Synchronous Online Teaching amid the Covid-19: An After Action Review from Teachers

Abstract

Teachers and students have seen their practices thrust online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to learn new tools with little guidance or experience, and they also struggled with access and material support. Given that teachers’ approaches to teaching are influenced by such emergency, this study was conducted to investigate teachers’ experience of the transition to online teaching. The participants of this study were 20 teachers in a vocational college who have experiences of teaching online during the school closure. Due to the social distancing practice, email interview was applied. In the interview, teachers were required to provide information about the online teaching platforms and tools they used, their perceptions of pros and cons they witnessed, and their recommendations to help improve online teaching quality. The results reveal that the teachers have positive perceptions towards online teaching during the pandemic. Online teaching transition during the COVID-19 school lockdown elicited both opportunities and challenges for teachers. They also offered several suggestions for the institution to promote the quality of online teaching. This study provides implications for instructional planning and implementation.