Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies

Misheck Mhishi; Vimbai Marcia Chimbwanda; Isaac Gwizangwe

doi:10.29333/pr/12665

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Misheck Mhishi ¹ ^* , Vimbai Marcia Chimbwanda ² , Isaac Gwizangwe ¹

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¹ Bindura University of Science Education, Bindura, ZIMBABWE² Kutama Day Secondary School, Murombedzi, ZIMBABWE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Unprecedented COVID-19 lockdowns forced schools to close and to adopt online teaching and learning methodologies. In Zimbabwe, underprivileged schools were the worst affected by this directive. This qualitative study, carried out in one cluster of rural secondary schools explored the preparedness of geography teachers to adopt e-learning strategies. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaires. Findings indicate that teachers at day schools were not well prepared to adopt e-learning strategies while their counterparts at boarding schools were better prepared. Teachers stuck to their traditional classroom roles and failed to adopt additional online roles resulting in feelings of boredom due to lack of social interaction with students. A lack of teacher training and support and inadequacies in infrastructural facilities were the major impediments militating against teacher preparedness. WhatsApp emerged as the most popular application used to communicate with students. It is recommended that stakeholder support be mobilized towards teacher capacitation.

Keywords

online teaching
e-learning
teacher preparation
teaching methods
geography education

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

PEDAGOGICAL RES, Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2023, Article No: em0147

https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

Online publication date: 23 Nov 2022

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How to cite this article

APA

Mhishi, M., Chimbwanda, V. M., & Gwizangwe, I. (2023). Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies. Pedagogical Research, 8(1), em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

Vancouver

Mhishi M, Chimbwanda VM, Gwizangwe I. Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2023;8(1):em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

AMA

Mhishi M, Chimbwanda VM, Gwizangwe I. Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2023;8(1), em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

Chicago

Mhishi, Misheck, Vimbai Marcia Chimbwanda, and Isaac Gwizangwe. "Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies". Pedagogical Research 2023 8 no. 1 (2023): em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

Harvard

Mhishi, M., Chimbwanda, V. M., and Gwizangwe, I. (2023). Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies. Pedagogical Research, 8(1), em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665

MLA

Mhishi, Misheck et al. "Embracing the new normal: Geography teachers’ preparedness and the use of e-learning methodologies". Pedagogical Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 2023, em0147. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/12665