Articles
Vol. 2 No. 2 (2022): Technology and educational ‘pivoting’ in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
Perceptions of emergency remote teaching tools used during Covid-19 online teaching by an Israeli English for Academic Purpose (EAP) department
English for Academic Purposes, Tel Hai Academic College, Tel Hai, Israel; and Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
Abstract
The spring 2020 Covid-19 pandemic caused a rapid transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in higher education across the world. This study examined teacher and student perceptions on technological tools used for ERT in an Israeli English for Academic Purposes (EAP) department with the aim to reflect and improve the use of these tools in practice in future semesters. Surveys of EAP teachers and students were conducted to examine the perceived effectiveness of technological teaching and communication tools as well as the support the teachers received during ERT. Teachers and students agreed that learning management system (LMS) quizzes and emails were effective learning and communication tools, but differed on the effectiveness of videoconferencing, recorded videos, personal phone calls and text messaging. Teachers felt constant positive support from each other in the EAP department. To improve effectiveness of these technological tools, higher student buy-in of these tools is needed, especially for videoconferencing.
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