Title: Teachers' time investment in online teaching

Authors: Qiyun Wang; Choon Lang Quek; Baichang Zhong

Addresses: Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, 637616, Singapore ' Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, 637616, Singapore ' School of Educational Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China

Abstract: Online teaching has evolved from a marginal form of education to an increasingly popular alternative. However, teachers often have the concern that online teaching requires more time than traditional classroom teaching. This review selected 25 empirical studies published in recent years to investigate what instructional activities in online courses require teachers to spend a great amount of time on than in classroom teaching, what factors affect their time commitment, and what strategies can be used to reduce their time investment but without compromising the quality of online courses. Results show that teachers often spend a large quantity of time communicating with individual students, participating in and grading of online discussions, and preparing and maintaining online courses. The primary factors affect teachers' time commitment in online courses include class size, communication, and institutional support. Strategies for balancing students' learning outcomes and reducing teachers' time investment are summarised, and research areas for future studies are proposed.

Keywords: class size; communication; online courses; online teaching; teacher workload; time investment; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning; time commitment; online discussions; institutional support; learning outcomes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2017.080995

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2017 Vol.27 No.1/2, pp.111 - 121

Received: 05 Dec 2015
Accepted: 11 Apr 2016
Published online: 14 Dec 2016 *

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