Date of Publication :2nd September 2024

Abstract:The paper discusses lecturers’ acceptance of, perceived challenges, and prospects of online co-teaching in a teacher education programme of a South African university of technology. Many higher education institutions have added digital features to support active learning and, thus, seek creative technology-based teaching strategies to develop students’ learning. However, the challenge is that lecturers are faced with difficulties in adopting technology for online co-teaching. The article is shaped by the technology acceptance model as the principal lens underpinning the study. This is a qualitative paper that responded to two questions: What are the lecturers’ acceptance of and perceived challenges of online co-teaching strategies in large classes and how can online co-teaching in large classes be implemented effectively and what are its prospects? The analysis found that online co-teaching is perceived to be user friendly and easy to use for teaching large classes and has good prospects and the potential to solve the issues related to large classes. However, lecturers do experience challenges, such as low student engagement, the need to adapt online co-teaching methods, lack of co-planning and effective collaboration and technical problems. In light of the findings, the study suggests that lecturers are equipped with knowledge and skills for engaging students in large online collaborative classes. Enhancing online collaboration strategies and the matter of computer anxiety are factors that should be taken into consideration.

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