A contextual approach for exploring faculty readiness to teach online

Abstract

Effective online teaching and learning requires readiness of all stakeholders, students, faculty, and administrators while considering contextual factors that influence the design and delivery of online learning. The purpose of this study is to explore how ready for online teaching faculty are in a Lebanese higher education context and to investigate readiness factors that impact their online teaching. It also aims at identifying any significant differences in readiness based on gender, years of teaching experience and discipline. A survey was developed based on a review of the literature and existing surveys that address readiness factors for online teaching. The survey was administered in Spring 2020, and 210 faculty at a private higher education institution completed the survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and descriptive statistics were conducted. The EFA resulted in 5 factors associated with faculty readiness to teach online, namely technology access and skills, course design, online pedagogy, attitude, and institutional support. Descriptive statistics revealed that faculty have the minimum required technology skills to teach online, yet they are faced with technical challenges associated with the context and the need for institutional support. MANOVA tests revealed a statistically significant difference between female faculty members who are readier in terms of course design and attitude than their counterpart males, a statistically significant difference in terms of course design for faculty who have more years of teaching experience. As for discipline specific readiness, majors that are focused on art and design revealed to be less ready for online teaching. This study implies the need for a more robust infrastructure to expand the delivery of online learning in Lebanon and the need for professional development for faculty to create pedagogically and technically enhanced online courses.