ABSTRACT
As higher education institutions engage in technology-enhanced learning spaces, the question of how to structure these settings to be as effective as feasible arises. The synchronous hybrid learning environment, in which both on-site and remote students can participate in learning activities at the same time, is a unique new learning space. Given the relative newness of synchronous hybrid learning, there have been few research that have studied its application and efficacy. The context of this study is a technical college in Vietnam. The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' perceptions of synchronous hybrid teaching which has never been implemented in this school before. The results show that the teachers were well-prepared before switching to hybrid teaching. Several advantages of hybrid teaching were suggested, including (1) instructional flexibility, (2) optimal learning conditions for on-campus students, and (3) the ability for people who are Corona virus positive to study from home. Furthermore, several issues experienced by instructors were (1) class administration, (2) suitable activities for both online and onsite students, (3) greater energy from teachers, (4) interaction, and (5) technology. Recommendations were made as a result. Finally, challenges faced by both remote and online students as perceived by the teachers were recorded. The results of this study will be references for not only the studied institution but other educational institutions that want to employ this mode of teaching in their training program. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
As a result of the global health emergency in early 2020, colleges were forced to make a dramatic adjustment in their teaching-learning methodologies in order to meet the predefined competencies. Online teaching and learning has been employed in every level of education which brings both opportunities and challenges to all the stake holders in each educational institution. Hands-on courses, which need direct supervision of the instructors, are thought to be impossible to conducted via online platforms. However, during the lockdown it is a must to teach hands-on courses online. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the hands-on courses was conducted during the pandemic of the Covid-19 at a vocational college. It also explores the opportunities and challenges that lecturers faced, and collected recommendations for the unexpected future emergencies. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structure interviews with five academic heads at the college. The results show that they had careful preparation regarding technology skills, supplementary softwares and appropriate methodology for teaching hands-on courses online during the lockdown. Several difficulties were identified including (1) the lack of online learning skills and computer efficacy from students, (2) the difficulty in controlling students' practice activity, (3) poor internet connection from students' side, (4) the difficulty in providing feedback, (5) and the lack of standard equipment for practice. Recommendations were offered accordingly. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
Teachers and students have seen their practices thrust online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to learn new tools with little guidance or experience, and they also struggled with access and material support. Given that teachers' approaches to teaching are influenced by such emergency, this study was conducted to investigate teachers' experience of the transition to online teaching. The participants of this study were 20 teachers in a vocational college who have experiences of teaching online during the school closure. Due to the social distancing practice, email interview was applied. In the interview, teachers were required to provide information about the online teaching platforms and tools they used, their perceptions of pros and cons they witnessed, and their recommendations to help improve online teaching quality. The results reveal that the teachers have positive perceptions towards online teaching during the pandemic. Online teaching transition during the COVID-19 school lockdown elicited both opportunities and challenges for teachers. They also offered several suggestions for the institution to promote the quality of online teaching. This study provides implications for instructional planning and implementation. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: By using a technology acceptance model (TAM) on survey results collected from two member schools of a Vietnamese educational institution, this study aims to uncover the key factors that affect students’ acceptance of e-learning during the Covid-19 period. Design/methodology/approach: A bilingual questionnaire in English and Vietnamese was delivered. It was pre-tested on 30 participants before it was finalized. The authors first reviewed the measurement model and made adjustments to the theoretical TAM model. Then the adjusted TAM was used to investigate the relationships of the constructs in the model. Findings: The results of the structural model show that computer self-efficacy (CSE) has a positive impact on perceived ease of use (PEOU). There is also a positive relationship between system interactivity (SI) and PEOU. Surprisingly, the authors documented that PEOU has no significant impact on students’ attitudes (ATT). The results show that SI can moderately affect ATT. Finally, it is noted that the social factor (SF) directly affects the student’s attitudes (ATT). Research/limitations/implications: This study contains three limitations. First, as this study only focuses on undergraduate programs, readers should be careful in applying the findings and/or implications of this study to other education levels such as K-12, vocational training and postgraduate programs. Second, the findings are generated within the context of one type of e-learning, conducted via Google Meet. Therefore, future research is needed to provide further validation and comparison across other forms of e-learning. Finally, to further prevent the common bias problem, future research should use both five-point and seven-point Likert scales for the response options in the survey, as well as use negatively worded items. This will help prevent respondents from providing similar answers to all questions. Originality/value: This study has both theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, the study can provide a solid framework for similar studies. From a practical perspective, this study offers implications for governments and universities in the process of adopting e-learning, given that the Covid-19 pandemic is currently in its second and more dangerous wave. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.