Changing the Educational Beliefs of Teachers through an Interdisciplinary Online Teaching Programme: Are Business Teachers Different from Teachers of other Disciplines?

Abstract

Due to larger class sizes in business education, a common assumption amongst business teachers is that using a student-centred approach is more difficult. However, an important development in business education is the increased learning possibilities brought by ICT that suggest a more individualised learning experience for students is possible. Nonetheless, many business teachers appear reluctant to embrace technology in the classroom. An online teacher training programme in a cross-institutional partnership was followed by 16 business teachers from three institutes, working with 49 teachers from other disciplines. Data were gathered in an explorative, quantitative manner using the Teacher Beliefs and Intentions questionnaire and TPACK questionnaire using a pre-post test design. The results indicate that business teachers are more persistent in their beliefs and intentions towards knowledge transmission, while teachers from other disciplines became more student-centred. Given that this intensive innovative training programme seemed to have limited impact, this implies that business schools may need to reconsider their professionalization activities for academic staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]