Faculty as reflective practitioners in emergency online teaching: an autoethnography

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education

Walter P. Dawson¹  Insung Jung²  Sawa Omori³  Seunghun J. Lee⁴  Tomiko Yamaguchi⁵ 

[1] Asian Studies, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, 181-8585, Tokyo, Japan;Education and Language Education, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, 181-8585, Tokyo, Japan;Politics and International Studies, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, 181-8585, Tokyo, Japan;Psychology and Linguistics, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, 181-8585, Tokyo, Japan;Society, Culture and Media, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, 181-8585, Tokyo, Japan;

关键词: Autoethnography;    Pandemic;    Emergency online teaching;    Faculty experience;    Online education;    Reflection-in-action;    Reflective practitioner;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s41239-021-00261-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

This study aimed to chronicle and understand the emergency online teaching experience of five faculty members in a liberal arts college located in Tokyo, Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, adopting the autoethnographic method. It explored the nature and dimensions of problems the faculty members faced, resources used to make sense of problems encountered, and actions they took to solve the problems as reflective practitioners in emergency online teaching. It also examined differences between faculty members over time. Analysis of seven weeks of autobiographic reflective journals during a 10-week academic term revealed that the faculty members encountered a range of problems during the classes, especially student-related and technology-related issues. When encountering problems, faculty members utilized references such as their past experience in face-to-face classroom teaching. Faculty members with more online teaching experience were more adaptable and flexible in mobilizing other references to solve problems. Overall, all members worked as reflective learners and practitioners who continued to reflect on the problems they faced and find solutions. These findings suggest that engaging in reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action can be effective ways for faculty members to develop their competencies to solve problems in emergency online teaching situations when responding to unprecedented challenges and issues is continuously needed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY