Teaching efficacy of U.S. Air Force enlisted professional military educators during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Air Force Enlisted Professional Military Education (EPME) was forced to deliver traditionally in-person leadership development interventions in an online, instructor-facilitated format for the first time in the history of the programme. Despite the absence of training to teach in online learning environments, hundreds of instructors within 80 schoolhouses were charged with embracing this pedagogic shift to continue developing enlisted leaders during a global pandemic. This study examined the sense of self-efficacy of 129 instructors across all levels of U.S. Air Force EPME by utilising a 32-item self-efficacy measurement instrument. This study has implications for enlisted and officer professional military education leaders interested in training and developing faculty to teach in online learning environments. Overall, instructors felt confident in their abilities to teach online, despite pre-service training having focussed solely on in-person instruction. Results indicated a positive relationship between higher senses of self-efficacy and years of instructors’ experience. Instructors who worked with an instructional support specialist showed a significantly higher sense of self-efficacy than instructors who did not. Future studies should aim to integrate multiple perspectives of the efficacy of U.S. Air Force EPME instructors, such as those from students, administrators and colleagues.