceptions of institutional support and professional training offered; (2) potential and challenges of DE; and (3) professional intentions for future uses of DE. Details on the instrument’s reliability and structure will also be provided. We are exploring how the DE is changing teachers’ routines and whether these changes are paving the way for collaborative, reflective, and student-centred approaches that could have long-term consequences. This is to help focus future training pathways to better support teachers in teaching effectively and efficiently for learning, both in times of crisis and in times of normalcy.

“We Learned As We Went Like Everyone Else”:

“…For example, Watermeyer et al (2021) found that at-home work "was viewed as actually contributing to work intensification and the erosion of work-life balance," with the deterioration of traditional boundaries between home and work lives contributing to "hyper-professionality" and working to excess (p. 633). Similarly, Trevisan and De Rossi (2023) found that the "pervasiveness of work time in personal life" was the greatest challenge identified by their survey participants (p. 68). Meanwhile, Littlejohn et al (2021) observed that "working from home fundamentally changes each educator's capacity to teach" (p. 4) as well their interactions with colleagues and students; this can be especially challenging for those with caregiving responsibilities and those who lack dedicated at-home office space (p. 9).…”

“…In Canada, Danyluk and Burns (2021) surveyed full-time and contract university faculty to examine and compare their experiences during the transition. A later study by Trevisan and De Rossi (2023) examined the impacts on education faculty in Italy and the United States, a year after moving to digitized instruction. Although the latter three studies were smaller in scope, with each focusing on a smaller number of educators at one or two universities, the larger study by Watermeyer et al surveyed 1148 academics at universities throughout the UK.…”

“…For example, Shin et al (2022) noted that the emergency online transition was particularly successful for librarians who felt that they had the support of their institution and colleagues (p. 23). Trevisan and De Rossi (2023) found that respondents highly appreciated their institutions' efforts to support digital and online instruction (p. 68). Watermeyer et al (2021) found that most survey participants felt supported by their institutions and had access to the technologies they needed to support their online teaching (pp.…”