University of Huddersfield, GB
The increase in online teaching provision by many HEIs has resulted in more than just the technology enthusiasts, or as Rogers (1995) terms them the ‘early adopters’ teaching online. This paper explores the early experiences and perceptions of a group of academic staff who would fall into Rogers (1995) ‘early-majority’ or ‘late-majority’ as they become online teachers. These were academic staff teaching in-service teacher trainees in a completely online module. The study explored the differences that these staff experienced between teaching face-to-face and teaching online and the challenges that this transition presented. The study reported that critical differences between teaching online and face-to-face included perception of the tutors’ role, their teaching approach, the challenges of building relationships with students online and issues relating to time and workload. The presentation will make recommendations about how HEIs can improve their development and support of academic staff as they make the transition from conventional face-to-face teaching to online delivery. The recommendations include the significance of peer support in this process and the importance of staff having participated in and experienced an online course as a student. This presentation is appropriate to the conference sub-theme of making technological innovation work. There is an increasing demand for online courses, and we already have the technology to create and deliver them, but HEIs need to better understand the impact of teaching online on academic staff and how better they can be supported through the transition to teach in this format. This study helps address that need in showing that not only do staff need to learn about appropriate use of technologies in the teaching and learning process but they need to learn how to manage their change in role and identity and develop good practice in terms of managing time in online teaching, and how to develop social presence between tutor and students and between students.
Rogers, E. E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). New York: The Free Press.Read Less