Open AccessQuality Teaching in Online Higher Education: The Perspectives of 250 Online Tutors on Technology and Pedagogy
Author(s) -
Dimitris Vlachopoulos,
Agoritsa Makri
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of emerging technologies in learning/international journal: emerging technologies in learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1868-8799
pISSN - 1863-0383
DOI - 10.3991/ijet.v16i06.20173
Subject(s) - higher education , quality (philosophy) , pedagogy , process (computing) , accountability , core competency , set (abstract data type) , knowledge management , computer science , psychology , sociology , mathematics education , political science , business , philosophy , epistemology , marketing , law , operating system , programming language
Over the past few decades, education systems, especially in higher educa-tion, have been redefined. Such reforms inevitably require reconsideration of operational notions and definitions of quality, along with a number of relat-ed concepts. This reconsideration aligns with the core of higher education re-forms: improving efficacy and compatibility with emerging social demands while adapting to competitiveness and accountability trends. As primary players in the teaching and learning process, online tutors have a protagonis-tic role and, therefore, must be equipped with a suitable set of competencies and attributes in addition to content knowledge. This quantitative research aims to analyze the perceptions of 250 online tutors working in European higher education institutions, distributed in 5 knowledge areas: Business, Education, Humanities, Sciences and Health. This descriptive and explorato-ry nonexperimental study reveals the technological and pedagogical skills and competencies that online tutors consider fundamental for effective online teaching and proposes professional development actions to ensure quality online teaching