Moving to a New Land: A Case Study of Secondary Teachers’ Experience of Online Teaching

In this paper, the authors seek, through the theoretical framework of situated cognition learning theory, to document and understand the experiences and views of teachers who are in their first year of instructing secondary students online. Using a case study methodology, the authors captured these secondary teachers’ perceptions of their most successful experiences in teaching online students, as well as their view of the challenges and difficulties they experienced in this transition. In turn, the authors wished to determine what supports are needed for secondary teachers to ease their transition to this new land. Three salient themes emerged through the analysis of data: interacting with students, interacting with and adapting curriculum, and pedagogical approaches and engaging in self-reflection on their role as teacher which led to deeper questions of establishing teacher – student relationships and effective e-pedagogy.