Developing online community: where does teacher practices fit in?

Developing communities is one of the main emphases tertiary institutions have due to the potentials of community. Its potentials in the academic domain or professional domain have been established by Brindley, et al. (2009), Gratton and Erickson (2007) and Palloff and Pratt (2005). Other researchers have also indicated that community can enhance quality of interaction (Salmon, 2004) because it enhances “the flow of information among all learners, the availability of support, commitment to group goals, cooperation among members, and satisfaction with group efforts” (Rovai, 2001:33). Picciano (2002) has also pointed out it affects academic performance and coursework completion. The professional domains also capitalise on community diversity in terms of knowledge and experience to realise workplace’ initiatives (Adler and Heckscher, 2006). With the provision of online learning environment (OLE) at tertiary institutions, developing a community is becoming more viable because teachers are able to plan and orchestrate instructional experience, assess and make changes in situ to support the development of online community so that interaction among students are promoted and students

E-practices in developing community in online ESL learning environment

Arguably, online language teaching and learning entails developing and sustaining community. Online community can serve as a rich source for opportunities for language learning and language use, and ensure persistence of language learners in the online environment. Given that bringing a language class online does not necessarily develop community, this study investigated how a community was developed in an online English as a Second Language (ESL) learning environment. Specifically, the e-practices of one online teacher and 25 ESL learners populating a microsite in MyLinE (Malaysia Online Resources for Learning in English) were explored using interviews, teaching journals, observations, online documents, and surveys. Evidence suggested that the community was developed due to the prevalence of self-disclosure in the online learning environment where the affordances of the online forums were tapped in providing a range of opportunities for self-disclosure to develop shared repository and nurture social connections

Virtual communities in an online english language learning forum

This study aims to shed light on the prospect of MyLinE (Malaysia Online Resources for Learning in English) as a platform for development of virtual communities of practice. Students discussion threads (DTs) in Lounge were explored to answer the following questions: (1) Are the discussion threads task-oriented? What are the tasks?; (2) What social structure patterns can be found from the discussion threads?; and (3) What are the shared resources that emerge from the interaction between participants? This study adopted a descriptive approach of document analysis whereby its main goal is to provide a detailed description of the patterns that emerged from the data. Specifically, interactional analysis was conducted to provide answers on the emergence of community. In addition, depth thread measure of 6-levels was also adopted to determine the quality of interaction. The findings of this study accentuated three features: (1) task-orientedness, (2) social structure patterns and (3) shared resources. Based on the interactional analysis done on DTs, six speech acts were also identified which indicated conversational exchanges between the participants. From the data, two types of discussion patterns were identified. The first was an intensive discussion that took place in a short period, and the second pattern identified was a discussion that stretched over a long period with long gaps between posts. From the data, participants were found to share three resources, which are (1) a shared idea of politeness, (2) a shared manner of expressing opinion and (3) shared manner of supporting opinion by using personal experience

Correlation assessment between working and academic performance

Working while studying is common, with at least half of all students taking a paid job at some point throughout their studies. By combining working and studying simultaneously will impact the academic performance of students. The main issues are the consequences of working while studying, which results in declining academic performance. This study aimed to identify possible reasons that cause students to work and study simultaneously, assess the correlation between work and academic performance, and determine the main barriers students face as they work and study. Using quantitative method, data was collected from 218 students from undergraduate and postgraduate, who have experienced study while working. Results show that most students agreed that working while studying correlates with academic performance. Furthermore, it is necessary to learn about the positive and negative effects of their efforts that distract them all this time. Having known all, these factors helped this study develop a good strategy for maintaining a better life while working and studying simultaneously

Covid-19 Crisis: Is Online Learning More Effective Than Face-To-Face Learning?

Traditional face-to-face learning and online learning have become a debate for decades, which is more effective and has a significant impact on students' learning. The pandemic of COVID-19 has forced students to change their study mode from traditional face-to-face learning to online learning. This study has conducted a study to identify which ways are more effective, the traditional face-to-face learning or online learning using a quantitative method of online survey questionnaires. This study intends to fill this void in the literature and explore students’ perceptions of online learning versus traditional face-toface learning. This study used target respondents of 148 public and private university students in Malaysia. According to the results, most of the respondents preferred traditional face-to-face learning is more effective than online learning because of some problems they encountered while doing online learning, such as lack of course instructions and unreliable university internet connection

Developing a framework for language teaching in an asynchronous online environment

Asynchronous learning is a student-centered teaching method that uses online learning resources to facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people