Perception of the effectiveness of webinars on English language teachers in Western India

Abstract

The proliferation of webinars and other similar web-based educational offerings attests to the interest in this instructional modality on the part of educators and learners in the area of English Language Teaching. With enforced lockdown and work-from-home becoming essential for teachers across the world, many educators enrolled themselves for a number of online events that include online courses, virtual conferences, and webinars. Never before, teachers in such a large number had attended or organized virtual events. Moreover, there are no established policies and experience in organizing such events. In light of the above background, the proposed study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of these webinars attended by English Language teachers in western India.
The main objective of the study is to appraise the experience, learning outcomes, and the overall efficacy of the webinars. Data for the study were collected through questionnaires. And it was used to explore the English Teachers’ acceptance of Webinars as a training tool based on four beliefs about Webinars i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, and intention to use Webinars as a training tool. Theoretically, the study joins the research tradition of sociocultural theories and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, CSCL, as well the theoretical approach of self-efficacy and Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE) concerned with individuals’ media and information literacy.
Results suggest that the webinars had a positive impact on the teachers and they learned a great deal about factors such as subject knowledge, skills for designing courses and delivering sessions, and understanding of key issues in planning and delivering classroom lectures.