Abstract:

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the teaching experiences and emotional well-being of faculty at a reѕeаrᴄh university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during Emergency Response Teaching due to the global Covid 19 pandemic, and its implications for instruction and learning. A 60-question, on-line self-administered survey was disseminated to 400 faculty during the spring semester of 2020. Twenty six faculty members (6.5%) completed this. Results showed evidence of a variety of adverse impacts on faculty, who largely reported that they experienced a range of significant challenges as a result of the necessary shift to online teaching/learning. Many faculty were challenged and frustrated in terms of being able to respond to a range of issues and themes identified in the study. These included technology, diminished social/work contact, motivation, student engangement, classroom communication/collaboration, psychological wellbeing and others. The discussion focused on the development of preemptive and mitigating approaches which might be considered and developed for future use should a comparable situation arise again.

Keywords:

Emergency response teaching, pandemic, instruction, motivation, wellbeing, student engagement preemptive.