Faculty Perceptions of Self-efficacy in Remote Teaching during COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in a Selected University in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to establish the faculty perceptions of self-efficacy in remote teaching during COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in a selected University in Sub-Saharan Africa. A quantitative survey method was used to collect data, analyse, and interpret results. The modified 24-items, 5 point Likert Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) developed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (as cited in Butucha, 2010) was used to gather data. It consisted of possible responses ranging from 1 = nothing to 5 = a great deal. Participants were 69 male (68.3%) and 32 female (31.7%) faculty members drown from a total of 145 across all schools in the selected university. The survey instrument assessed self-efficacy in three areas; instructional strategies, classroom management and student engagement. Data was gathered immediately after the faculty had completed their remote teaching and administered the final examinations online while still in the CIOVID-19 pandemic Lockdown.  Since all faculty members were in the lockdown, online survey was sent out to them in google forms. Using excel for Windows version 10, a statistical analysis of the data was done. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were generated to answer the research question. Results revealed that the faculty believed that they can do quite a bit in student engagement (M=4.03, SD=0.81), instructional strategies (M=3.98, SD=0.80) and classroom management (M=3.93, SD =0.79), in teaching remotely during the COVID 19 lockdown. The study recommends  that since technology use in the classroom is now inevitable, the faculty should make intentional efforts to move from doing quite a bit to a great deal in online instructional strategies, classroom management and student engagement.