Understanding the lived experience of faculty that integrate instructional technologies into their teaching : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract

Universities seek to educate students who come from a K-12 environment where they have developed 21st-century skills. Therefore, students expect faculty to be using technology to reinforce concepts, increase engagement, and help them learn. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis study was to understand the experiences of tenure-track university faculty when adopting instructional technologies into their teaching. The main question that the research sought to answer was: How do tenure-track faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University make sense of the experience of adopting instructional technologies into their teaching? Data were collected through interviews with nine faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University who had successfully adopted instructional technologies into their teaching and who had worked with the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. The results indicated that the primary motivation for faculty members in using instructional technologies was to engage students and to increase efficiency. Faculty also expressed that students were generally enthusiastic about the use of instructional technologies. Additionally, participants expressed an overall lack of a supportive culture towards teaching and learning on Lehigh's campus. Barriers to adopting instructional technologies included issues of academic integrity and the abovementioned lack of a supportive culture towards teaching. The participants underscored the importance of alignment between sound pedagogical goals and instructional technologies as being the key to successful adoption.

The ChatGPT dilemma: unravelling teachers’ perspectives on inhibiting and motivating factors for adoption of ChatGPT

“…For example, Bhaskar et al (2023) used IPA to identify the barriers and motivating factors affecting MOOC adoption among teachers of higher education institutions in India. Similarly, Key (2019) used IPA to understand the faculty's lived experience for integrating instructional technologies into their teaching. Bhaskar et al (2023) through the AHP method have prioritized the inhibiting barriers (institutional-level factors, technological-level factors, operational-level factors and personal-level factors) faced by teachers to adopt simulation-based teaching in HEIs in India.…”

“…(2023) used IPA to identify the barriers and motivating factors affecting MOOC adoption among teachers of higher education institutions in India. Similarly, Key (2019) used IPA to understand the faculty’s lived experience for integrating instructional technologies into their teaching. Bhaskar et al.…”