Abstract:

Using technology to enhance teaching and learning has been a heated discussion and a well-explored topic in contemporary education. The adoption of educational technology has shed light on addressing the challenges presented by the learning styles and habits of millennial students. It is now common to see teachers using multimodal teaching resources, interactive tools, online learning management systems, and the like to empower and engage their students. However, most of the showcased examples are from tech-savvy teachers who come with a strong foundation of technological knowledge and competency.

In order to respond to the high demand of using technology in teaching, teachers need both technical and pedagogical support from university e-learning units and IT services. But what are teachers' experiences with and attitudes toward e-learning? What are the common challenges faced and the effective strategies adopted to tackle them? What kind of support and training could be most helpful for teachers to launch their e-learning initiative? Answers to these questions could help teachers better plan and prepare for their e-learning innovations, and also serve as references for e-learning units to provide more targeted support.

In this paper, we will examine three case studies relating to three teachers who reconstructed their on-campus undergraduate courses into Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs), delivered either fully online or in a blended mode. Teachers and the project team worked hand-in-hand to review the existing course content and to design the new course. This process involved the development and delivery of new teaching and learning materials, online and face-to-face activities, as well as assessments. After course implementation, evaluation was conducted based on students’ grades, survey data, feedback, and other learning behaviour analytics, such as, but not limited to, video retention and courseware log data. Interviews were conducted with all teachers before and after the course launch to better understand their teaching philosophy, pedagogical considerations, and strategies adopted during the entire process. Interviews with the project team were conducted to document the interactive process. These student data combined with teachers’ reflection will inform the redesign suggestions for the next iteration of the courses.

A common theme emerged from the analysis of teachers’ interview responses. Teachers found their participation in the e-learning project allowed them to not only consider what tools to use in facilitating the teaching and learning but more importantly, to critically examine and revisit their course design and course structure. Teachers also reported that they were not confident with the use of technology, especially with video-recording online lectures. The project team summarized their experiences with handling these situations and proposed a set of recommendations to help address these commonly faced challenges. Furthermore, a basic training module have been devised to help teachers kick-start their e-learning project, and can be adopted by e-learning units to better support their teachers.

Keywords:

e-learning, SPOC, pedagogy, teacher training.