Al-Azkiya : International Journal Languages and Education

In 2020 the world was shaken by COVID-19 pandemic that technically changed the way the world works in almost all domains from business, governance, education, and lifestyles. As the pandemic spreads globally, with little signs for improvement, the world has made adjustments to live with the virus. The education sector suddenly shifted from face-to-face and blended learning classes to full online class. This paper explores the experiences of several tertiary students’ online learning experiences with two objectives: discovering their initial expectations towards online learning as well as investigating the challenges encountered by the students in online learning. The research design of the current study is a case study involving seven tertiary students who were enrolled in English language degree in a public university in Malaysia. Data were collected through essay and semi-structured interviews. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, all interviews were conducted using several online platforms. Data was then analysed using a thematic analysis using qualitative data analysis software; Atlas-ti. The findings show that the students had a positive presumption about online learning initially but was struck with the harsh realities of online learning afterwards. Among the challenges they faced were lack of physical touch, solitary learning, and issues with technological aspects. The findings are crucial to understand the obstacles faced by our learners in grasping with online learning, and with this understanding several practical steps can be taken to overcome the said issues.

One of the fundamental aspects during the current teaching practicum is the inclusion of innovation in the classroom, but guidance on this aspect is lacking. This paper provides a description of a proposed rubric to be used for assessing innovation teaching practicum. Three documents were reviewed and analysed by looking at the alignment between learning and innovation constructs. The outcome was a rubric that consisted of eight constructs, which aligns with the learning objectives, the national content and learning standard, and assessment, as outlined by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. The proposed rubric was later reviewed by two inter-raters.

During the Covid-19, online education, the only alternative to the face-to-face education had a number of limitations and challenges such as, the negative conception about the lack of quality, non-achievement of learning outcomes, chances of unfair means in examinations, digital divide and the lack of trained teachers. So, it was assumed that blended education can be an effective alternative to the online education. But there was no research as to authenticate the efficacy of this method. This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of students and teachers about blended learning. This is a qualitative, in particular, case study. The data came from interviews with 15 student participants and two teachers who conducted a blended course, their discussions, and postings on online forums, such as Facebook, Google Classroom, and student journals. Data collected from these sources were analyzed following the qualitative data analysis method. The majority of the participants in this study opine that the blended method is a useful substitute for traditional classroom instruction for the universities of Bangladesh. This method, they reported, offered them opportunities such as more flexibility, increased learning through teacher and peer feedback, scope for self-exploration, better and enhanced interaction, an increase of technological skills, and higher-order thinking though there are a number of challenges of blended method such as the digital divide, and the lack of teacher training. This study can be an eye-opener for stakeholders like UGC Bangladesh, university authorities to improve the quality of higher education.