Teachers’ digital pedagogies and experiences in virtual classrooms

The global pandemic has revealed a number of inequalities in education for students in Michigan, USA. Teachers were tasked with a sudden shift to online instruction as school closures across the state (and globe) forced education to operate in virtual classrooms. Given the continued need for online learning, it is necessary to examine the perspectives and experiences of teachers who worked throughout the school closures of spring 2020 and to identify ways to better support both teachers and students as they navigate virtual learning. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate K-12 teachers’ experiences shifting their classrooms online and their overall perspectives on the use of digital literacies as a central part of student learning. Reported in this paper are the survey results from 389 teachers’ perceptions of their effectiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic during the semester spring of 2020. Additionally, a randomly selected a subset of 12 elementary and 13 secondary teachers’ semi-structured interviews were analyzed. Unsurprisingly, teachers reported many challenges meeting their students’ needs as they transitioned to online learning. Findings revealed students who lacked access to reliable Internet and digital devices. Even when access was not an issue, students lacked the necessary digital literacy skills to navigate their online education. Teachers reported many challenges associated with online learning, particularly those related to student engagement, communication, and shifting pedagogies online. Therefore, there is a need for schools and curricula to include operational digital literacy skills earlier in formal education settings, and to prioritize these skills even when face-to-face instruction resumes.