Instructional methods in emergency online teaching: The case of a Latin American business school

Abstract

Instructional methods have an impact on the learning process and the quality of educational services aimed at accomplishing learning objectives. The purpose of this paper is to examine the most preferred instructional methods during emergency online teaching used by instructors. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 36 full-time and part-time faculty members belonging to an accredited Hispanic business school. The results showed that faculty used many different instructional methods during synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Similarly, there is a relationship between the professors’ academic areas and the instructional methods used. Based on these results, this study proposes a reference model of instructional methods for higher education based on professors’ experiences during emergency online teaching that includes five categories: group methods, active methods to contribute to the development of competencies, methods to ascertain prior knowledge, methods that promote understanding through the organization of information and methods that use digital tools. The originality of the study lies in the fact that it analyzes the migration experience from in-person to online teaching at an accredited Hispanic business institution.