Date of Conferral

10-18-2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Debra Crawford Piecka Tyrrell

Abstract

Due to college writing instructors’ lack of pedagogical digital competence (PDC), they struggled to adapt to emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem this study addressed is that while higher education institutions expected undergraduate instructors to use online teaching methods effectively, few studies investigated college writing instructors’ perceptions of their digital competencies. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore college writing instructors’ perceptions of their digital competencies to teach online courses effectively. The research questions for this study focused on college writing instructors’ challenges and perceptions of teaching online during ERT. The conceptual framework was From’s theory of PDC that addressed the self-awareness of instructors’ ability to use online instruction. Data were collected from interviews with 10 writing instructors who taught online during and after ERT. An inductive thematic process was used for data analysis. One finding was that college writing instructors found it difficult to implement strategies to use technology that would provide the meaningful, interactive, and most importantly, personal experiences for learning that they were used to when teaching face to face. Another finding was that college writing instructors determined that utilizing asynchronous, collaborative, interactive teaching strategies on the learning management system fostered instructors’ PDC. The findings may contribute to positive social change by preparing higher education institutions to create stronger technology training and helping instructors to develop more meaningful and interactive online courses to build community with students.

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