Question

Under the COVID-19 outbreak, universities and schools around the world had suspended face-to-face classes to prevent the rapid spread of the virus among students and staff. This sudden disruption to face-to-face education reshaped pedagogical practices and led to the rapid adoption of online teaching among universities. Subsequently, academics working at universities, at the frontline of those changes, faced enormous levels of pressure and disturbance to their professional roles and practices. For those without sufficient knowledge or experience for effective online teaching, this sudden transition was particularly challenging. In normal circumstances, designing an online course follows a systematic instructional design process with careful consideration of the unique characteristics of target learner groups and the chosen instructional medium. During the rapid adoption of online teaching in response to COVID-19, however, systematic instructional design procedures and team-based support for course development and preparation were unavailable. Instead, individual academics were given the challenge alone to teach online with a limited level of support and guidance from their school or university - the task was even more difficult in this situation where they were remotely working from home.