A Qualitative Analysis of Synchronous Distance Mode Teacher Training Workshop

Abstract

This study investigates the experience of distance mode participants in a large scale synchronous teacher training workshop. Qualitative feedback were collected from 523 participants of 'Computational Fluid Dynamics' workshop through open-ended questions in the questionnaire. Data were also collected from 14 workshop coordinators with the help of a questionnaire and focussed group discussions. Personal observations were made by the researcher at various remote centres to get the first hand experience of a synchronous distance classroom. After analysing the data through various sources, major strengths and weaknesses of the synchronous distance mode teacher training workshop were arrived at. There were a total of 2113 comments and suggestions from the participants. Out of these about 53% were positive comments, 22% were negative comments, 6% were neutral comments and 19% were suggestions for improvement. The analysis indicate that the distance mode workshop was well received by the participants and the workshop coordinators. Majority of the participants were happy to gain knowledge and to learn new teaching methodology from the subject experts. Participants, especially female, from remote places and colleges located in the rural areas said that it was a great opportunity for them to interact with IIT professors. However, there were some weaknesses, such as the quality of audio and video was poor in some places, laboratory facilities was not good, the duration of the workshop was long and not very convenient for some. This study throws some useful insights that can help administrators, policymakers and funding agencies to take some important decisions in the field of technology enabled teaching-learning.