Online academic learning beliefs and strategies: a comparison of preservice and in-service early childhood teachers
ISSN: 1468-4527
Article publication date: 27 October 2020
Issue publication date: 27 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study explored preservice and in-service early childhood teachers' online academic learning beliefs and strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Two hundred preservice and in-service teachers respectively from Taiwan participated in this research. A focus group discussion was carried out concerning the development of the questionnaires. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed good construct validity and reliabilities of the survey.
Findings
The survey results showed that in-service teachers generally held more sophisticated learning beliefs than the preservice teachers in all scales. Also, in-service teachers responded with a higher level of online academic learning strategies than the preservice teachers did. Regarding their online experiences, preservice teachers who spent an appropriate amount of time online had more positive beliefs than those with excessive online experiences. However, preservice teachers did not reveal employment of their ICT literacy in their online academic learning strategies. It was found that those in-service teachers with more online learning experience also showed higher levels of online academic learning beliefs. They used more deep strategies in their online academic learning.
Practical implications
The findings of this study could provide insights for the development of online academic learning ability in preschool teacher training programs.
Originality/value
(1) In-service teachers generally held more sophisticated learning beliefs than the preservice teachers. (2) Preservice teachers who spent an appropriate amount of time online had more positive beliefs than those with excessive online experiences. (3) Preservice teachers did not reveal employment of their ICT literacy in their online academic learning strategies. (4) In-service teachers with more online learning experience also showed higher levels of online academic learning beliefs. They used more deep strategies in their online academic learning.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to all the teachers who joined and shared their experiences in this research. Funding of this research work is supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under grant numbers MOST 108-2511-H-153-007 and MOST-108-2410-H-218-006. The authors would like to express their gratitude to editors and reviewers for their helpful comments in the development of this paper.
Citation
Mou, T.-Y. and Kao, C.-P. (2021), "Online academic learning beliefs and strategies: a comparison of preservice and in-service early childhood teachers", Online Information Review, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 65-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-08-2019-0274
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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