Developing digital pedagogics project

This project examines the pedagogical education and its effect on university teachers' pedagogical competencies and experiences of teaching during COVID-19. It is also investigating how university teachers develop their expertise in the online teaching domain.

The research project is divided into two sub-studies. The first study aims at looking closely on teachers' learning, regulation, teaching approaches and experiences of teaching during the first days of COVID-19. Data were collected in April 2020 by means of online self-reported questionnaire. One year later, namely in March 2021, the second study was started with a longitudinal study design.The goal of the second study is to track university teachers’ expertise development while planning and/or implementing online teaching. Collecting longitudinal data will span along the period of one course selected by the teacher.

The project will increase the understanding of teachers’ learning and the role of pedagogical education in promoting their regulative and pedagogical skills. It is crucial to understand and track how teachers manage to plan and teach online during COVID-19, how they develop themselves, and in what ways they benefit from the university facilities and services. The research seeks to help in making scientific-based decisions which may serve teachers back. 

The project operates within the Professional Learning and Growth (PLG) research group, and is funded by Tampere University.