New Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Impact on Student Learning While Developing Knowledge and Skills to Teach Online

Abstract

Due to the health pandemic of 2020, teachers have been forced to initiate online teaching delivery models with little preparation just as students and parents have had their routines abruptly altered from in-person schooling to hybrid and fully online instruction (Mecham, et al., 2021). The pandemic brought to light new opportunities for novice teachers to learn how to implement pedagogical strategies using digital tools to support student learning and development in remote settings. As part of a larger case study of 23 novice teachers who graduated from our urban institution, these results focus on new teachers’ perceptions of their own development and their impact on student learning while teaching online, during the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews focused on educators’ approaches to instruction across 12-18 months of the pandemic.  Data were analyzed using NVivo through open coding. Findings help us understand these new teachers’ perceptions of their impact on student learning while developing knowledge and skills to teach fully online. Four themes are highlighted in this study as a glimpse into new teachers’ perceptions of themselves and their impact during this time. New teachers describe their impact on student learning as their ability to build relationships and trust with learners and their families, to use students’ funds of knowledge to engage them in meaningful tasks, to teach with digital tools, modeling and collaborating with learners, and to incorporate various digital tools to monitor progress, assess, and provide feedback online. Novices describe student engagement and motivation as resulting student outcomes due to their abilities to build relationships, tap into students’ multiple knowledge bases, and use digital tools to teach and assess student learning. They describe their new knowledge and skills teaching online as unintended outcomes related to their own development and learning.