Online Teaching Workshops and Conferences: A COVID-19 Survey on Faculty Teaching Agriculture
COVID-19 AND ONLINE TEACHING WORKSHOPS
Keywords:
online instruction, skill acquisition, teacher training, E-learning, higher educationAbstract
Educators adapted to teach online during the COVID-19 pandemic, many for the first time and without adequate training. We anticipate COVID-19 accelerated the prevalence of online course offerings at the post-secondary level with long-term effects; thus, it is imperative that educators are prepared to navigate online teaching. Accordingly, the purpose of our study was to evaluate the interest of post-secondary agricultural sciences faculty in teaching training opportunities focused on online instruction. To guide our data interpretation, we adopted the Theory of Skill Acquisition as our theoretical framework. Our data indicate that faculty are interested in participating in Online Teaching Workshops or Conferences with a preference for them to be hosted through online platforms. When asked about the regularity in which Teaching Workshops or Conferences should be attended, our respondents felt attendance should be mandated with a fair degree of regularity, rather than once at the beginning of their academic careers. These data indicate faculty are interested in increasing their competency in online teaching, presumably to transition through the stages of skill acquisition, as outlined by our theoretical framework. As online teaching becomes more prevalent, institutions and professional societies must support faculty training in this specific skill.
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