Online teaching self-efficacy during COVID-19: Changes, its associated factors and moderators

Abstract

Online teaching transition during COVID-19 school lockdown elicited challenges for teachers and schools across the globe. The existing literature on the impact of COVID-19 in the education sector is predominantly descriptive and focused on the difficulties faced by teachers during the process of transferring into online teaching, mainly in the higher education sector. This study adopted a mixed-method design to examine online teaching self-efficacy (TSE) during COVID-19, its associated factors and moderators. A sample of 351 Chinese school teachers retrospectively reported their online TSE at the beginning and end of COVID-19 school lockdown, out of which six were followed up for an in-depth interview. TSE for online instruction did not significantly increase (β = .014, p > 0.05) whereas that for technology application increased significantly (β = .231, p < 0.01). Lack of experience in online teaching, separation of teachers from students, school administrative process and unsatisfactory student academic performance were identified as the major associated factors. A moderation effect of adaptability and teacher burnout on the change in online TSE were examined, of which passion burnout was the only significant moderator toward the change in online TSE. The study thus concluded that teachers’ online TSE for technology application increased among Chinese teachers during COVID-19 school lockdown. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-021-10486-3.

Teaching in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study on Teachers’ Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy in an Italian Sample

“…This may be explained by the teachers' lack of a clear range of strategies for interventions and management, which in turn may be explained by this never-before experienced situation of long-term online distance teaching. It seems that the teachers, lacking a clear representation of possible alternative teaching and relational strategies, failed to assess the potential solutions to this challenging teaching environment [26,27,[56][57][58]. Moreover, the data on scores on these self-related dimensions (self-esteem and self-efficacy for instructional strategies) points to a possible negative development, namely the failure to form positive and constructive coping responses and the inability to find possible active solutions to frustrating tasks or predicaments.…”

Technology-mediated teaching and learning process: A conceptual study of educators’ response amidst the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Interestingly, the study (Di Pietro et al, 2020) noted some elements that should be part of any successful strategies by the HEIs in integrating (online and offline) teaching-learning activities, to include; proper virtual learning environments (VLE), to guaranteeing access to internet and digital technologies for learning for the stakeholders, and teachers learning how to adapt their roles to situations in which they can effectively communicate with the students (e.g., to not lose motivation when shifting to the online learning platforms), through improved digital competences and pedagogical approaches (Mikheev et al, 2021;Raffaghelli et al, 2020) that are best suited for online learning and/or blended models such as the HyFlex + Tec model described in this study. To note, while Ma et al (2021) found that teachers' online teaching self-efficacy (TSE) in terms of technology-application for learning (Lin & Wang, 2021) increased during the Covid-19 lockdown. They (Ma et al, 2021) note that passion burnout (motivation) was a contributing factor towards the changes in online TSE for the teachers.…”

“…To note, while Ma et al (2021) found that teachers' online teaching self-efficacy (TSE) in terms of technology-application for learning (Lin & Wang, 2021) increased during the Covid-19 lockdown. They (Ma et al, 2021) note that passion burnout (motivation) was a contributing factor towards the changes in online TSE for the teachers. Interesting, the aforenoted observation also aligns with the results of this study where we note that users' emotions (positive or negative), and experiences for the teachers and students (see: Data Analysis and Results section) contributed to the energy levels (teaching-learning motivation), vice and versa.…”

Adaptability to Online Teaching during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Multiple Mediation Analysis Based on Kolb’s Theory

“…Thus, as we saw in the first part of the section, although this period also offered great opportunities for expanding teaching skills in other learning environments, such as online, the existing literature on the impacts of COVID-19 on teaching has predominantly focused only on the difficulties faced by teachers during the process of transferring to online teaching [13]. Less attention has been paid to identifying and supporting the acquisition of teaching capacities that promote online teaching effectiveness.…”