Novice and experienced instructors’ technology use and pedagogical skills in virtual classrooms

Technology use and pedagogical skills in virtual classrooms

Abstract

Effective teaching demands educators to have multifarious competencies and skills, which is quite challenging. Lots of research examining the difficulties relating to these concerns has been carried out in traditional face-to-face educational settings notably by focusing on classroom management skills and technological proficiency which are considered crucial for teachers. However, it remains uncertain how instructors use technology and their pedagogical abilities in virtual classrooms and how their approaches to using these skills vary depending on their teaching experience. To that end, by using mixed method research design this study first investigates the pedagogical and technological skills used by instructors in online classes by exploring the challenges instructors have while utilizing technology and employing pedagogical skills, as well as by addressing their way of overcoming those challenges.  Furthermore, the research discusses the connection between teachers' demographic data centering on their field of study and their technological and pedagogical expertise in online classes. There are 50 instructors from a preparatory school of a private university as participants. The results show there is no substantial difference between the instructors with different levels of teaching experience while using technology and pedagogical skills in online classrooms. Since ELT teachers outperform those in other fields when using technology, the field is a determinant. To foster utilizing those skills more competently and firmly, seminars, where prospective teachers can apply their technological and instructional skills, could be incorporated into the curricula of each and every field. The provision of pre-service and in-service programs by decision-makers is another way to help present and future teachers in online language education become more technologically proficient. It would not be appropriate to generalize the results to the entire population because of the limited sample size.