Problems in Online Teaching Environments

In the second part of the interviews, the participants provided their experiences in using online teaching environments. The conversations revealed the teachers' problems in using online platforms, their expectations of how online technology could help design teaching, and suggestions for the design of an online teaching environment. While providing suggestions, the participants also answered questions about three aspects of online teaching environments: platform, interface and

structure. The aspect of the platform is related to the general usability of a teaching environment, such as tools provided in a platform. The aspect of the interface is determined by the graphic elements of the interface, such as colours and layouts of the teaching environment. The aspect of the structure is related to the major functions and operation of the environment. The questions for the three aspects are as followed:

Platform/Environment

1. What platform or software do you use for your online teaching? 2. Why do you use them?

3. Are you satisfied with these tools?

4. What can be improved in the online workplace?

Interface (colour, layout)

1. Are you satisfied with the interface? 2. What can be improved in the interface?

Structure (function, operation)

1. Does the structure of the platform (includes function and operation) fit your needs?

2. What can be improved in the structure?

The interview results suggest that Blackboard was the major platform used by the participants, and because it is not specifically designed for the creative community, the platform contains many problems for the participants and needs substantial improvement to fit design teaching practices. Especially for communication, the participants tended to use their favourite tools instead of the built-in tools on online platforms. For example, Teacher Wright mainly conducted his teaching in classrooms and used e-mail as the primary tool for communicating. He also preferred PDF files for

making course materials because of the relatively smaller file size compared to other file formats. In addition, the popularity of PDF ensures that students can open files easily. Teacher Wright also considered it difficult to implement hands-on activities and explore design ideas in current online environments. An online teaching environment should have areas for discussion, transmitting materials, and giving feedback. Similarly, Teacher Foley used other tools like Skype or Facebook for communication. He rarely used Blackboard because he considered the platform had become too complicated for communication. He said technology should help people do things rather than see things. He preferred software that is clear, understandable and not overpowering. He suggested that, for example, ABC Pool, an online environment developed by ABC Radio National to facilitate sharing, remixing and downloading among its members, would allow students to join and communicate with the public.

For the expectations and suggestions from the participants, Teacher Foley considered that the studio grouping function and good communication was essential. An ideal online teaching environment should allow a human connection. Other available Internet applications, such as email, Facebook or Skype, could help form an environment in which people can quickly get familiar with each other. He mentioned the interface of Blackboard was boring and user-unfriendly. Having too many hidden functions, Blackboard was described as complicated and unpleasant, despite some efficient functions such as obtaining library resources. Because Teacher Ivanka could handle different digital tools due to her own background in digital media, she changed her teaching tools each year. She suggested placing different functions, such as blogs and wikis, in one place for teachers to better manage teaching activities and review students’ works. She saw some common problems with Blackboard and other similar applications. Blackboard’s structure was too complicated for her; she had not learned

many of the available features. Teacher Ivanka considered the interface of Blackboard to be ugly; without any design value, Blackboard presented a lousy environment for design teaching. Like Teacher Foley, Teacher Ivanka considered the function of working in groups most important. Excellent communication and getting teachers and students well connected could be a challenge but a must for online teaching.

Teacher Glickfeld's experience in online teaching was limited to the use of Blackboard. She said that she did not like Blackboard because of its complication and restrictive structure. Her courses were affected by the bad design of the platform. Also, the discussion function lacked the roll calling function. Students preferred face-to-face discussion instead of chatting online. She emphasised that every teacher had his or her personal preference for teaching or communication; however, Blackboard did not allow much customisation of the environment. She suggested popup windows showing a students’ background would improve communication with students and make teachers attentive to students’ problems.

The interviews revealed the situation design teachers faced in online teaching and their urgent need for a better online teaching environment. Current online teaching platforms are designed for general purposes, not for design teaching. Several problems exist in Blackboard for the participants. The structure is too complicated for the teachers to obtain a whole view of the environment and use all the functions. All the participants considered Blackboard too hard to understand and operate. They used more popular and ready-to-use tools for supplementing teaching activities. The interface design also appears to be an important concern, especially for design teachers. The visual appearance and quality of the interface affect how design teachers like using an online platform. Due to the various needs of design teaching,

and the teaching assistant had to spend more time catering to the online class than the traditional one (Bender et al., 2004). However, this effort is often not considered as work, and indirectly increases the teacher’s workload (Mirzajani, Mahmud, Ayub, & Wong., 2016). A survey of Irish teachers identified technology integration as a reason for the increased workload. In fact, 74% of the survey participants claimed that preparation time for classes increased with technology integration. This extra time is effectively time spent on work outside of timetabled hours, and 98 per cent of teachers admitted to taking their work home with them (Humphreys, 2015). The resources spent on educating teachers on the integration and training maintenance and service staff should also be factored in while calculating the actual resources needed for technology integration in education (Bates, 1999).

Conceiao and Lehman (2010) claim that the increased workload in online teaching usually arises from the pressure exerted by the school administration. There is a misconception that online instructors should be available 24 hours a day. Also, teachers are concerned with the changing expectations that how they should conduct online teaching (Redmond, 2011). Little has been done to co-ordinate approaches or to devise strategies that can help online teachers to balance their workload successfully. Palloff and Pratt (Palloff & Pratt, 2013) suggest that training and institutional support is an effective way to help them develop strategies to balance the workload. Redmond (2011) suggests that support, along with providing teachers with opportunities to critically evaluate and assess their teaching practices, will allow for better technology intervention. However, without such facilities and support systems, teachers are likely to resist any technology integration measures, leading to ineffective use or underuse of technology in learning.

teaching environment needs to be flexible and customisable to meet the dynamic and activities in design teaching.

Chapter 6: Reflecting on the Teaching