Incorporating a Smartphone Video in a Theatrical Activity to Promote an Authentic Language Learning Environment in a Lower Secondary School Classroom

Theatrical activities have been used to promote an authentic learning environment. However, the incorporation of simple daily technology, like smartphones, to enable students to produce a video of their theatrical activities has not been explored in the Indonesian language learning classroom. This paper documents a video project conducted by lower secondary school students at a private school in Jakarta, Indonesia to examine whether a video project task could help create an authentic learning environment in a language classroom setting. Although the benefits of theatrical activities to promote authenticity in students’ learning experiences are evident in the literature, only a few students have access to such benefits. Many students were reluctant to get involved in the theatrical activities prepared by the teachers and only one cohort of students successfully completed the advertisement video assignment. Teachers’ instructional issues as well as students’ motivation and commitment to work collaboratively were identified as the barriers to produce the video

Incorporating a Smartphone Video in a Theatrical Activity to Promote an Authentic Language Learning Environment in a Lower Secondary School Classroom

Theatrical activities have been used to promote an authentic learning environment. However, the incorporation of simple daily technology, like smartphones, to enable students to produce a video of their theatrical activities has not been explored in the Indonesian language learning classroom. This paper documents a video project conducted by lower secondary school students at a private school in Jakarta, Indonesia to examine whether a video project task could help create an authentic learning environment in a language classroom setting. Although the benefits of theatrical activities to promote authenticity in students’ learning experiences are evident in the literature, only a few students have access to such benefits. Many students were reluctant to get involved in the theatrical activities prepared by the teachers and only one cohort of students successfully completed the advertisement video assignment. Teachers’ instructional issues as well as students’ motivation and commitment to work collaboratively were identified as the barriers to produce the video

Incorporation of Smartphones and Social Media to Promote Mobile Learning in an Indonesian Vocational Higher Education Setting

This brief article reports on an exploration of students’ adoption of smartphone technology and social media to promote m-learning in the con- text of a state polytechnic classroom. To this end, a mixed-methods approach was employed. A quantitative survey involved 221 students across education programmes in an Indonesian vocational higher education, and six of them were asked to write a reflection after a course. Findings of the current study have re- vealed that students’ attitude and connectedness to the smartphone and social media play prominent roles in determining their acceptance of smartphones and social media for m-learning. Specifically, the students’ connectedness, per- ceived ease of use and perceived playfulness of using social media for m- learning affected their attitude. Findings of the study also revealed that students’ mobile learning using the smartphone helped develop their learning motivation, facilitated learning activities and enabled interaction amongst the students, and between teachers and students. Students also benefited from the use of the smartphone by which means they could share information and materials about the learning, enabled peer-assessment and feedback. Two critical issues that were found included limited smartphone features and less space for interaction and explanation. Keywords—Smartphone, mobile learning, polytechnic, learning motivation, in- teraction, learning performanc

The relationship between social media and academic performance: the case of high school students in a Nigerian private school.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This research explores in detail the relationship between social media and academic performance of students, using a case study approach with a sample of 12 Nigerian students. This study was driven by the perception that students immersed themselves in social media activities to the detriment of their academic function. The qualitative data generated from emic accounts of participants revealed three factors that may address the inconsistencies found in previous studies. The first is tied to the longstanding historical and socio-cultural practices of schools that informs curricula definition of academic activities. The traditional definition of academic activity is narrow, and disregards digital natives’ definition of what is considered to be academic activity, thus hindering their performance. Academic performance is a relative concept; if the curriculum defines academic activity in an inclusive way, then there is a positive relationship, but if it excludes learning areas that participants find on social media and consider relevant, there is no relationship. Therefore, the relationship between social media and academic performance depends basically on the philosophy of each school and how they choose to define, interpret and implement academic activities from which academic performance is derived. Secondly, the data revealed that participants regarded a combination of both social media context and academic context as yielding more academic benefit than a single one. However, it is only when the academic instruction supports students’ needs that the academic gap between both contexts is bridged. Thirdly, participants reported that social media enabled them to learn more, know more, think deeper, do more and achieve more, making them more able to adapt their knowledge and be efficient in solving academic problems. A major concept that surfaced in the data is personal effort. Participants all attributed their academic success to hard work, meeting teachers, researching books and social media and that neither social media nor traditional settings on their own contributed to their good grades. This suggests that academic performance depends mainly on an individual student’s mind-set, intrapersonal values, skills and interests. In the game of soccer, the field does not produce goals. Rather, it is the ability of players to collaborate, coordinate, perceive and utilise available spaces to their advantage. The same goes for the relationship between students’ social media usage and their academic performance. This means that the value that students place on their academic activities has a significant influence on how they use social media