Abstract:

Class suspension dues to covid-19 makes a lot of Hong Kong tertiary institutes, colleges used Zoom-based online teaching as an alternative approach. At this environment, teachers will use a video conferencing software such as Zoom, Webex, Virtual Classroom, to deliver lectures and labs on real-time approach following the course schedule while students will learn with the teachers at their home in an isolation environment. For this learning approach, diverse research relating the adverse result on learning isolation has indicated a lot of problems on social presence, learning presence and cognitive presence. This result of low learning engagement comes to be major hurdle of adopting synchronous online teaching. However, real-time online teaching still found advantages on some learners who are better on self-regular learning, and some learning aspects, such as on many Computing subjects, where the best way of learning is recognized with the approach of ‘learn-by-doing’. In this view, synchronous online teaching basically could be integrated with the face-to-face teaching to provide a ‘mixed-mode’ of teaching providing an autonomy alternative approach for teachers, course developers as well as students to approach the learning outcomes. However, to design the scaffolding of this new and conceptual approach, there will be a concern relating to students’ acceptability, willingness, and feeling on synchronous online teaching. In this regard, a survey was conducted in academic year 2020-21that targets to associate degree students’ feelings on shifting the learning to real-time online in three tertiary institutes in Hong Kong. The research applied quantitative, and qualitative approaches to obtain students’ different but complementary views on learning with real-time online. It focused on three major aspects which are the importance of teachers’ involvement; their mental engagement on the learning process; the self-efficacy and skills, and their overall feeling of learning with the video conferencing software. There were 164 out of 192 students’ responses the survey. The response rate is 85.5%. The outcome was analysed by descriptive statistical analysis methods. In summary, the outcome indicated students are likely still favour to this teaching approach. For example, with 164 responses, excluding 20 students responding ‘neutral’, 79 (48%) students, expressed overall they learned with a good feeling on the teaching mode, and similar number of students expressed willing to continuously use it. However, on the other hand, there were 136 (82%) students expressed suitable teacher involvement is important, or very important. Regrading to the major reason of favour on using online teaching, there were 138 (72%) students felt the review of recording is an important factor to make the learning is effective. For the skills of using the Zoom software, there were only six students (3%) and 43 (26%), responded always, and sometimes encounter technical problem respectively.

Keywords:

Synchronous online teaching, learning engagement.