A descriptive qualitative study of instructors' perceptions in transitioning from a traditional classroom to online instruction

This descriptive qualitative case study explored the perceptions of instructors when transitioning from teaching in a traditional classroom to teaching in an online classroom in a community college environment. Twenty-two instructors who completed this transition were interviewed to determine the challenges they experienced. This study examined issues in leadership, changes, and adult education that were experienced by the instructors and addressed by the leadership at a community college. The leaders at similar schools can review the outcomes and recommendations to determine how results can be translated to similar schools transitioning to online instructional programs. The six themes explored were (a) communication; (b) training; (c) technology; (d) time; (e) standards; (e) security. These themes from this qualitative data were analyzed to compare perceived issues in transitioning from a traditional classroom setting to an online classroom.