University Lecturers’ Perception of the Essential Skills and Tasks for Successful Online Teaching in the Post-Covid-19 Era

Abstract

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the future of teaching and learning whether it is accepted or not. It has changed the nature of face-to-face teaching and enabled the rapid growth of blended and online teaching and learning. This study examined university lecturers’ perception of the essential skills and tasks for successful online teaching in the post-covid-19 era. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis was tested in the study. The study used a descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised all the lecturers in universities in North-west, Nigeria. A sample of 214 lecturers was selected. A structured questionnaire tagged Skills and Tasks for Online Teaching Questionnaire (STOTQ) designed by the researcher and duly validated with a Cronbach reliability coefficient of 0.85 was used to gather data for the study. Two hundred and fourteen copies of the questionnaire were administered and were retrieved and used for the study. The data collected to answer the research question were analysed using mean and standard deviation. One-way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. The study found that interaction, management, technology content, organization/instruction design, and pedagogical skills are highly needed for successful online teaching in the post-covid-19 era, there was no significant difference between the responses of male and female lecturers on the essential skills and tasks needed for successful online teaching in the post-Covid-19 era F (1, 212) = 1.53, P> 0.05; Wilk's Λ = 0.886, η2 = 0.04. Based on the findings, it was concluded that interaction, management, technology, content, organisation/instructional design, and pedagogical skills and the tasks identified are essential for successful online teaching in the post-covid-19 era. Based on the findings of the study, the following is recommended; lecturers should use these identified skills to self-evaluate their ability to teach in an online environment and identify their training needs; as the work of academics moves from face-to-face mode to blended and online modes, especially because of covid-19, lecturers should critically question their practices and discuss with their peers for the adoption of new pedagogical practices for the new teaching spaces.