Research Article
Mohammed AbdAlgane
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep476
ABSTRACT
Due to the quick effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the educational system, English instructors were required to retrain and build a new normal in order to prepare for an online classroom while still keeping their teaching style and professional identity. The study’s overarching goal was to look at how English teachers’ developing senses of who they are as professionals have affected their views on remote learning. 135 Middle Eastern English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers were surveyed for the research. Responses to a questionnaire based on the teacher professional identity scale and semi-structured interviews with 13 participants provided the data for this analysis. Content analysis was used to categorize the codes representing the qualitative information gleaned from the semi-structured interviews. It seems that many EFL teachers were unprepared for the pedagogical and technical problems they faced while teaching English to foreign students online, and this has had a profoundly destructive impact on the instructors’ professional identities as they migrate away from teaching in-person. The findings revealed that the participants’ long-term engagement with Edu-Tech during and after their formal education significantly influenced their perception of themselves as professionals. Possible avenues for further research include action research, increasing faculty and staff awareness, and continuous professional development.
Keywords: e-learning, COVID-19 pandemic, information and communication technologies, professional identity of teachers
Research Article
Nazir Ahmed Jogezai, Diana Koroleva, Fozia Ahmed Baloch
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep466
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic, which posed challenges for accommodating student learning, also opened avenues for using digital resources in online learning. However, differences were observed in their use, effectiveness, and intensity across developed and least developed societies. This is referred to as “digital inequalities,” caused by factors such as insufficient organizational-level support and teachers’ digital competence (DC). This study was conducted to determine teachers’ DC and reveal if their DC was explained by their digital nativeness and principals’ digital instructional leadership capital. The study used a quantitative research method, whereby data were collected from 393 teachers. The researchers used SmartPLS 4 and SPSS 24 to analyze data. The findings complement the available literature and help pave ways to promote the integration of digital resources in teaching and learning.
Keywords: digital nativeness, digital competence, digital inclusion, digital instructional leadership, COVID-19 pandemic, teacher
Review Article
Bui Phuong Uyen, Duong Huu Tong, Lu Kim Ngan
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep433
ABSTRACT
Online project-based learning (PjBL) is an increasingly popular teaching approach in higher education, especially in teacher education. Implementing online PjBL differs across subjects, bringing many benefits while posing challenges for educators and pre-service teachers. This systematic review aims to investigate the implementation, effectiveness and challenges of adopting PjBL in teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review provided a thorough overview of research on PjBL in teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was carried out using the systematic review methodology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Several relevant articles from five different databases (Google Scholar, Mendeley, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Taylor & Francis Online) were collected using the keywords “project-based learning” and “teacher education” along with their synonyms. A final list of 26 included articles to be reviewed in this study is produced after the titles and abstracts screening and full texts evaluation using inclusion and exclusion criteria. This systematic review reveals that PjBL has been applied in teaching various subjects in teacher education with different types of projects and assessment methods. More importantly, integrating PjBL in teaching has been proven to positively impact the development of pre-service teachers’ knowledge, professional skills and learning attitudes. In addition, applying PjBL poses certain challenges for educators due to the requirements on teachers’ and students’ knowledge and skills as well as equipment and technology facilities. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic, if viewed positively, contributes to boosting educators’ motivation and facilitating the implementation of online PjBL. The study findings can be used as a reference for future PjBL research and contribute to the literature on PjBL in the context of teacher education.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, online project-based learning, teacher education, systematic review
Research Article
Omar Sulaymani, Ahmad R. Pratama, Moneer Alshaikh, Ali Alammary
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 2, Article No: ep349
ABSTRACT
In Saudi Arabia, some e-learning initiatives such as the Future Gate Project (FGP) and Madrasati (MySchool) have been in place since 2018 and 2020, respectively. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they were used as a means of distance learning for students across the country. This paper investigates the willingness of students to use the e-learning platforms and whether it varies across different sex and age group. Primary data in the form of a survey of 265 secondary school students across the Makkah region was analysed with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework. We found that students’ self-efficacy, which is strongly influenced by their previous experience with the underlying technology used in the e-learning platforms, has a positive effect for older students in high school, yet surprisingly, a negative one for younger students in middle school. We also found that perceived ease of use and social influence to be the most important factors behind the students’ acceptance of e-learning platforms and that the effects are stronger for female students than for male students. While this study was conducted in Saudi Arabia, the findings from this study provide a first-hand insight that can help ensure the continuity of the e-learning platforms if they are to be implemented permanently as distance learning platforms even after the end of the pandemic that is also applicable to any other countries.
Keywords: e-learning, distance learning, previous experience, self-efficacy, COVID-19 pandemic
Research Article
Umut Akcil, Mert Bastas
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article No: ep291
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on people’s social interaction and has brought changes on education, environment and economy. COVID-19, which affects every aspect of life, has produced results that require re-evaluating the perspective on education. Distance learning, digital learning, e-learning has reshaped education in many ways. There can be a chance of the pandemic in the digital age to turn into an advantage for the education sector. In this period, it can be said that those who have high interest in technology move more easily in distance education and e-learning processes. In this context, expressing the best skills in the digital age, it was thought that the concept of digital citizenship would have positive effects on e-learning. This study is a relational survey and tested by establishing a relationship between digital citizenship and e-learning. The study was conducted among higher education students. It has been observed that there is a positive relationship between digital citizenship behaviors and e-learning attitudes. In addition, it has been observed that the negative anxiety of students due to the pandemic is reflected in their e-learning processes. However, overall results show that digital citizenship behavior digital learning process could be a positive response to COVID-19 closure period.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning, digital citizenships, digital age, higher education