The shift from face-to-face to online teaching due to COVID-19: Its impact on higher education faculty's professional identity

With the COVID-19 emergency shift to online teaching, it is timely to investigate the impact of online teaching on teachers' professional identity, namely their beliefs and roles. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data from four faculty members working at different UAE universities, aiming to incorporate teachers' voices and practices in the research process. Findings showed teachers' professional identity underwent some phases of instability as tensions arose between the way they viewed themselves, their beliefs, and their practices in the online environment. Teachers experienced changes related to their pedagogical, managerial, and social roles and practices.