Online teaching benefits and challenges during pandemic COVID-19: a comparative study of Pakistan and Indonesia

Abstract

PurposeThe shift from physical class to online classes in the pandemic COVID-19 situation has posited opportunities as well as challenges for teachers and students. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate challenges faced and benefits availed by the teachers at the tertiary level in universities of Pakistan and Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the purpose a mixed-method approach is employed to answer the three research questions of the present study. The quantitative data is obtained from the responses of 66 teachers, teaching online in Mehran UET Pakistan and 102 teachers from Indonesian university. The personal, technological, and pedagogical challenges were analyzed by descriptive statistics on SPSS. Thus, the independent-samples t-test was run to test for statistically significant differences faced by teachers in both countries.FindingsThe findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences found in personal, and pedagogical challenges faced by both countries' teachers, whereas there is a significant difference in facing technological challenges between Pakistani and Indonesian teachers. The benefits of online teaching were investigated qualitatively by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers 5 from each country. There are very positive aspects of online teaching revealed in the interviews.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of Computer Assisted Language Learning, the development of technology integrated courses, and for managing the balance between physical and online classes.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study have implications on finding out the solutions of the derived challenges, further it suggests to concentrate on students of public and private universities in Pakistan and Indonesia so that a comparison of challenges faced by teachers and faced by students can be researched and evaluated and it can generate significantly different results.Social implicationsThe implications on the research society and the teachers and designers' communities are very clear in this research because it paves the way forward towards the blending of technology in any way either synchronously/ asynchronously into education, further researches can be done on designing the new concepts, courses, instructional platforms for students and investigate the new dimensions and effects of them.Originality/valueFindings have value, because two countries' context (developing countries) with respect to the comparison of the challenges and benefits is better understood, it would have different results if had done in the developed countries.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Technology Integration in Teaching-Learning Practices: A Systematic Review

“…According to the majority of the studies, the utilization of ICT for teaching-learning purposes enables teachers and students to stay connected and facilitates learners irrespective of their location and time ( Hussain, 2018 ; Thaheem et al, 2021 ). Teachers also feel comfortable guiding and discussing with their students within or outside the universities through several digital platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and google groups ( Hodgson and Shah, 2017 ).…”

“…Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Thaheem et al (2021) carried out a survey to explore the benefits and challenges confronted by teachers in their online instructional practices, where technological challenges, personal constraints, and lack of infrastructure were reported as the major challenges. Similar challenges have been informed by Soomro et al (2020) and Noor et al (2020) , where teachers showed resistance to integrating ICT in their instructional practices due to the lack of adequate infrastructure and technological competencies.…”

“…Technology-incorporated instructional practices not only enhance the quality of teaching ( Akram et al, 2021a ) but also enable students to develop their skills, boost their motivation, and enhance their knowledge and information efficiently ( Chen et al, 2018 ). During the COVID-19 global crisis, when the entire world’s activities across all domains of human lives got restricted, ICT played a supporting role in sustaining teaching-learning activities on the one hand ( Thaheem et al, 2021 ). While on the other hand, ICT-integrated teaching and learning provided a flexible approach and better access to learning opportunities as a substitute for face-to-face instruction ( Akram et al, 2021b ).…”

An exploratory assessment of the educational practices during COVID-19

“…The present study follows a mixed-method approach where we have used both qualitative and quantitative data to reach an in-depth comprehension (Thaheem et al, 2021). Data used in this study have been drawn from a pool of educationists teaching in various HEIs in different parts of India.…”

E2- A Synchronic Study on Learners’ Perceptions about Online English Language Teaching during the COVID-19 in Pakistan

“…5 Keeping in mind the recommendations of UNESCO and the prescribed precautionary measures of WHO, many countries observed a paradigm shift from classroom learning to online learning. Educational services through online mode of learning remained available in a large number of countries including Indonesia (Thaheem et al 2021) 6 , India (Mathivanan et al 2021) 7 , Iran (Ahmady, Shahbazi and Heidari 2020 8 ; Younesi 2021 9 ), Saudi Arabia (Oraif and Elyas 2021) 10 , the USA (Asgari et al 2021) 11 , and Germany (König, Jäger-Biela and Glutsch 2020) 12 . Pakistan is no exception in this regard.…”