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Draft provided only for reference – Jimoyiannis, A., Koukis, N., & Tsiotakis, P. (2021). Shifting to emergency
remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic: Greek teachers’ beliefs and experiences. In A., Reis, J.
Barroso, J. B. Lopes, T. Mikropoulos & C.-W. Fan (Eds.), Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching
and Education (pp. 320-329). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Shifting to emergency remote teaching due to the
COVID-19 pandemic: An investigation of Greek
teachers’ beliefs and experiences
Athanassios Jimoyiannis, Nikolaos Koukis, Panagiotis Tsiotakis
University of Peloponnese, Korinthos, Greece
ajimoyia@uop.gr, nkoukis@uop.gr, ptsiotakis@uop.gr
Abstract. During schools’ closure, due to the pandemic of COVID-19, teachers around the
globe were forced to transfer their instruction on-line. They were facing a range of barriers and
difficulties to plan and provide online remote teaching to their students. This paper reports on a
study exploring Greek primary and secondary education teachers’ views about emergency remote
teaching and e-learning. The survey conducted in May 2020, just after schools’ reopening in
Greece. A total of 694 K-12 teachers responded to an online questionnaire. The preliminary find-
ings of data analysis showed that the majority of the participants perceived the pandemic as a
turning point with regards to the role of digital technologies and e-learning in the schools. On the
other hand, we identified teachers’ needs for professional development and support, in terms of
learning design abilities necessary to integrate synchronous and asynchronous learning in both,
online and physical, classrooms.
Keywords: emergency remote teaching, e-learning, teacher beliefs, COVID-19 pandemic
1 Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic had worldwide a disruptive effect on people’s lives, since
many of our personal, work and social activities were interrupted. In particular, the
education sector faced an unexpected impact; universities and K-12 schools were
forced to rapidly transfer their programs online by using remote teaching and e-learning
modes. The transition of teachers and students to online learning environments was a
disruption of the educational normality and school practices.
Teachers needed to design this transition to online teaching and to develop, very
quickly, new competencies related to the use of learning technologies in their online
classrooms. As they swiftly transferred their teaching online, they were facing new type
of difficulties; for example, to familiarise with video-conferencing tools, to guide their
students’ participation, to create new educational plans with synchronou s and asyn-
chronous environments etc. In addition, they had to offer new type of support to their
students due to school live interruption (i.e., emotional, social and psychological), to
apply new assessment procedures, to communicate with parents etc.
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In this context, teachers’ views and experiences of online remote teaching during the
COVID-19 pandemic has been emerged as a new important research problem. Recent
studies explored teachers’ barriers, difficulties and professional development needs [1],
students’ response to remote online teaching [2], openness in terms of technologies,
educational resources and educational practices used [3], parents’ new roles and diffi-
culties in educational involvement, teachers’ psychological pressure and outcomes [4],
new perspectives about educational inequities and student inclusion [5].
In this article, we present initial results and insights from a study reporting on Greek
teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about remote online teaching during the COVID-19
crisis. The survey conducted after schools restarting in Greece, in the middle of May
2020. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative results indicated that the majority of
the participants were willing to adopt online learning tools and practices in their in-
struction, and to use them during and after the pandemic. They also reported the need
for training and enhancing their pedagogical skills and learning design abilities. The
paper concludes by providing recommendations for teacher preparation and support
towards integrating online tools and e-learning practices in their classrooms, during and
after the pandemic.
2 Emergency remote teaching
During the pandemic concepts such as distance education in the schools, online teach-
ing/learning and emergency remote teaching were interchangeably used in both, edu-
cational and public discourse. These terms, particularly when they are seen in K-12
school contexts, need to be clarified. Accurate description and understanding of the
concepts above, as well as the educational framework of implementation, is expected
to help teachers to avoid misunderstandings as well as to design instructional practices
suitable to respond to the needs of K-12 education during the pandemic of COVID-19.
Distance education is an established mode, with a long educational history. By def-
inition, distance education is characterized by the distance, in time and space, of the
interactions among the tutor, the learners and the educational content and resources [6].
According to Moore “distance education is not simply a geographic separation of
learners and teachers, but, more importantly, is a pedagogical concept”. In this per-
spective, distance learning programs are properly designed to be offered from distance,
in terms of learning objectives, appropriate pedagogical models, specifically designed
educational material, student learning activities, learning tools and technologies, tutor’s
role, assessment procedures regarding learning outcomes etc.
The second related notion is online learning, since online technologies and e-learn-
ing platforms are used to support remote teaching. Online learning models place em-
phasis on interactions between different parties of learning (students-content-tutor) and
through different forms of student engagement (i.e., individual and collaborative) in the
learning process [7]. While online teaching has a long history in higher education con-
texts, recent research has explored its potential to support and extend students’ learning
within K-12 school settings [8].
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The new notion, when discussing about education in the midst of the pandemic, is
emergency remote teaching, which proposed by Hodges et al. [9] to describe this tem-
porary shift of providing education by using alternative ways, due to crisis circum-
stances. As Milman stated [10], a new pedagogy, so called it the ‘pandemic pedagogy’,
was emerging in the schools and addressed teachers’ decisions and students’ participa-
tion in new form of online educational practices.
Therefore, the three educational modes have two features in common: a) they refer
to the spatial distance between students and educators, and b) they use online technol-
ogies to provide education. On the other hand, they are fundamentally different. In the
case of emergency remote teaching, the main objective is to set up, very quickly, a new
educational model due to the crisis.
Nevertheless, remote teaching is not a new idea. Existing research findings indicated
that online remote teaching has been reported for equal and inclusive education in rural
areas in various countries [11, 12, 13]. A second mode of remote teaching was also
applied when schools are closed or inaccessible due to a natural disaster [14, 15] or
other emergency, for example the war crisis in Syria [16].
Therefore, emergency remote teaching should be considered as a temporary, rapid
response to the school closure problem, due to the pandemic of COVID-19. The first
studies that appeared worldwide have shown that teachers were facing barriers and dif-
ficulties in adapting their instruction to this unpredictable situation and provide online
remote teaching to their students [17, 18]. The aim of the present study was to explore
Greek teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about remote online teaching during the
COVID-19 crisis, as well as their abilities, concerns and difficulties to design and sup-
port e-learning interventions, both remotely and in physical classroom settings.
3 Research method
3.1 Context and procedure
On 11th of March 2020, the Greek government decided to temporarily close every ed-
ucational institution with the aim to restrict and control the spread of the COVID-19
pandemic. School educators suddenly were forced to use online technologies, mainly
videoconference technologies, as the only means to continue their teaching. However,
they were not prepared and did not receive any training during schools’ closure about
online remote instruction. Schools’ reopening started two months later, in the midst of
May 2020, with low numbers of students present in the classrooms.
Data collection started just after school re-opening and lasted for 3 weeks. We thus
expected to reveal critical information regarding teachers’ experiences and readiness to
provide remote online instruction during the global pandemic. We used an online ques-
tionnaire, provided through the LimeSurvey platform installation at the University of
Peloponnese.
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3.2 Instrument
The instrument was a five-point Likert-type scale (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly
agree) which included 23 statements that represent teachers’ views and perceptions ad-
dressed along three dimensions: a) individual skills and competencies to apply online
technologies in their instructional work; b) experiences in applying remote teaching as
well as their difficulties and concerns about e-learning in school education, and c) per-
ceptions about their professional development needs to apply e-learning in the schools
during and after the pandemic. In addition, the questionnaire included three open ques-
tions which were also used in qualitative analysis.
The development of the questionnaire was relied on existing literature as well as on
the authors extended experience with the design and implementation of teacher profes-
sional development programs regarding e-learning and digital technologies in primary
and secondary schools [19, 20].
3.3 The sample
Completely responded questionnaires for analysis received from 694 teachers coming
from various district areas across the country; 153 (22.1%) were males and 538 (77.5%)
females, while 3 teachers provided no gender information. Most participants were serv-
ing in public primary and secondary schools; 439 (63.3%) teachers were teaching in
secondary schools, 188 (27.1%) in primary schools, 21 (3.0%) in kindergartens, and 36
(6.6%) in vocational and life-long learning institutions or in administration positions.
The majority of the participants reported their experience in using digital technolo-
gies for personal and educational purposes. 8 out of 10 teachers rated their ability to
use digital technologies for educational purposes in the range good-excellent. The
teachers reported that, prior to COVID-19 schools’ closure, they had no experience of
remote teaching. However, more than two-thirds of the participants had some experi-
ence of using asynchronous online tools in their instruction (i.e., LMS, blogs, Google
Docs, wikis, etc.). Videoconferencing applications (77.2%) and learning management
systems (69.6%), like eClass, Moodle, Edmodo, and e-me, were the prominent tools
among teachers and used to support remote instruction during the pandemic.
4 Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics
The findings regarding teachers’ abilities to design and deliver online remote instruc-
tion are shown in Table 1. It is quite clear that the participants were positive and confi-
dent to use e-learning in their instruction. Τhe vast majority of teachers believe that the
experience of remote teaching, during the pandemic, strengthened their skills to inte-
grate e-learning into instruction. The findings also revealed that many teachers faced
difficulties to promote students’ active participation in videoconferencing sessions. The
participants appeared confident to design asynchronous learning activities with Web
5
2.0 tools (mean value M=3.53) and activities that require students to explore online
resources (M=3.63). On the other hand, they rated lower their ability to design suitable
synchronous online activities guiding students’ homework and discussions in the vir-
tual classroom (M=3.26), asynchronous online discussions in the course platform
(M=3.18), and collaborative activities that promote students’ active engagement in re-
mote learning (M=3.38).
Table 1. Teachers’ beliefs of their abilities for online remote instruction (N=694)
Item
Mean
SD
I faced difficulties to promote students’ active participation in my instruc-
tion via videoconferencing
3.22
1.095
I know how to remotely guide students’ homework and discussions in the
virtual classroom (i.e. via videoconferencing)
3.26
1.022
I am able to design suitable asynchronous online discussions for my stu-
dents in the forum of the course platform (i.e. LMS)
3.18
1.135
I can design asynchronous learning activities that require students’ explo-
ration of online resources to study a specific topic
3.63
0.979
I can design and integrate into my teaching collaborative activities that
engage my students from home
3.38
1.029
I can design and integrate into my teaching learning activities with Web
2.0 tools (e.g. Google Docs, blogs, wikis)
3.53
1.033
I believe that, after the experience of remote teaching during the pan-
demic of COVID-19, I have strengthened my skills to integrate e-learning
methods into my instruction
4.01
0.770
Table 2 presents teachers’ beliefs and perceptions about online learning after their
recent experience of remote teaching, due to the pandemic closure. The vast majority
of the teachers considered that, after the COVID-19 pandemic, they have enhanced in-
terest about digital technologies in education (M=4.19). Despite their beliefs that online
teaching cannot replace in-person instruction (M=4.32), the participants were positive
that e-learning technologies can enhance students’ learning in face to face instruction
as well (M=4.16).
Table 2. Teachers' beliefs about online learning (N=694)
Item
Mean
SD
Online distance learning cannot replace in-person instruction in the class-
room
4.32
0.912
Online instruction is a trend that cannot really contribute to students’
learning
2.42
0.993
I believe that e-learning technologies can enhance students’ learning in
face to face classrooms
4.16
0.735
I believe that the pandemic of COVID-19 has widely reinforced the in-
terest about digital technologies in education
4.19
0.692
I believe that, after the pandemic, we will return to the traditional teacher-
centered teaching model
2.92
0.869
I believe that, after the pandemic of COVID-19, a new situation is emerg-
ing in education due to the enhanced role of digital technologies
3.87
0.716
6
I believe that, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional educational
practices will be changed by adopting e-learning methods
3.73
0.771
I believe that the students are ready to respond to e-learning methods and
environments
3.27
0.986
I believe that e-learning technologies enhance students’ active participa-
tion
3.40
0.920
I believe that e-learning technologies can support student-centered in-
structional methods
3.82
0.829
Table 3. Teachers' beliefs about their professional development needs (N=694)
Item
Mean
SD
Regardless of the pandemic, I need to be trained in online learning meth-
ods
4.51
0.644
I think that I was ready to shift my instruction to emergency remote teach-
ing
3.24
1.138
I need to learn more about effective ways of using online platforms (e.g.
LMS) in my lessons
4.12
0.805
I need to learn more about how to design my instruction by using online
learning methods
4.19
0.721
I need to strengthen my pedagogical skills in order to effectively use
online learning technologies in my work
3.93
0.935
I need interaction (exchanging ideas) with colleagues in order to effec-
tively use e-learning technologies in my work
4.23
0.708
The teachers in the sample appeared divided with regards to the perspective of re-
turning to the traditional teacher-centred model of instruction, after the pandemic. How-
ever, they are expecting changes in future educational practices, due to the enhanced
role of digital technologies (M=3.87) and the adoption of e-learning modes in the
schools (M=3.73). It is quite interesting that the majority of K-12 teachers in the sample
believe that e-learning can support student-centred approaches (M=3.82). On the other
hand, they rated lower students’ readiness to effectively participate in e-learning envi-
ronments (M=3.27).
Table 3 presents the results that represent teachers’ beliefs about their professional
development needs in order to effectively integrate online tools and learning practices
in their instruction, regardless of the pandemic. Despite that 9 out of 10 participants
reported a good level and confidence of using online tools in their work (LMS, Google
Docs, and Web 2.0 applications), the teachers in the sample considered that they need
to enhance their knowledge and skills in terms of pedagogy (M=3.93), learning design
(M=4.19) and effective practices of using online technologies in their instruction
(M=4.12). In addition, interacting and collaborating with colleagues (e.g., interchang-
ing experiences and ideas) was considered necessary to integrate e-learning tools in
their educational practices by the vast majority of the participants (M=4.23).
4.2 Qualitative analysis
In addition to quantitative data analysis, several issues have been also revealed through
the open questions in the questionnaire. The analysis of extensive transcripts, extracted
7
from teachers’ written comments, revealed a range of critical parameters which deter-
mine their difficulties and concerns with regards to remote online teaching as well as
the integration of online tools and e-learning practices in both, online and face-to-face
instruction (during and after the pandemic). The key factors identified are classified
into five main categories:
1. Difficulties to design/provide online learning
The majority of the teachers in the sample reported is that they lack the digital skills
necessary to effectively use online tools in their instruction. More than half of the teach-
ers provided comments like:
T125: I had difficulties in using the LMS platform (e.g. eClass).
T152: The main problem for me was that I lack a good level of digital knowledge and
skills.
In addition, teachers need new pedagogical knowledge and skills to design and conduct
different teaching practices and learning scenarios with online tools:
T5: I am not familiar with the pedagogical theories and the design principles of online
education.
T109: I received some training but not in the extent needed to provide remote online
teaching.
2. Student barriers to participate in online learning
The teachers reported that many students lacked suitable digital equipment and connec-
tivity to the Internet, necessary to effectively participate in online learning. For exam-
ple:
T107: It was difficult for some students to participate because they lack the necessary
digital equipment.
T161: Some students do not have access to the Internet and/or suitable devices to par-
ticipate in remote instruction.
3. Lack of time and personal barriers during the pandemic
The majority of the teachers focused on their lack of time and their beliefs that online
learning requires more efforts compared in-person education. The following quotes are
representative of teachers’ perceptions:
T97: I needed too much time to prepare my remote lessons/instruction.
T121: Online instruction requires too much time for lesson preparation.
In addition, teachers’ needed to solve new problems during the pandemic (i.e., parental
duties and family needs); as a result they had limited time available for designing online
activities for their students. For example:
T430: The time available to prepare online instruction was limited; especially, consid-
ering the additional family obligations.
4. Teachers’ training and support
Many teachers expected more training programs and supportive actions during the pan-
demic from the Ministry of Education and other educational authorities. Many similar
8
statements like the following quotes are representative of their expectations regarding
professional support during the pandemic:
T41: I was expecting from the Ministry of Education to provide more training oppor-
tunities to the teachers [in online education] … to enhance teachers’ motivation with-
out forcing and pressure.
T54: There was no systematic, well-organized and responsible support of the educa-
tional community by the educational leadership authorities.
5. Personal data protection
Finally, some teachers paid more attention on the issue of personal data protection for
both, students and teachers.
T44: Protecting and securing personal data is a big issue in online instruction.
T117: I believe that synchronous online teaching exceeds the bounds of legality; the
personal rights are violated as both, the teacher and the students, are not protected.
5 Conclusions
The results, presented in this paper, have shown that the teachers in the sample exhib-
ited positive attitudes towards e-learning in the schools and appeared willing to adopt
online tools in their instructional practices, during and after the pandemic. Despite that
teachers in the sample lack experience with online teaching, our findings indicated a
good level of ability to design/implement remote online teaching practices; however,
they need further training and continuous support to enhance their pedagogical skills,
necessary to design online teaching scenarios and engage their students in suitable
learning activities.
The preliminary analysis of the qualitative data raised also a number of possibly
generalizable factors related to teachers’ difficulties and concerns regarding this shift
to online instruction. Among others, new roles for teachers, students and parents, new
pedagogical skills to overcome distance restrictions of communication/interaction with
students, continuous teacher training and support, interaction-collaboration with col-
leagues, enhanced efforts and workload, lack of time, as well as the issues regarding
personal data protection and students’ inclusion (in particular for those students coming
from lower socio-economic levels).
The findings provided also clear evidence that the transition of K-12 schools to
online learning is not necessarily a new concept, in terms of digital technologies, ped-
agogy and learning design, as well as teachers’ readiness and difficulties. Moving for-
ward and thinking about a sustainable long-term impact into the schools (i.e., beyond
emergency conditions), the present study confirmed recent findings that professional
development programs need to support teachers in developing the pedagogical
knowledge/dimension of the online scenarios they use in practice [17]. The difference
in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is the urgency and the rapidness to achieve
those outcomes in teachers’ abilities to transform their instruction and harness the po-
tential of online technologies.
9
A possible response to the educational needs, due to the COVID-19 crisis, is to create
very quickly an open, flexible system providing to the teachers constant support and
professional development. In this perspective and combining previous findings of our
research group, this study suggests alternative/open modes for teacher professional de-
velopment which appeared to be effective; for example, MOOCs [19], e-mentoring pro-
grams [21], teacher communities [22] and school networks. We expect thus to provide
new forms of teachers’ engagement, mutual interaction, support and professional de-
velopment.
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