Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Microsoft Teams for Remote Learning

Abstract

This paper draws on social constructivism and the domestication model and investigates pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of Microsoft Teams for remote learning. This research is part of a descriptive cross-sectional study. It is neither causal nor relational. The participants comprised of 215 undergraduate pre-service teachers from an all-female teacher training college in Kuwait and were surveyed during year 1 of their three-year academic programme. Descriptive statistical analysis and One-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results indicated an overall positive perception of Microsoft Teams by all participants. The findings suggest that Microsoft Teams is an effective virtual leaning platform because of its quality, user friendliness and functionalities. The respondents perceived that the tool played a significant role in fostering interactive learning and for receiving and providing feedback. However, the pre-service teachers perceived that the platform was not suitable for independent learning and collaborative learning compared to other online collaborative tools. The empirical contribution of this study is founded on the fact that it is conducted in the context of virtual remote learning at an undergraduate teacher education level where there is limited empirical evidence. This study adds to and extends existing literature by contributing to an understanding of the domestication of virtual learning platforms when making the shift from purely traditional classrooms to remote learning.