What Can We Learn about Science Teachers’ Technology Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe teachers’ experiences in a technology-mediated teaching context during the COVID-19 pandemic. We mainly focused on teachers’ experiences with technology use (change and variety of the use) and their willingness to use technology in teaching. We designed an interview-based study. The participants were Estonian science teachers who voluntarily agreed to share their experiences about teaching in new and—for most of them—unexpected, distanced learning conditions. Based on teachers’ reflections on technology use we could distinguish between three groups in which teachers described different levels of willingness to use technology, change in technology use from pre-COVID to distanced learning, and variety in the use of technology. Our results revealed that the higher teachers’ perceived willingness to use technology, the easier it was for them to overcome potential obstacles and cope with the unexpected distanced learning. The main obstacles there were grouped as external (e.g., issues with internet connection, lack of students’ digital skills) and internal (e.g., teachers’ beliefs about technology use for teaching). I was observed that some obstacles were shared by all teachers (such as limitations on students’ digital skills) whereas others where more prevalent in separate groups. This highlights the importance of understanding and considering the variability in the possible obstacles that emerge in using technology in education for teachers with different levels of experience.