Teaching Indigenous Language Revitalization over Zoom

In this teaching reflection, co-authored by an instructor and a teaching assistant, we consider some of the unanticipated openings for deeper engagement that the “pivot” to online teaching provided as we planned and then delivered an introductory course on Indigenous language documentation, conservation, and revitalization from September to December 2020. We engage with the fast-growing literature on the shift to online teaching and contribute to an emerging scholarship on language revitalization mediated by digital technologies that predates the global pandemic and will endure beyond it. Our commentary covers our preparation over the summer months of 2020 and our adaptation to an entirely online learning management system, including integrating what we had learned from educational resources, academic research, and colleagues. We highlight how we cultivated a learning environment centered around flexibility, compassion, and responsiveness, while acknowledging the challenges of this new arrangement for instructors and students alike. Finally, as we reflect on some of the productive aspects of the online teaching environment—including adaptable technologies, flipped classrooms, and the balance between synchronous and asynchronous class meetings—we ask which of these may be constructively incorporated into face-to-face classrooms when in-person teaching resumes once more.

Engineering Students’ Perceptions and Acceptance of the Online Flipped Classroom for Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article reports on the results of an open-response survey sent out to IIUM Engineering students to elicit their thoughts and views about learning their courses online via the flipped learning mode. The decision to take academic courses online was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced many sectors, including the education sector, to either cease operations or make changes to their approaches. Hence the objective of the survey was to explore Biochemical Engineering students’ perceptions and acceptance of online flipped learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses were collected from 80 Year 2, 3 and 4 students of Engineering at the IIUM. The results showed an overwhelming acceptance of online flipped learning among the students where only a small percentage of 2.7% completely rejected it as a preferred online learning mode. A majority of the students expressed a reserved acceptance (64.9%) of it, while 27% accepted it unconditionally. A major concern that emerged from the findings was uncurated and poor selection of videos for students to study before class meetings. This suggests that the flipped classroom approach can result in ineffective online learning if it is not designed carefully. The findings have significant implications on the technological skills and pedagogical readiness of university lecturers to design and deliver online flipped learning in an effective manner.

Problematika dan Strategi Pembelajaran pada Masa Pandemi di Wilayah Pesisir Kepulauan Buton

This study aims to explain the problems and strategies of schools and teachers in coastal areas of the Buton islands in carrying out learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research method is descriptive qualitative. Primary data are collected through online questionnaires, observations, and interviews. Research informants come from the elements of teachers, high school principals, students and parents of participants, especially Muhammadiyah High School. Secondary data is obtained through literature studies. The data are analyzed using qualitative data analysis method consisting of data reduction, data presentation, data interpretation and conclusion drawing. From the results of the study, it is concluded that there are various problems in the implementation of learning in high schools during the pandemic-Covid-19. The problems are strongly related to the unpreparedness of schools, teachers, parents, and students in facing the transformation of learning during the pandemic. In addition, network unpreparedness also greatly affects the transformation of learning from offline to online to ineffective. Therefore, there are various strategies that schools and teachers try to implement to carry out learning, both online and face-to-face through limited class meetings and home visits. The results of this study show that the implementation of learning during the pandemic does not run effectively due to very complex problems. The role of the government is very important in preparing facilities and infrastructure to support the implementation of learning during the pandemic covid-19.

491 Supporting Virtual Student Inclusivity

Since 2005, Michigan State University has offered an online graduate-level course in animal welfare assessment. The course was designed to overcome geographic barriers in terms of limited instructor expertise in welfare at individual universities and to reach an international student audience. Over 280 students have taken the course—including undergraduate, veterinary, and graduate students; practicing veterinarians; and professionals. Students have attended from 22 states and 13 different countries, including Thailand, Canada, Nepal, Kenya, China, and Australia. The course was designed and continues to be modified to accommodate students attending from different time zones, with different types of technology, and with different speeds and reliabilities of Internet access. An asynchronous format is used, with content delivered via short, recorded lectures and videos as well as electronically available textbook chapters and journal articles. In response to student and instructor needs, the course has evolved from a tech heavy but bandwidth intensive format to one using simpler technology and less bandwidth to reduce student barriers to participate and ensure equitable content access and engagement. Content is offered through the Desire 2 Learn course management system at MSU, which also performs accessibility checks of content. Lectures and videos are captioned to help accommodate visually impaired students or those in noisy environments and PDF handout versions of lecture slides are also made available. Rubrics and examples are used to guide completion of assignments. In 2020, the course was co-taught by MSU, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Several class meetings were held via Zoom to allow students to meet and interact with each other, though issues with scheduling prohibited all students from attending. Feedback surveys indicate students are generally satisfied with course content, delivery technology and interactions with instructors and peers. Creating an inclusive virtual environment requires attention to student constraints, with simpler typically being more accommodating.

AN ANALYSIS OF 4C SKILLS IN TEACHING ENGLISH USING MOODLE AT IPB INTERNATIONAL

This research was qualitative research that aimed to find out how educators inserted the value of 4C skills in teaching English using Moodle. This research was conducted at The Tourism and Business Institute where this institute was not only a vocational institution but also had a specific policy to involve these four skills in the teaching and learning process. In this study, the researchers found two English lecturers who were implementing 4C skills in teaching English. These two participants were interviewed and observed to obtain data before being discussed in this study. From the findings, it is known that lecturers enter the 4C values in various ways. First, the lecturer includes the value of critical thinking which is dominated by using problem-based learning methods where the lecturer gives several cases that must be solved by students. In creative thinking skills, lecturers use project-based learning which requires students to provide creative ideas in the project completion process. In collaboration skills, lecturers insert this value by using group or pair assignments where students have to work together on assignments. Finally, the lecturer inserts the value of communication in almost every meeting, starting from discussions in forums created in Moodle to making dominant role-play-based assignments. Problems faced by lecturers when learning English using Moodle include there must be compulsion for students to interact, the lack of student awareness, the need for extra lecturers' efforts to adapt to this online learning media, internet connection problems and the Moodle mobile application system that is not in sync with Moodle on the website. Lecturers hope that Moodle can have a virtual meeting feature that can create virtual class meetings so that lecturers can communicate with students in real time.

Students and Parents’ Perceptions toward English Online Learning during Corona Virus Pandemic

E-learning dramatically changes the learning process. As a result, both teachers and students have to work hard to adapt to the process. In response to these changes, this study aims to analyze the perceptions of junior high school, senior high school, and parents regarding online learning. This study involved 44 parents, 24 junior high school students, and 20 high school students. Data were collected using two questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed quantitatively in the form of percentages. The results of data analysis show that junior high school students use computers/devices for online learning activities; however, they consider traditional methods (live class meetings) to be more appropriate than online learning. (2) High school students also use their computers/devices for online learning and have full support from their teachers, but they prefer traditional methods. They consider traditional methods more effective than online learning, and (3) parents prefer traditional methods over online learning. Therefore, teachers are advised to be creative in teaching online; parents are expected to continue to control their students' online learning. More research is needed so that more information about online learning can be obtained.

A Study of Class Meetings in VR: Student Experiences of Attending Lectures and of Giving a Project Presentation

We study student experiences of social VR for remote instruction, with students attending class from home. The study evaluates student experiences when: (1) viewing remote lectures with VR headsets, (2) viewing with desktop displays, (3) presenting with VR headsets, and (4) reflecting on several weeks of VR-based class attendance. Students rated factors such as presence, social presence, simulator sickness, communication methods, avatar and application features, and tradeoffs with other remote approaches. Headset-based viewing and presenting produced higher presence than desktop viewing, but had less-clear impact on overall experience and on most social presence measures. We observed higher attentional allocation scores for headset-based presenting than for both viewing methods. For headset VR, there were strong negative correlations between simulator sickness (primarily reported as general discomfort) and ratings of co-presence, overall experience, and some other factors. This suggests that comfortable users experienced substantial benefits of headset viewing and presenting, but others did not. Based on the type of virtual environment, student ratings, and comments, reported discomfort appears related to physical ergonomic factors or technical problems. Desktop VR appears to be a good alternative for uncomfortable students, and students report that they prefer a mix of headset and desktop viewing. We additionally provide insight from students and a teacher about possible improvements for VR class technology, and we summarize student opinions comparing viewing and presenting in VR to other remote class technologies.

Implementing Brown’s Teaching Principles on the Training of English for General Speaking Purpose for School Teachers and Staff

This community service aims to help secondary school teachers to learn and improve their English, speaking skill in particular, The community service team will collaborate to conduct 20 class meetings at the respective school. The participants are all school teachers, headmaster, and appointed school staff. This paper informs the result of Brown’s Teaching Principles in improving speaking skill of school teachers and staff. There were 10 teachers involved, 7 males and 3 females. Their ages range between 24 to 30 years. The community service team employed observation to record participants’ progress. The result shows that before commencing the training, participants were mostly unable to make self-introduction, tell daily activities, show directions, and make general exchange. At the end of the program, the participants were able to speak in English in the area of making self-introduction, telling about their daily activities, and making general daily exchange. They were also capable of showing people direction and ask and answer Yes/No question. The speaking zone also developed from “in-classroom only area” to teachers’ room and was planned to expand into the whole area of the school. This policy will be made for teachers first. Students will be advised to use English at school at the initial stage. The school plan to implement English speaking policy for students soon in the right time in the near future.

Student mood and responses to standing desks in the college classroom

Physical activity enhances physical health, reduces disease, and resists metabolic syndrome and obesity, while sitting for extended periods of time has a negative effect on long term health outcomes. Thus, reducing sitting time has been identified as a health-enhancing goal. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions and responses of college students to sitting versus standing in class. Five standing desks were placed in a classroom of traditional sitting desks. In a counterbalanced, within subjects design, 88 undergraduate students (age M=21.64, SD=6.55 years) participated in the study. Some participating students first stood at a desk for three consecutive class meetings and then sat for three classes while others sat for three consecutive classes and then stood for three. Surveys were administered at the beginning and end of each class and at the end of six consecutive class sessions. Results indicated that mood was signifi- cantly higher on standing than sitting days, the majority of participants had a favorable perception of the standing-in-class experience, and would use standing stations if the option was available. This study is one of few to examine the viability and response to adding standing desks in college classrooms, and indicates standing desks may be perceived favorably and could be utilized to reduce sitting time.

Cover Image: Raedon

Raedon is about insomnia during the pandemic in the middle of December. The colours represent nocturnal hours as if they were the dark blue night sky with the northern lights out. Every students’ class is moved to remote access. Stay home advisories are still in place with social distancing. This causes some complications as there is a lot of “free” time in the comfort of our home. For me, it’s painting until 5 or 6 am in the morning. Then waking up just in time for WebEx class meetings, workout, homework, game, paint – repeat. Awakening is about overcoming all the hardships the pandemic has brought. It is a part of my on-going series called The Void. The pandemic has shown me things I needed to deal with on a personal level. I hit rock bottom in my life and failed in so many ways during Covid-19. My life began to turn towards positive after fasting late summer of 2020. I’m fortunate to have a new perspective on my life and the future. I am grateful I get to finish my psychology degree and begin my Bachelor of Fine Arts. In other words, Awakening represents healing, strength and a clear focus for the future regardless of things going on outside of ourselves.