SOUTH KOREAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has created many formidable challenges for educational institutions around the world. This case study sought to gain insight into South Korean university students’ satisfaction with online learning during the pandemic. It also obtained participant recommendations for improving online learning. Participants included 20 South Korean students studying at a university in central South Korea. Data included open-ended surveys, a focus group, and semi-structured interviews. Most students had mixed feelings in regard to satisfaction with online classes. A salient result is a need for more interaction in online classes. Students also provided a wide range of recommendations to improve online learning. Through these recommendations, university educators and administrators can better optimize online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the crisis has dissipated. © 2022, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education. All Rights Reserved.

Predicting social presence in videoconference-supported LMS courses: Mediation through L2 writing and speaking strategies

The issue addressed here concerns how second language (L2) speaking strategies mediate the relationship between L2 writing strategies and the social presence component of the community of inquiry (CoI) framework within the context of fully online courses that combined learning management system (LMS) for writing tasks and videoconferencing for live classroom discussion. L2 writing strategies related to planning and reviewing contribute to composing tests that students want to upload, present, and discuss, and this sharing is expected to foster classroom social behaviors and consequent language gains. For the current study, a cross-sectional survey of 256 university students was initiated to investigate the mediating effect L2 speaking strategies have on the relationship between L2 writing strategies and social presence. The results indicated positive path coefficients between review strategies and speaking strategies, review strategies and social presence, planning strategies and speaking strategies, and speaking strategies and social presence. Further, speaking strategies explain the relationship between planning strategies and social presence, indicating full mediation. Partial mediation was found for the path between review strategies and social presence. Recognizing how L2 writing and speaking strategies relate to one another and how that relationship influences a CoI illustrates the interconnectivity between language skills. Evidently, increased attention to planning and reviewing strategies results in a final composition worth sharing and discussing, and such sharing and discussion are building blocks to a vibrant social presence.

Calm down: A mediation model on the mitigating effect anxiety has on learner interactions and learning outcome

Learners in videoconference-mediated classrooms are expected to interact regardless of their varied demographic and behavioral characteristics, including susceptibility to foreign language (FL) anxiety. With a focus on apprehension, the present study aimed to better understand the influence students' FL anxiety has on the relationship between learner interactions and academic self-efficacy beliefs. To this end, questionnaire data was collected from 647 South Korean university students attending emergency remote online classes through Zoom's videoconference platform. Structural equation modeling was carried out to identify the mediating effect of FL classroom anxiety on the relationship between academic self-efficacy beliefs and interactions. Findings revealed full mediation on the path coefficient from learner-learner interaction to learning expectations, while no mediation effect was observed between learner-instructor interactions and learning expectations. Increasing levels of learner-learner interactions were associated with increasing FL anxiety, partly explaining the positive path between learner-learner interactions and expected academic performance. Unlike learner-instructor interactions, learner-learner interactions increase communication anxiety, consequently decreasing expected learning outcomes.

Students' Satisfaction with Online Learning Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This research aims to evaluate the level of postsecondary student satisfaction with online learning platforms and learning experiences during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This paper is based on transformative learning theories [1], which describe the learners' authority and investment over their learning. Quantitative research was carried out using a survey sent out to 283 students enrolled at one higher education institution in KSA. These data were analyzed using SPSS. Average Mean Score (AMS) was used for data analysis, where the results are validated using the Standard Deviation (SD), Skewness and Kurtosis test, and Cronbach Alpha test. The research findings revealed that the students are satisfied with the university staff and faculty members who agreed on specific online platforms to use, grading system, assessment options, training workshops, online technical support, and more. The research findings also showed that participants were highly satisfied with Google Hangouts the most for lecture delivery, followed by Google Classroom and LMS (Moodie) for course management and assessments. With only respect to the students' online learning experiences, the COVID-19 situation within this study context was handled adequately. This study calls for further research into integrating professional development workshops and practical training courses for online learning and teaching to endorse innovative teaching techniques and alternative assessment plans for instructors, learners, administrators, and policymakers.