ABSTRACT
In light of the ongoing concern of the Indonesian Ministry of Education to continuously upgrade teachers' competence in the use of technology and impart critical thinking as part of 21st-century skills, this study sought to examine language teachers' self-perception of their TPACK and Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) competence during the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, an explanatory sequential mixed-method study was designed to gather data from 137 languages (English and Bahasa Indonesia) teachers from various parts of Indonesia, employing a questionnaire and interview for data collection. The quantitative and qualitative data analysis revealed that the teachers perceived a rise in all TPACK subdomains, with the highest increment in TK and the smallest for CK. The teachers also rated themselves higher in HOTS and opined that TPACK supported HOTS-based lesson implementation. The implications for teacher training and pedagogy are also discussed. © 2023, The Pacific Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (PacCALL). All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Aim/Purpose This study aimed at exploring students' online-learning exposures involving their readiness and motivation to learn English using synchronous video conferences, as well as investigating the possible relationship between the readiness and motivation. To fulfill these objectives, three research questions were formed: (1) What is students' readiness to learn English using synchronous video conferences? (2) What is students' motivation to learn English using synchronous video conferences? (3) Is there any correlation between students' readiness and their motivation to learn English using synchronous video conferences? Background Due to the urgency of Covid-19 pandemic in the educational field, the Indonesian Minister of Education requested that all schooling activities must be conducted online as announced in the Learning from Home Policy starting on March 24, 2020. In this case, students are forced to struggle with the unfamiliar and challenging learning situations that their readiness and motivation to learn are worth questioning. Methodology The participants in this descriptive research, combining both a survey and correlation study, were 116 Indonesian high schoolers. They came from two different private schools as the particular adaptive curriculum has been reshaped and implemented in each school during this pandemic. In order to collect the data of students' readiness and motivation while they were learning English using synchronous video conferences, an online Likert-Scale questionnaire was distributed to all participants. Furthermore, a semi-structured interview was conducted to dig deeper into students' online-learning exposures. Contribution The results of this study can become a reference to create an effective and successful online learning environment. This study offers fresh and genuine insights coming from students on how ready and motivated they were within unfamiliar learning situations. The obstacles faced by students are also presented. Three pillars were used to construct the questionnaire and to analyze the findings: (1) four online readiness factors, (2) ARCS model of motivation, and (3) the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Hence, the findings of this research can also expand educators' and researchers' knowledge whether the readiness and motivation can be improved through the three frameworks. Findings This study shows how students' readiness and motivation are influenced by unfamiliar situations of synchronous online learning. Firstly, students are already confident with their technical skills and their familiarity with the use of technology. However, their readiness in terms of self-discipline is the lowest. Secondly, students' motivation cannot be consistently high because of two drawbacks that demotivated them within their online learning. Furthermore, this study also found that there is significant positive correlation between readiness and motivation. Hence, the readiness and motivation factors cannot be simply ignored within the online learning progress. Recommendations for Researchers As our findings reveal, Teacher Presence is important as it enhances Cognitive Presence and supports students to experience Social Presence. Therefore, the roles of teachers that cover designing and providing meaningful learning activities, acting as a model to engage students in online discussion, employing effective strategies to deliver direct instruction and managing class, should be completely fulfilled. Instead of consistently sustaining the teacher-centered style, teachers may sharpen their technical skills along with their pedagogical knowledge. Online learning can be effective as teachers could design and implement the student-centered learning style in synchronous virtual meetings. Recommendations for Researchers Learning from Home is a new policy that was published because of the Covid-19 pandemic urgency. The learning process happening in a synchronous virtual environment is new for both Indonesian teachers and students. Accordingly, more researchers in this topic involving a wider level of students coming from rural and urban areas are still needed. Impact on Society By showing how students' readiness and motivation are influenced in the online learning process, this study offers a reference that students can have better opportunities of an effective and successful online-learning environment. This study also discusses the obstacles mostly faced by students. Following the frameworks used, this study also gives an opportunity for educators to expand their knowledge to take part in solving any problems related to the investigated is sues. Future Research As technology must still be developing and online learning is possibly sustained closely after the pandemic, its development must be continuing. As the idea of online learning through synchronous meetings is new, issues related to this learning situation can still be investigated so that Indonesian teachers can gradually create more effective and successful online learning.
ABSTRACT
Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore language teachers’ online engagement during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Four questions guided the inquiry in this study: 1) To what extent did teachers engage in online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic? 2) What challenges did teachers encounter while engaging in online learning during the Covid-19 crisis? 3) How has the suspension of face-to-face classroom meetings changed teachers’ practices? and 4) What were their hopes for the future of education in their respective regions? Background: The sudden learn-from-home mode enacted since 24 March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic has forced all schools to shift into online learning with no or little preparation in terms of internet access, teacher capacity, and stu-dent-parent readiness. All in all, the pandemic disruption has shed light on the widening digital divide that has serious implications for the human capital development in Indonesia Methodology: This case study involved 18 teachers from four regions in Indonesia. Data were collected through an online survey, weekly reflections, and interviews with the teachers. A group interview with five students for each of the 18 teachers was used as triangulation. To probe more deeply into a representative sample for a variety of attributes, the researchers then focused on four teachers for a more in-depth analysis. Contribution: Knowledge of the impacting factors on online learning engagement can aid in resolving the issues and providing equal opportunities for all students. This study highlighted that teachers in remote regions would need a more top-down intervention from education authorities and offered two recommendations to the government to overcome the widening digital divide as amplified by the current school suspension. This study presents interesting results pertaining to online learning engagement during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Insights gained in this study would contribute to the perspective on the challenges and dilemmas faced by educators and students elsewhere while engaging in online learning. Findings: This study found an interplay of five related factors of online learning pro-cesses against five levels of engagement. Those five factors are learners, teachers’ prior exposure to online learning, technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and the support system. Teachers in this study were still struggling to enhance the quality of online learning engagement. Nevertheless, given the rising awareness of the inadequacy of their online learning delivery and a renewed sense of commitment, these teachers had high hopes that they would be able to enhance their competence and improve their professional practices. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study found most teacher participants have, within a short period, enhanced their technological knowledge (TK) regardless of their prior exposure to technology. Teachers can be encouraged to integrate their technological knowledge with pedagogical and content knowledge to develop their techno-logical pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) by participating in the government program for teacher professional development. Recommendations for Researchers: This study involves only language teachers;therefore, future researchers are invited to involve non-language teachers so that more conclusive findings can be obtained. Impact on Society: Knowledge of the impacting factors on online learning engagement can aid in resolving the issues and providing equal opportunities for all students. More importantly, the lessons learned should enlighten educators that technology integration into sound pedagogy would transform current practices into quality learning. Future Research: Issues related to technology integration in education can still be unearthed especially because the budding insights of online learning will steadily be developing in post-pandemic realm, particularly in Indonesia. © 2020