Exploring medical educators’ readiness and the priority of their educational needs for online teaching

Abstract

Purpose This study investigated medical educators’ readiness for online teaching by exploring their perceived ability and importance of online teaching competencies and identified the highest priority of their educational needs. Methods In this study, 144 medical education faculty members from a university were invited to participate. The faculty online teaching readiness scale was virtually distributed at the end of the spring semester of 2020 and 38 faculty members responded for 2 weeks. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, Borich Needs Assessment, and the Locus for Focus model. Results The overall average perceived ability was 2.76, while the overall average perceived importance was 3.36. The course design and the technical competency categories showed the highest and lowest educational needs, respectively. Five competencies were given the highest priority of educational needs. Conclusion The results revealed that the medical educators are not ready for online teaching; thus, urgent educational needs for online teaching competencies exist.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students: a scoping review protocol

“…Studies found that teachers' readiness was low, especially in online learning and course design. [9][10][11] The lack of preparation, compounded by the student's rapid transition from on-campus learning to the home environment, presented additional stress that affected their academic performance, mental health and social life. 7 12 Several studies have reported the impact of COVID-19 on medical students.…”

“…However, most teachers were not trained in online learning and were not used to distance learning pedagogies. Studies found that teachers’ readiness was low, especially in online learning and course design 9–11. The lack of preparation, compounded by the student’s rapid transition from on-campus learning to the home environment, presented additional stress that affected their academic performance, mental health and social life 7 12…”

The support needs of health professional educators to teach clinical skills online: Experiences of COVID-19 lockdowns from three countries

“…In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the world moved to online teaching and learning. This transition was rapid, with minimal or no staff preparation (Si et al, 2021), and is known to have caused significant challenges for educators who have typically delivered teaching within traditional face-to-face settings (Hofer et al, 2021;Forbes et al, 2021;Shih et al, 2020;Si et al, 2021;Smyth et al, 2012;von Keyserlingk, 2021). Whilst such COVID-safe measures were mandated relatively simultaneously around the globe, they have receded at differing rates internationally.…”

“…The experiences of university educators whilst teaching online have been explored (Si et al, 2021). Without prior exposure to an online setting, educators tend to transfer their traditional pedagogies to online classrooms (Si et al, 2021), which is reported to be suboptimal for student learning (Baran et al, 2011).…”

“…The experiences of university educators whilst teaching online have been explored (Si et al, 2021). Without prior exposure to an online setting, educators tend to transfer their traditional pedagogies to online classrooms (Si et al, 2021), which is reported to be suboptimal for student learning (Baran et al, 2011). However, organising and facilitating learning processes specifically for the online setting is known to be time consuming and especially challenging for novice online instructors (Kebritchi et al, 2017).…”