The implementation and embedding of digital skills and digital literacy into the curriculum considering the Covid-19 pandemic and the new SQE

This paper focuses on the introduction of a new model of digital teaching and resource provision for the University of Law (ULaw) Library Service, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It details the processes and steps we took to achieve the three core aims of: a new mode of online skills delivery, the creation of self-directed, independent learners in the various student cohorts at the university and the creation of a flexible self-assessment platform to provide an incremental learning journey for both students and staff. This paper also highlights some of the challenges and difficulties we faced, arising from a project of this size and nature.

PELATIHAN PENGEMBANGAN MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN BERBASIS LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BAGI GURU DI ERA PENDIDIKAN JARAK JAUH

In the Covid-19 pandemic era, learning is done through distance or online learning and to manage online learning needs to be supported by the learning management system. Online learning media is one of the most important elements in the success of learning online. Training for developing learning media using the Learning Management System (LMS) for vocational teachers in Babelan, Bekasi Regency, West Java in order to improve teacher competencies in making learning media online. This activity is one of the programs carried out continuously every year in teachers and community members as part of the implementation of science and skills in the community. The method used in this activity includes lectures, questions and answers, demonstrations and practices. The target audience is a teacher with a number of participants of 20 people. The training material provided includes (1) Learning Management System, (2) method of making online learning media, and (3) online skills. Based on the pre-test, post-test, and evaluation was obtained that training had a positive impact on knowledge and expertise and increased by 65% and all respondents agreed that P2M was useful and had a positive impact on the participant's career because of the material, delivery, and implementation of activities was very relevant, as expected but with the allocation of time to be added..Di era pandemi Covid-19, pembelajaran dilakukan melalui pembelajaran jarak jauh atau daring. Hal ini memerlukan dukungan dalam mengelola sistem pembelajaran secara daring. Media Pembelajaran secara daring merupakan salah satu unsur terpenting dalam suksesnya pembelajaran secara daring. Pelatihan Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran berbasis Learning Management System (LMS) bagi guru SMK di Babelan, Kabupaten Bekasi Jawa Barat dalam rangka meningkatkan kompetensi guru dalam membuat media pembelajaran secara daring. Kegiatan ini merupakan salah satu program yang dilakukan secara berkesinambungan setiap tahunnya pada guru dan warga masyarakat sebagai bagian implementasi ilmu pengetahuan dan keterampilan di masyarakat. Metode yang digunakan dalam kegiatan ini meliputi ceramah, tanya jawab, demonstrasi dan praktik. Khalayak sasaran adalah guru dengan jumlah peserta 20 orang. Materi pelatihan yang diberikan meliputi (1) Learning Management System, (2) Metode Pembuatan Media Pembelajaran Daring, dan (3) ketrampilan daring. Berdasarkan pre-test, post-test,dan evaluasi didapat bahwa pelatihan berdampak positif bagi pengetahuan dan keahlian dan meningkat sebesar 65% serta seluruh responden setuju bahwa materi, penyampaian, dan pelaksanaan kegiatan sangat relevan, sesuai harapan namun dengan alokasi waktu yang perlu ditambah, serta bermanfaat dan memberi dampak positif bagi karir peserta pelatihan.

Pharmacy Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Online Education during COVID-19 Lockdown in Saudi Arabia

In March 2020, a national lockdown in Saudi Arabia due to the pandemic forced all educational institutions to complete their academic year via online education. This study aims to explore pharmacy students’ perceptions and assess their attitude towards online education during the lockdown. A cross-sectional self-administered survey was designed to collect responses of pharmacy students (from one college of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia) from December 2020 through January 2021. A total of 241 students completed the survey. Students’ responses indicated that they had easy access to the technology, online skills, motivation and overall favorable acceptance for online learning and examinations. There was a significant difference in the mean scores between the students from different years of study (p = 0.013) related to technology access, and the male students were in significantly more favor of online examinations than female students (p = 0.009). The majority of the students indicated that the lockdown had no or negative impact on their learning and training. Students have general acceptance for online education delivery due to more technology access and online skills. More research should explore the factors affecting and the extent of the impact of online education on student learning and training.

Alternative Computer Assisted Communicative Task-based Language Testing: New Communicational and Interactive Online Skills

Computer-assisted language learning knowledge tests should no longer be designed on traditional skills to measure individual competence through traditional skills such as reading, comprehension and writing, but instead, it should diagnose interactive and communication skills in foreign lan-guages. In recent years in online education, it has been necessary to review the concept of interactive competence in digital environments in a comple-mentary way to its traditional use. It is important to promote a new typolo-gy of alternative tasks and items in tests where examinees can prove a real interactive performance in communication and interaction through the digi-tal scenario. This should be done through tools that facilitate oral negotia-tion, the management and understanding of the information extracted from online repositories, the search for suitable online digital material, and the use of new modes of audio-visual communication. Although some of these tasks have been used in a complementary way in the design of language tests previously: it is true that they have not been applied in a coherent way to be used as an assessment tool. A first approach was made by Miguel Ál-varez, García Laborda & Magal-Royo (2021) in the development of oral ne-gotiation skills through the use of interactive tools. The current online as-sessment models analyzed by García Laborda & Álvarez Fernández (2021) indicate the need to seek new ways of assessing foreign languages through the design of tests that fit in the current digital and interactive world.

Development of techno-pedagogy approach learning model to improve digital literation of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur’s students

The study objectives were 1) to describe the level of digital literacy of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur's students; and 2) Developing a techno-pedagogy approach to improve digital literacy of UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur's students. This research innovation is developing of a techno-pedagogy approach model and arranging a techno-pedagogy approach to improve students' digital literacy. This innovation is based on the idea of a pedagogical model which is an important aspect in achieving learning goals in the world of education. In the first study objective, quantitative methods are used, the second research objective uses qualitative methods. Research location at UPN "Veteran" Jawa Timur. This option is to provide insight, knowledge, and solutions to integrated pedagogical problems in learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Data were collected from questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Among the data needed are online skills; motivation; online video/audio; internet discussion; supporting elements; ict abilities; blended learning models; teaching contents; frequencies of face-to-face meeting; regulation; culture.

Bridging the gap between research and practice: using phenomenographic findings to develop training for career practitioners

This study contends that phenomenography offers both a useful research method and practical tools for developing education and training for career practitioners. After introducing the basic principles of phenomenography, the study reviews previous research on its potential in developing pedagogical practices. It explores how the phenomenographic findings were utilized to design an online skills training programme for career practitioners. The study finds that phenomenographic research serves three practical pedagogical purposes: (1) revealing how learners understand certain concepts or phenomena, (2) elucidating how these understandings differ; and (3) identifying critical aspects in helping learners to widen and deepen their understanding.

Online-ready? Factor structure and internal consistency of a scale to measure students’ online journalism self-efficacy

With the integration of social media in journalism practice, media training institutions must focus on preparing future media professionals with the right mix of digital skills for the industry. Although efforts to improve students’ online skills readiness are evident in schools, no reliable tool exists to assess students’ confidence in doing online journalism tasks upon graduation. This study develops and validates an Online Journalism Self-Efficacy Scale (OJSES) that can be used to measure mass communication students’ perceptions of their self-efficacy for online journalism work. Items for the proposed scale were developed from a comprehensive literature review and refined by eight online journalism professionals (five online journalism lecturers and three online news editors). To explore the factor structure of the tool, exploratory factor analysis of data from a sample of finalist undergraduate mass communication students (n = 182) in five Rwandan universities was done. Results suggested that the OJSES is a five-dimensional tool that comprises 27 items. This scale measures online journalism self-efficacy in terms of students’ capabilities to conduct online journalism research, communicate with social media tools, create and share multimedia content online, observe ethical online publishing and use social media to solve organizational problems. The scale demonstrated reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.785 and the five self-efficacy dimensions explaining 51.1 per cent of the total variance. The scale’s psychometric soundness implied its suitability not only to empirically measure the students’ confidence in working in online environments but also guide capacity-building for the required online skills for the media industry.

Building online skills in off-line realities

The growth rate of new Internet users has declined over the past few years, despite billions of dollars being spent on attempting to provide access and get people connected. Yet, the focus on simply getting more people connected is — and always will be — insufficient, because lack of access is not the central problem. Skills to navigate, identify, evaluate, effectively use, and create information are what’s truly missing. Information literacy and digital proficiency must accompany connectivity, or else inequalities — digital and otherwise — continue to worsen. This article draws from the literature on digital inclusion and information literacy to make the case that empowering, Internet-ready skills will only be developed if a concerted effort is made to build these skills. We argue that Internet-ready skills, such as how to carry out research, and how to distinguish whether information is trustworthy or not, can be — and indeed, may best be — taught in an off-line environment, before the Internet reaches the as-yet-unconnected. We draw from the in-field experience of the SolarSPELL (Solar Powered Educational Learning Library) initiative. SolarSPELL is an ultra-portable, rugged, solar-powered, digital library that generates an off-line WiFi hotspot to which any WiFi-capable device can connect and freely surf the library’s expansive, localized content. The innovative, solar-powered technology means that the library can reach those in off-grid, unconnected locations. Yet, what distinguishes the SolarSPELL initiative’s approach to introducing digital technology to schools is that the libraries are matched with locally based trainers who can support the necessary development of Internet-ready skills.

Online Behaviour as Predictive of Professional Online Work Readiness Among Mass Communication Students

This study explores the relationship between students' online behaviour and their perceived readiness for professional online work. A sample of mass communication students (n=143) from five Rwandan universities completed a questionnaire. Analysis showed that the three dimensions of online behaviour correlated positively with the students' perceived readiness for professional online work. While the respondents' audience engagement levels had the highest correlation with online skills readiness, the frequency of online accounts usage had the weakest correlation. The multiple regression results revealed that levels of engagement and ownership of online accounts were significant predictors of the students' perceived professional online skills readiness. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference in perceived professional online skills readiness between students who rated themselves as highly prepared and those who expressed low levels of preparedness for professional online skills. Implications and future research directions are discussed based on the findings.