Changes to business faculty perceived skills with online teaching tools and educational practices: The pandemic effect

Abstract

In the spring of 2020, universities worldwide closed their campuses and transitioned their face-to-face courses to remote teaching with educational technologies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented transition to online instruction created a unique learning environment for students and faculty. Our case-based, qualitative study explores the perceived skill level changes of professors who implemented (with minimal training) online educational technologies to deliver business courses at a business school in the southwest United States. Business faculty completed a Likert-scale survey instrument that used the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) teacher competency framework, which includes digitally communicating with students, delivering asynchronous material, delivering synchronous classes, using the learning management system, and providing digital assessments and feedback (2018). Study outcomes indicate that instructors’ perceived skill sets in most topics grew due to the adoption of online educational technologies at the onset of the pandemic. Further study might focus on determining the long-term implications of the growing integration of educational technology on business faculty instruction in both online and face-to-face classrooms.