Participatory parity through teaching with Telegram

Abstract

The COVID19 pandemic thrust emergency remote teaching (ERT) into the global spotlight and thereby undeniably changed aspects of the higher education (HE) landscape. For a developing country such as South Africa (SA), the use of the mobile instant messaging (MIM) application (app) called Telegram represents a practicable solution to overcome historical socio-economic challenges faced by certain demographic groups of limited or restricted access to devices and data. Against this backdrop, a Telegram teaching intervention was developed by two lecturers in the Engineering Faculty at a University of Technology (UoT) in SA to deliver curriculum content and engage with students in a low-tech, low-cost/low-data usage manner, and consequently to widen access to education, promote inclusivity and thereby facilitate student access, retention and success. This study explored student perceptions of the MIM app being used as a primary vehicle to deliver succinct instructional materials and facilitate class activities to offset the lack of faceto-face classes in a multimodal and flexible curriculum delivery approach. Following the completion of the Telegram teaching intervention, a mixed method approach was used that included two online surveys measuring different aspects of the same project (n=34 and n=32) and a focus group interview (n=6). Three research lenses suggested by Fraser (2008) were used to evaluate student perceptions of the usefulness and (dis)advantages of Telegram. These lenses were: (1) redistribution (of resources), ( 2) recognition (related to social status) and ( 3) representation (who can act/say/ challenge in an academic environment). Ethical clearance was obtained from Cape Peninsula University of Technology's Ethics committee. Initial results indicate that using the Telegram app for teaching and learning was successful. Significantly, the app allows for the emergence of a socially just online classroom environment and an inclusive and enabling learning experience for the students during a very disruptive and fearful time in the world's history.

The Implementation of Telegram as A Pedagogical Tool to Enhance Student Motivation and Interaction

“…The findings above revealed that most lecturers in the ENG321 module agreed (three out of four) that Telegram did increase student interaction and student motivation in the module. This finding supports arguments by researchers (Pereira, 2018) (Swartz et al, 2022) who argue that the Telegram app does promote interaction between students and between lecturers and students. In terms of social presence, lecturer participants highlighted the increase of learner presence in the module have never been as active as they are now with Telegram, queries have decreased on the Moodle LMS and students felt free to express themselves on the group.…”

“…The lecturer was also observed to communicate with students on a personal level which in turn enhanced their satisfaction in the module. Teaching presence refers to the extent the instruction of the teacher and learning process is mediated and facilitated (Aghajani & Adloo, 2018;Swartz et al, 2022;Wong et al, 2022). As shown in the findings in this section, the students received online communicative tools from the lecturer for teaching perceived greater teaching presence than the learners who were not part of the group.…”

“…The students who benefit are those who have better access to digital equipment and internet compared to their rural peers (Devkota, 2021). However, Telegram, through its affordability and flexibility, is such a social media application that makes the world smaller, it gives students a chance to communicate and interact with other students across geographical barriers (Aghajani & Adloo, 2018;Aladsani, 2021;Swartz et al, 2022).…”

“…A South African study noted that their Telegram group, which was created for university of technology students, was initially formed because of its cost-effectiveness (Swartz et al, 2022). However, it was revealed that the app promotes interaction between peers at the same level and gave students an opportunity to express themselves without having to fear potential negative repercussions.…”

The implementation of telegram as a pedagogical tool to enhance student motivation and interaction in academic writing

“…Devkota (2021) notes that the students who benefit are those who have better access to digital equipment and internet compared to their rural peers. However, Telegram, through its affordability and flexibility, is such a social media application that makes the world smaller (Aghajani & Adloo, 2018;Aladsani, 2021;Swartz et al, 2022) as it gives students a chance to communicate and interact with other students across geographical barriers. Although e-Learning technologies and mobile learning (m-learning) awareness are ever-increasing (Aladsani, 2021;Dollah et al, 2021;Sevnarayan, 2022;Sevnarayan & Mohale, 2022), lecturers' competences and skills are "challenged when faced with a new reality where digital teaching becomes the primary, if not the only, mode of instruction" (Machaba & Bedada, 2022).…”