Vol 8 (2020): Learning, Competencies and Human Resources
EMEMITALIA2019 Peer Reviewed Papers

From desk to desktop: the integration between classroom and online teaching from the teachers' perspective

Marina Marchisio
Università degli Studi di Torino
Sergio Rabellino
Università degli Studi di Torino
Matteo Sacchet
Department of Mathematics, University of Turin
Daniela Salusso
Università degli Studi di Torino
Published January 13, 2020
Keywords
  • online teaching,
  • open online university,
  • online courses,
  • online education,
  • teacher’s changing role
How to Cite
Marchisio, M., Rabellino, S., Sacchet, M., & Salusso, D. (2020). From desk to desktop: the integration between classroom and online teaching from the teachers’ perspective. Reports on E-Learning, Media and Education Meetings, 8(1), 40-45. Retrieved from http://www.je-lks.org/ojs/index.php/R-EMEM/article/view/1135104

Abstract

The start@unito project of the University of Turin is a two-year-old project whose primary aim is to offer 50 open online university courses in various scientific, humanistic, economic and legal subjects. As Project Manager, research fellows with a coordinating role and LMS administrator, we assisted and supported teachers before, during and after the creation and the implementation of the online courses. We analyzed the biggest and most destabilizing changes brought forward by the transition and integration between classroom teaching and online teaching in order to understand how we can help to make transition and integration smoother. Our methodology relies on data gathered from training sessions, focus groups, a questionnaire given before and after the experience and a self-evaluation rubric. Our findings confirm the trends highlighted by the literature: on the one hand, professors are still hesitant to embrace online teaching because it is a challenging, time-consuming process that requires rethinking their role; on the other hand, professors are optimistic about the potential of online education; teaching online experiences seems to have a positive effect on classroom teaching as well, since it promotes more inclusive and interactive didactics along the classical one.

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