Christie, Jordanne and Sime, Julie-Ann (2016) Educational development for online teaching. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
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Abstract
This thesis discusses a case study that explores the impact on educators’ teaching practices, particularly their assumptions and beliefs about teaching and self-efficacy, as a result of their participation in an educational development programme designed to prepare college educators to develop and teach online and hybrid courses. The philosophical worldview adopted in this study is closely aligned to the constructivist perspective. It draws upon the conceptions of teaching literature, Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy (1977; 1986; 1997) and Mezirow’s (1978) theory of transformational learning as a conceptual framework. The data were collected through an online survey of 34 participants, face-to-face interviews with 18 participants and documentary evidence review of 6 participants, and was analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis approach. The findings suggest that the knowledge and experience that college educators acquire when participating in educational development for online teaching produce a positive increase in technological and pedagogical knowledge and understanding of accessibility for some educators. This new understanding, in turn, results in changes to both online and face-to-face teaching practices of educators. The results also indicate that for some educators, participation in an educational development programme for online teaching encouraged more student-centred teaching approaches and helped to dispel misconceptions about the lower quality and value of online learning. Participation in educational development for online teaching was also found to increase some educators’ technical and pedagogical confidence, although a few participants experienced an initial decline in self-efficacy. Finally, the results reveal that educators perceived their participation in the educational development programme for online teaching to have a positive impact on the learning experience of their students.