COVID-19 as the tipping point for integrating e-assessment in higher education practices

Teachers' experiences of teaching online during COVID-19: implications for postpandemic professional development

As a result of the Great Online Transition (GOT) that occurred during COVID-19, it is increasingly necessary to understand the digital competencies that are required for online and blended learning in the postpandemic era. Postquarantine, higher education institutions must return to on-campus face-to-face learning, a situation which raises questions concerning how to retain the lessons learned from this period of the forced acquisition and innovation of online teaching competencies. In this article, we present the results of an interview-based study of teachers' experiences of online teaching during the pandemic. One hundred fifty-one teachers were interviewed over a period of 2 years during the pandemic. We conducted a hybrid thematic analysis to systematize teachers' experiences. Our results show that despite the problems faced due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, several lessons were learned: teachers employed an array of digital tools to maintain content delivery and promote interaction, deepened their understanding of course design and assessment, and developed an empathic disposition to understand students' situations. We build upon these experiences to generate recommendations for developing digital competencies following the GOT.

Perceived quality of online learning during COVID-19 in higher education in Singapore: perspectives from students, lecturers, and academic leaders

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the higher education sector in Singapore. Existing tertiary studies seeking to understand the intraperiod response to COVID-19 often focus on single institutions, jurisdictions or stakeholder groups. This study is the first in-depth qualitative multi-stakeholder examination of the higher education environment in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explored the perceptions of the quality of digital pedagogy during COVID-19, how universities have adapted because of the pandemic, and how leaders, teaching staff and students have been affected by the management and educational changes via 13 semi-structured interviews across six Singapore higher education institutions. Through purposive sampling, we explore current stakeholder perceptions, structural education changes, and personal learning and teaching impacts of COVID-19. Applying Braun and Clarke's approach to thematic analysis, we inductively uncovered four major themes: the Singapore government's approach to COVID-19 and its effects on delivery; academic leadership approaches; education technology; and well-being. This article is critical as a key foundation to understand how Singapore is responding with unique geopolitical differences. We discuss the practical implications of our research for current university faculty and students during and beyond the pandemic, and outline opportunities for future research.

Determinants of higher education teachers' intention to use technology-based exams

The replacement of existing technology or the introduction of novel technology into the day-to-day routines of higher education institutions is not a trivial task. Currently, many higher education institutions are faced with the challenge of replacing existing procedures for administering written exams with e-exams. To guide this process, this paper proposes the novel technology-based exams acceptance model (TEAM) and empirically evaluates its model structure and usefulness from the perspective of higher education teachers. The model can be used to guide the transition from paper-based exams to e-exams and the implementation of innovative (e.g., adaptive) e-exam formats. The model includes perceived usefulness, computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety, prior experience, facilitating conditions, and subjective norm as predictors of the behavioral intention to use e-exams. To test the model empirically, the responses of 992 teachers at 63 German universities to a standardized online questionnaire were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The model fit was acceptable. With 77% (conventional e-exams) and 82% (adaptive e-exams), a large proportion of the variance of the intention to use these types of exams was explained. With TEAM, a highly predictive model for explaining the behavioral intention to use e-exams is now available. It offers a theoretical basis that can be used for the successful implementation of e-exams in higher education.

Eleven ways to get a grip on the implementation of remote administration of high-stakes assessments

The COVID-19 pandemic rushed licensure and certification institutions, as well as many university programs, to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in their practices to allow for remote administrations of their exams independent of distancing measures. The Black Ice covered in this manuscript is the integration of ICTs to allow remote administration of high-stakes assessments in terms of its development, administration, and monitoring with the aim to promote the validity of score interpretation.

The Perceptions of Student Teachers of Online Pedagogical Courses and Assessment Practices in Finnish Subject Teacher Education

The purpose of this case study was to explore how student teachers at the University of Helsinki perceived pedagogical courses in emergency remote teaching. The dataset consists of the responses of 79 students to an online questionnaire and interviews with five students. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression analysis, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The students pointed out that, on average, teachers have mastered the pedagogy of remote teaching well, although older teachers had more challenges than younger teachers. The quality of teaching was reported as being high. Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was the strongest predictor of successful remote teaching. In terms of assessment, teachers mostly used essays and other written assignments to assess students’ achievement. According to most students, the assessment practices were implemented successfully. The results provide insights for developing remote teaching in teacher education.

A Combination of Action Research and Reflective Journal Writing in an English as a Foreign Language Class: Learners' Psychological Point of Views and Their Grammar Use in Writing

Action research (AR) and reflective thinking (RT) can enhance learning since both processes provide students with the opportunities to step back and think about how they actually solve problems. While there is a robust academic inquiry on reflection practices and AR in the educational setting, investigating learners' reflections through AR practices can shed more light on related research. This study implemented reflective journal writing through AR and aimed to investigate (1) the participants' views about reflective journal writing, (2) the effects of journal writing on RT development, and (3) the learners' grammar use in writing. Eighty language learners formed the two experimental and control groups of the study. The possible relationship between the RT level and participants' final exam was checked. Analyses of the participants' journals, the semi-structured interview, the questionnaires' results, and the final exam scores were considered. The findings showed that the participants had positive views about journal writing, and they could enhance their level of RT as well as their grammar use in writing; nevertheless, no relationship between the RT level and final exam scores of the participants was found. The methodology and the results of the study could be conducive to welcoming alternative methods of teaching and assessment that encourage the learners' reflective practices and active engagements in language classes.

[Teaching in a pandemic: the transformation of teaching and clinical supervision]

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic is an event that deeply impacts our personal, professional, and collective lives. How do we teach in these times of great upheaval? What are the main changes that have occurred?

METHOD

Using the Cartel logic, four professors and a qualitative researcher carried out an autoethnographic research aimed at documenting the main changes that have occurred in the teaching of family medicine in their respective practices located in four different academic family medicine groups at the University of Sherbrooke.

RESULTS

Five key moments in teaching that occurred during a pandemic were identified: a) the declaration of a pandemic, b) the approach with the graduating/advanced cohort of residents, c) the anticipation and preparation for the arrival of new residents, d) arrival of first year residents and e) adaptation to the second wave. For each moment, we present the issues encountered in our care and teaching practices under three transversal relational axes: the relationship of humans to their cultural context, the patient-doctor relationship, and the teacher-resident relationship.

CONCLUSION

Our analysis shows that the transmission of medical knowledge and the art of medicine cannot take place without specific attention to the overall cultural context, the contextual relationship of clinical care, and the teaching relationship. Our study also makes it possible to recommend the opening of spaces for reflection and dialogue in our teaching environments.

[Digital futures of the university: Scenarios of sociotechnical change]

For the university, digital technologies proved to be a central element of crisis management during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for teaching. From a "multi-level perspective" (Geels 2004), the disruptive effects of the pandemic open a "window of opportunity" for profound and lasting sociotechnical change. Against this backdrop, this article discusses how members of the university assess the future significance of digital technologies. On the basis of qualitative, empirical research, five scenarios can be distinguished, each of which outlines digital futures in a different way. However, with our analysis of these future scenarios we do not scrutinise the probability of their occurrence, but their desirability. In this way, we identify justifications diploid to argue why further steps towards a digital university should be taken or why not. At this point in time, it is impossible to assess which scenarios of digital universities will ultimately prevail. Not least for this reason, this article is intended as a basis for a broad debate that is yet to be conducted.