Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Motivation for Online Teaching and Learning and Strategies for Supporting the Development of Effective Online Pedagogy

Concurrent Session 7

Brief Abstract

The purpose of this session is to present research on pre-service teachers’ motivation for online teaching and learning. This session will discuss factors influencing pre-service teachers’ efficacy, value, and attitudes about online teaching and explore strategies for supporting the development of more effective online pedagogy.

Presenters

Additional Authors

Extended Abstract

Nation-wide K-12 trends tend towards the addition of some sort of blended/online learning experience even in traditional brick and mortar environments. Teachers are now required to build out and provide instruction within learning management systems for blended and online delivery. Severe weather days were once simply school days canceled. Now, such days have shifted to online learning days. In addition, many districts now have specific online instruction days during the school year regardless of weather conditions. Therefore, teachers now must develop the skill to be as inspirational within technology-based learning environments as they are within the face-to-face classroom, hence, expanding their reach well beyond the physical classroom space. Widespread use of online and blended teaching modalities for emergency remote learning in K-12 during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in preparedness to teach within technology-based learning environments. Post-pandemic, K-12 teachers have generally returned to face-to-face instruction. However, school districts continue to require blended and online teaching components (Smart et al., 2021). Given that research demonstrates strong connections between motivation and teaching effectiveness and persistence through challenging circumstances (Smart & Linder, 2018; DiPerna, Volpe, & Elliott, 2005; DiPerna & Elliott, 1999; Whang & Hancock, 1994), colleges of education should prepare their students to teach within the technology-based learning spaces and work to foster strong motivation for online and blended teaching. As such, it has become increasingly critical to evaluate motivational constructs related to online teaching to better understand pre-service teachers’ responses to teaching and learning within online spaces using reliable, valid measures.

Our research team developed the Pre Service Teachers Online Teaching Motivation Scale (PST-OTMS) in response to a need to measure and support K-12 pre-service teachers’ motivation for online teaching, as they move into classrooms where teaching in the blended and online modalities will likely be a requirement. Our previous research with in-service teachers has shown that when teachers have positive beliefs and perceptions about online learning, their confidence in teaching online is higher (Smart et al., 2021). Additionally, when teachers feel they have administrative support, they tend to report higher confidence levels for teaching online. The findings highlight the need for building teachers’ knowledge and understanding of online teaching and learning, as well as a need to explore the factors that influence perceptions of online teaching motivation constructs. Similar construct associations have presented for pre-service teachers enrolled in colleges of education.

This session will present results of our research on pre-service teachers’ motivation for online teaching and learning. Specifically, we will report results on the following constructs related to pre-service teacher motivation: (1) Efficacy for online teaching (2) Value for online teaching (3) Perceived support for online teaching and learning (4) Attitudes and beliefs about online teaching and learning. Additionally, this session will discuss research-based strategies to support the development of more effective online pedagogy for pre-service teachers. To engage participants, presenters will solicit feedback from attendees about their experiences working with pre-service teachers in the development of their online pedagogy. These responses will be logged through a response system and real-time results will be displayed. Additionally, the session format will provide a rich environment for discussion between attendees and the presenters that will ultimately support the development of future K-12 teachers as they learn to teach in blended and online learning spaces.

Session Objectives:

  • Present results from a study of pre-service teachers’ motivation for online teaching and learning.
  • Discuss factors influencing pre-service teachers’ efficacy, value, and attitudes about online teaching and explore strategies for supporting teachers in the development of more effective online pedagogy.
  • Solicit feedback from attendees about their experiences working with pre-service teachers in the development of their online pedagogy.