Seetal Isma, Gunness Sandhya, Teeroovengadum Viraiyan
Mount Waverley, VIC 3002 Australia.
University of Mauritius, Reduit, 80837 Mauritius.
Int Rev Educ. 2021;67(1-2):185-217. doi: 10.1007/s11159-021-09902-0. Epub 2021 May 15.
COVID-19 has caused a global rush of universities to transfer their courses online to maintain continuity in student teaching and learning. The study presented in this article investigated the preparedness of academics in Small Island Developing State (SIDS) universities for shifting to emergency online teaching. To examine the impact of preparedness and other factors on the efficacy of academic staff in performing their work duties during the pandemic, the research team collected data from 75 respondents who filled in a questionnaire. In addition, they conducted semi-structured online interviews with a subsample of 5 respondents. They found that most academics had the necessary tools and infrastructure to teach online, including access to reasonably fast internet connections. However, many of them lacked adequate training in applying the use of technology to teaching, which limited their preparedness for developing e-learning activities. Thus, the study found that, insufficient competence in using educational technologies and inadequate university support impacted academics' work efficacy significantly. This impact was less pronounced for staff who had prior online teaching experience, which suggests that their pre-pandemic experiences lessened their dependence on support for online teaching when the sudden need arose. The authors' thematic analysis similarly found academics' uneven familiarity with technology and the need for more "at-the-elbow" technological support during crises to be significant, as well as a need for more leadership to deal with complex situations. Based on their findings, the authors conclude that greater preparedness for online teaching - and thus improved efficacy - might be achieved through a balanced mix of independent learning (by doing) on the part of academic staff and customised and targeted formal professional learning (through training provided by the university).
新冠疫情促使全球各大高校纷纷将课程转移至线上，以维持学生教学的连续性。本文所呈现的研究调查了小岛屿发展中国家（SIDS）高校的教师转向应急在线教学的准备情况。为了检验准备情况及其他因素对教师在疫情期间履行工作职责效率的影响，研究团队收集了75名填写问卷的受访者的数据。此外，他们还对5名受访者组成的子样本进行了半结构化在线访谈。他们发现，大多数教师拥有开展在线教学所需的工具和基础设施，包括接入速度还算合理的互联网。然而，他们中的许多人缺乏将技术应用于教学的充分培训，这限制了他们开展电子学习活动的准备程度。因此，该研究发现，使用教育技术的能力不足以及大学支持不够显著影响了教师的工作效率。对于有过在线教学经验的教师来说，这种影响不太明显，这表明他们在疫情前的经验在突然有需求时减少了他们对在线教学支持的依赖。作者的主题分析同样发现，教师对技术的熟悉程度参差不齐，以及在危机期间需要更多“近在手边”的技术支持，这一点很重要，同时也需要更多领导力来应对复杂情况。基于研究结果，作者得出结论，通过教师自主学习（通过实践）与定制化、有针对性的正式专业学习（通过大学提供的培训）的平衡组合，或许可以实现更高的在线教学准备程度，进而提高教学效率。
