Motivating factors in online language teacher education in southern Argentina

Online teacher education is of growing interest and so is the study of motivation as a key factor in technology-mediated learning environments. This study is based on a pre-service language teacher education programme in Patagonia, a southern Argentinian region with no face-to-face training offers, limited Internet access and a large number of unqualified teachers. Our goal is to broaden the understanding of online teacher education programmes at undergraduate level in contexts where most trainees are practicing teachers and where online education is the only possibility for holding a teaching qualification. We focused on the motivating factors that led 71 trainees to enrol and to remain in this online teacher training course. Through a mixed methods approach, the trainees completed an online survey (n = 71) and participated in a follow-up interview (n = 24). Results showed that obtaining a teaching degree, autonomy, and individual activities were key factors in initial and sustaining motivation. Participants' experiences challenged collaborative learning in an online environment

International Experience and Inspiration of Online Physical Education in America Under the Crisis of Public Health Emergencies

In recent decades, the frequent occurrence of public health crises has brought great challenges to teaching school physical education (PE). This study aims to improve the quality of PE online courses in China and provide effective support for PE teachers to carry out online teaching by learning from the experiences of how to effectively conduct online physical education in America when schools are closed. This study reviewed the relevant policy documents and literature of online physical education courses in America, including theoretical and practical studies. Furthermore, available data stemming from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with eleven PE teachers were presented. Teachers discussed the difficulties faced by Chinese PE teachers in online physical education. Strategies to promote online physical education in the United States include: macro-level: establishing a comprehensive theoretical and practical database for teachers; medium-level: providing online HPE course teaching cases and guidance; and micro-level: Providing a teaching resource package that can be used directly by teachers. Features of the American approach to promote online physical education include: providing systematic online physical education curriculum theory and practical foundation; providing continuous resources and technical support; and establishing an extensive cooperation network; Providing specific guidance for PE teachers. The focus of this research was to provide solutions to the problems encountered by Chinese PE teachers in teaching online physical education. However, there were two limitations. First, we provided a limited literature review on online physical education in the United States. The second limitation is that this study did not fully show the difficulties faced by PE teachers in carrying out online physical education in China, which needs a further investigation. PE teachers pointed out that they received little support for teaching online physical education courses, neither in theory nor in practices. In the future, it is suggested that China need to establish a systematic online physical education guidance system. In the process of online physical education, we should pay more attention to the cultivation of students\u27 health literacy, accelerate the transformation of physical education concept of physical and mental health in China, and strengthen the ability of PE teachers to design the online teaching content

Using Technology to Develop Preservice Teachers\u27 Reflective Thinking

Developing high-level reflection skills proves troublesome for some preservice teachers. To examine the potential of an online environment for increasing productive reflection, students in three sequential undergraduate education classes responded to regular online prompts. We coded student comments for productive and unproductive reflection, knowledge integration, and analysis of the four aspects of teaching (learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, assessment and instruction ) as described by Davis, Bain, & Harrington (2001). We adapted a scoring approach recommended by Davis & Linn, (2000); Davis (2003) to analyze what aspects of teaching preservice teachers included, emphasized, and integrated when they reflected on their own beliefs about teaching. Discussion examines the utility of online environments for producing productive preservice teacher reflection

Kreativitas Mengajar Guru Pendidikan Agama Kristen Di Masa Covid-19

This study aims to determine the desckription of the creativity of teaching Christian Religious Education teachers during the covid-19. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The results show that teaching creativity is one of the important aspects that must be prossesed by Christian Religious Education teachers in dealing with online learning systems in the covid-19. Christian Religious Education teachers to be creative, at least understand well the nature of teaching creativity itself. In addition, Christian Religious Education teachers need to develop themselves in relation to creative teachers in teaching during the covid-19. Especially developing themselves in using online learning media. Another important thing is that Christian Religious Education teachers are able to overcome student learning problems at home related to Christian Religious Education learning materials.

The Reflection of Covid-19 Distance Education in Health Profession in Czechia: Comparison of View of Higher Education Teachers and Students

The paper focuses on the perception of Covid-19 Distance Education in health care profession in Czechia from perspective of higher education teachers and students.  The study answers two research questions: 1) How satisfied were health profession students and teachers with their education during the COVID-19 pandemic? and 2) How did the perspectives on education in terms of methods differ between health professions teachers and students with education during the COVID-19 pandemic? The research used mixed methods research (quantitative survey and focus groups). There is a significant distance between students' and teachers' perceptions of online education and its forms. Teachers see online education less negatively (29%) than students (51,1%). One of the reasons, it was the lack of communication and support from HEIs. Teachers have didactic problems in managing their teaching, especially when they try to activate students. On the contrary students perceive themselves as active, but this does not entirely correspond to the view of their teachers. Students remain more conservative in their perception of online learning. However, student do not perceive any teaching method simple negatively. An exercise followed by simulation teaching and demonstration teaching and lecture are the best rate the form of teaching by students. Teachers rate demonstration and simulation teaching, discussions and exercises the best

CHALLENGES OF ONLINE TEACHING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The teaching profession has always been complex and dynamic, but now the challenges are posed to a society as a whole by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the research was to determine teachers' perceptions of the challenges of conducting online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. 413 teachers from Croatia participated in the research. Respondents were distributed according to the level of education at which they work in three groups (primary school teachers - grades 1st to 4th, subject teachers – grades 5th to 8th of primary school, subject teachers - secondary school). According to the results of the research, teachers estimated that difficulties in online teaching generally occur occasionally. There were statistically significant differences in some of the items in the perception of the challenges in online teaching among teachers depending on the level of education at which they work. Still, in general, teachers at all three levels of education experienced approximately the same amount of challenges. More challenges in online teaching have been related to a higher level of burnout and correlated positively with higher numbers of students to teach. Age has been unrelated to challenges in online teaching. Since difficulties in conducting online teaching hinder the educational process, this research could serve as an indicator of problems and an initial step to solving them.

Effects of Pandemic on Special Education Teachers Teaching Hearing Impaired (HI) Students

The goal of this paper was to determine the effects of pandemic on Special Education teachers teaching the hearing impaired (HI) students. This qualitative-quantitative research was designed to see how the COVID-19 pandemic affected teachers who were educating hearing-impaired students during the mandated school closures in March 2020A three-part standardized and customized questionnaire with open-ended interview questions was given to special education teachers from three selected schools in Cebu Province. Participant responses to the online questionnaire revealed that there is a lack of preparation in online teaching which contributes to their stress. In addition, assessing Hearing Impaired students during distance learning were very hard to establish due to lack of preparation and lack of exposure to online teaching before. Also, the results indicated that teachers find it extremely stressful teaching HI students online during COVID-19. With the findings of this study, school leaders may be able to develop protective factors that help to foster resilience in special education teachers during this time of pandemic. School administrators should facilitate in improving the teaching skills of teachers through assessment of their needs and weaknesses in the delivery of instruction online. This includes giving teachers relevant trainings regarding online tools for assessment and strategies that would help them effectively teach their lesson

Health economics education in undergraduate medical training : introducing the health economics education (HEe) website

In the UK, the General Medical Council clearly stipulates that upon completion of training, medical students should be able to discuss the principles underlying the development of health and health service policy, including issues relating to health economics. In response, researchers from the UK and other countries have called for a need to incorporate health economics training into the undergraduate medical curricula. The Health Economics education website was developed to encourage and support teaching and learning in health economics for medical students. It was designed to function both as a forum for teachers of health economics to communicate and to share resources and also to provide instantaneous access to supporting literature and teaching materials on health economics. The website provides a range of free online material that can be used by both health economists and non-health economists to teach the basic principles of the discipline. The Health Economics education website is the only online education resource that exists for teaching health economics to medical undergraduate students and it provides teachers of health economics with a range of comprehensive basic and advanced teaching materials that are freely available. This article presents the website as a tool to encourage the incorporation of health economics training into the undergraduate medical curricula

Effect of COVID-19 on digitalisation of higher education. A tale of one business school

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed higher education institutions across the globe to switch from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching. This study explores how emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic affected university teachers’ perception of online teaching and discusses the future of e-learning after the pandemic. The analysis is based on the interview responses collected from twelve business school teachers at one Sino-foreign university in China. The results show that the perception of e-learning improved after a semester of involuntary remote teaching. We also discuss the factors that may act as barriers to the adoption of e-learning, such as poor quality of the Internet, high workload, and lack of proper online pedagogy training, and show that teachers tend to implement elements of online teaching even despite these barriers as long as they find the usage of the online contents beneficial for their practice. Finally, our findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the digitalisation of higher education and created new opportunities for the provision of online education

A Professional Learning Program for Novice Online Teachers Using Threshold Concepts

The professional development of online teachers is now commonplace in higher education. Alongside the relatively straightforward decision to provide professional learning support for novice and experienced online educators within universities, decisions about the nature and content of such support are not always as clear cut. The study aimed to gather evidence about the online teaching and learning experiences and views of current students and staff which, in turn, informed a set of pedagogical guidelines that could be used as the basis of professional learning programs for novice online teachers. Using a mixed methods research design, data were gathered using questionnaires, reflective journals, and focus groups to determine the threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of ideal online learning environments. As well as identifying threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of teachers’ and students’ ideal views of online learning contexts (reported elsewhere), the study produced curricular guidelines to inform the design of professional development outputs for online teachers in higher education. This article reports on an example of how these professional development guidelines, based on identified threshold concepts of online pedagogy, were implemented at one higher education institution to provide wide-scale implementation of a professional development program for academic staff engaged in online teaching