PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF ONLINE LEARNING AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA
Abstract
Online Learning has been implemented in almost all universities.
However, not all students at English Education Department of Universitas
Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta who are as pre-service teachers are familiar with the
use of online learning since the implementation of online learning in this
department has not got an equal portion compared with the face to face learning.
This study aimed at finding out these pre-service teachers on the use of online
learning at EED of UMY.
This study used qualitative research design and specifically employed
descriptive qualitative research. The researcher chose interview as the instrument
to gather the data. There were six (6) participants coming from pre-service
teachers of EED of UMY from batch 2011. Participants were chosen based on
some criteria. They were students who were highly involved participating in
online learning, had good technological capability and they had already enrolled
in all courses which implemented online learning. In analyzing the data, the
researcher used three kinds of coding including open coding, axial coding, and
also selective coding to get final categorization of the data. Prior to it, the
researcher had already done member checking to get validity of the data before
analyzing the data.
The first finding of this study showed that there were two main interactions
which were taken place in the online learning context at EED of UMY. The
interactions perceived by the participants were student-student. interaction and student-teacher interaction. The second finding is about the
activities occurred in online learning at EED of UMY. There were five activities
used by the lecturers in the online learning context which were discussion, feedback
from the lecturer, feedback from friends, answer-question session, and
commenting. The third purpose of this study is finding out the pre-service teachers’
perception on the use of online learning toward their language skill. Based on
finding from interview, it was revealed that by having online learning, students pay
more attention to structure, and the use of language become more formal. Online
learning also enhances pre-service teachers’ writing skill, reading skill, vocabulary,
grammar, and language development. The fourth finding is related to pre-service
teachers’ preferences dealing with their experiences in online learning. The finding
showed that Edmodo and WordPress became the tools which are mostly prefered
by the participants. The last finding on this study discussed the strengths and the
weaknesses of online learning. The finding revealed the strengths of online learning
including flexibility, providing updated material and information, encouraging
reading, personal development, and enriching learning resources. On the other
hand, the weaknesses of online learning included decreasing of social relationship,
decreasing oral communication, spending cost for the equipment, lack of internet
connection, lack of an actual teachers’ feedback, and lack of technological skill.