Abstract:
During the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face teaching was not viable because many schools were forced to close as a preventive measure. Educators abruptly shifted to online classes without sufficient time and resources to prepare for such an enormous transition. Although shifting from traditional face-to-face format to modern e-learning approach ensured that students could be educated outside of the classroom, its impact on the quality of learning and teaching (L&T) can be mixed. This project aims to address the knowledge gap in conventional teacher training by developing a web-based programme called T.E.A.C.H. to enhance pre-service teachers’ psychological competencies for conducting online L&T. The programme consisted of five modules, each focused on one dimension of psychological competence (creativity, curiosity, love of learning, judgment, and perspective) and applied to the ‘three foci’ for online L&T (attendance and participation, engagement, and assessment). A total of 314 pre-service teachers were allocated into the intervention or control group. Programme effectiveness was evaluated using pretest and posttest questionnaires, a teaching design task, short quizzes, and a programme quality assessment.
Code:
T0240
Principal Project Supervisors:
Keywords provided by authors:
- Psychological competence
- Learning motivation
- Online learning and teaching
- Online intervention programme
Start Date:
01 Dec 2020
End Date:
31 May 2022
Status:
Completed
Result:
The results showed that compared to the control, the T.E.A.C.H. programme was effective in enhancing pre-service teachers’ psychological competencies for online L&T, including creativity, curiosity, love of learning, judgment, and perspective. The programme was also effective in promoting positive attitudes toward online L&T, self-efficacy to teach in an online format, and intentions to use technology for L&T. Furthermore, the programme was effective in increasing the theme-specific behaviours pertaining to online L&T, including the behavioural indicators for creativity, curiosity, love of learning, judgment, and perspective. Within-group improvements were observed in the programme for psychological competencies (all dimensions), TPB components (all components), and theme-specific behaviours (all indicators). Objective data from the teaching design task suggests that, after participating in the programme, the pre-service teachers could produce more creative and better quality lesson plans for online instruction, indicating enhanced online pedagogical competence.
Impact:
The T.E.A.C.H. programme benefitted pre-service teachers by promoting their psychological competencies to handle the shift from face-to-face instruction to one that is purely online. The curiosity module emphasized nurturing novelty-seeking, openness to experience, and authentic motivation to learn about new technological knowledge and skills for online L&T. The love of learning module focused on building a passion to acquire new knowledge and skills and to deepen existing ones to become resourceful educators in online L&T. The creativity module underlined the ability to connect learned knowledge and skill mastery to overcome the barriers and solve the challenges of online L&T in a creative way. The perspective module highlighted the importance of taking different points of view from teachers and students to increase awareness about the potential issues of online L&T. The judgment module underscored the fundamental skill of making informed decisions regarding instructional practices, teaching materials and tools, and student engagement to ensure that pedagogy is enhanced by online teaching technology.
The benefits of the T.E.A.C.H. programme are beyond what could be achieved in conventional teacher training, and have far-reaching implications for teaching practice amidst the rapidly changing education landscape. This study has provided valuable insight for developing psychological competencies for online L&T as a core objective in the future curriculum of teacher education. Furthermore, it has demonstrated that the online learning platform was effective in engaging pre-service teachers in an active deep learning about online L&T, which helped to build up their capacity to infuse technology into teaching. The successful implementation of T.E.A.C.H. encourages school leaders, teachers, and teacher professional development providers to utilize this web-based programme to enhance effective online teaching practices.
Deliverables:
Seminars/Presentations/Sharing Sessions
Ho, C. Y. H., Poon, K.-T. I., Chan, K. S. K. (2022, July 7) Promoting Pre-Service Teachers’ Psychological Competence for Online Learning and Teaching: The T.E.A.C.H. Programme. Departmental Learning & Teaching Sharing Session of Department of Psychology. The Education University of Hong Kong. (No. of participants: 33) (https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/promoting-pre-service-teachers-psychological-competence-for-onlin-3)
Books/ Book Chapters/ Journal Articles/ Conference Papers
Ho, C. Y. H., Poon, K.-T. I., Chan, K. S. K., Cheung, S. K. S., Datu, J. A. D., & Tse, C. Y. A. (2021, December 8). Promoting pre-service teachers’ psychological competence for online learning and teaching: The T.E.A.C.H. programme. Paper presented at International Conference on Learning and Teaching 2021 (ICLT 2021), Hong Kong, China. (https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/promoting-pre-service-teachers-psychological-competence-for-onlin)
Ho, C. Y. H., Poon, K.-T. I., Chan, K. S. K., Cheung, S. K. S., Datu, J. A. D., & Tse, C. Y. A. (2023, April). Promoting preservice teachers’ psychological and pedagogical competencies for online learning and teaching: The T.E.A.C.H. program. Computers & Education, 195. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104725) (https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/promoting-pre-service-teachers-psychological-competence-for-onlin)
Teaching and Learning Resources/ Materials (including online resources)
The T.E.A.C.H. program. (2021). https://onlineteaching.eduhk.hk/en/home (https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/the-teach-program)
Financial Year:
2020-21
Type:
TDG