Examining Instructor Effectiveness Amid COVID-19

Abstract

The global outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in the physical closure of many schools across the globe. In turn, schools were forced to migrate their courses and content online. This abrupt transition became known as emergency remote teaching (ERT) and required educators to become more flexible in their content creation and teaching approaches (Hodges et al., 2020). However, due to the rapid nature of ERT, the time spent on course development significantly decreased. Because adapting instruction and finding quality online resources was difficult, educators were less likely to rely on best practices during this emergency transition and perceived lower learning outcomes for their students (Hodges et al., 2020; Moser et al., 2020). The Westgate Learning Complex (WLC) partners with the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide authentic and immersive language courses worldwide. The WLC transitioned their classes online for the first time in January 2020. Focusing on reaching remote students, the WLC required a tremendous number of resources to develop an online learning program. Conducting online learning for language training is not simply taking what is done in the classroom and placing it on a computer. The challenge was creating a comprehensive and effective end-to-end program of instruction using online learning principles that could be replicated across all languages taught at the WLC. These pilot courses that enabled a quick transition became the template for a permanent online program nearly two years later. As the WLC made and continued this transition, instructor perceptions of effectiveness also changed. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of effectiveness and needs of online language educators. Most of the world’s educators experienced a shift in course delivery to online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because online education was a new experience for many users, it had rippling effects on instructors during and afterward in multiple educational settings, including the WLC.