Distance Learning and Character Building in Rural Area During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a number of obstacles and challenges in learning. The bigger obstacle is found for schools in rural areas. Starting from the problem of the availability of supporting facilities, parental support, to the problem of teacher readiness in carrying out learning and character education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore this study aims to describe the teacher's strategy in carrying out distance learning and character education in rural area during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research was a qualitative research, involving 13 teachers. The data were collected through observation, interview, and questionnaire. The data analysis was carried out in by using a qualitative descriptive analysis. The data were analyzed through three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. The data were validated through source, method, and theory triangulations. The results of this study indicate that the teachers’ strategies in implementing distance learning include: Whatsapp-based online distance learning, offline distance learning, and mixed distance learning. There were 3 strategies to carry out character education during the Covid-19 pandemic, namely direct feedback through examples or narrative in the text. Examples given were also in the form of pictures; and through a checklist of daily and weekly activities. Various obstacles occured in distance learning and character education. Parents also felt stressed because of the increased burden during the pandemic. Therefore, collaboration between various components is needed to design the most effective learning strategies in rural areas.

Measuring the E-learning Readiness Level in Rural Areas During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…There needs to be government and stakeholder intervention to ensure the improvement of the online learning infrastructure (Adiyarta et al, 2018;Ekalestari et al, 2021). Besides being able to provide standardized home-based learning/teaching tools to educators and students, as well as increasing teacher capacity through online teacher training (Dewantara & Dibia, 2021;UNICEF, 2021;Zafar, 2019).…”

“…Adequate research has identified various benefits from implementing e-learning, yet it does not stand that all institutions that implement online learning get the results as expected (A. Y. Alqahtani & Rajkhan, 2020;Dewantara & Dibia, 2021;Wu et al, 2021). Some organizations are not ready to implement e-learning because they experience challenges in technology, organization, culture, lesson design, and challenges by teachers and students.…”

“…It is challenging to implement e-learning due to inadequate infrastructure, limited teachers' ICT capabilities, and different fiscal policies (Kibuku et al, 2020;Paling & Sitorus, 2021). Even in some cases, students have difficulty providing online learning tools (Dewantara & Dibia, 2021). Teachers in schools are not homogeneous, and different subgroups may require different support approaches (Ariesta, 2019;Iptian, 2019;Scherer et al, 2021).…”

The implementation of character education during the COVID-19 pandemic in state islamic senior high schools in Indonesia

“…The four-minute policy decision in 2020, including the Minister of Education and Culture, stated that the principles of education policy during COVID-19 prioritize the health and safety of all parties involved in the learning process in schools and madrasahs. For this reason, a learning method is needed to accommodate this so that the learning process can run to educate the nation's children (Dewantara and Dibia, 2021).…”

Motivation and Factors Affecting Pre-Service English Teacher in Joining Webinar Session

“…Due to the pandemic situation caused by Covid-19, the online learning process massively conducted in education (Dewantara & Dibia, 2021;Iswahyudi, 2021;Saha et al, 2021). The common alternative way for educators to teach and share pre-service English teachers' learning materials is through a webinar session by utilizing electronic devices and internet connections.…”