Ellis Tamela1, Murniasih1, Yuliana Fatima Dayana1
[email protected] , {murniasih26, dayana.yuliana}@gmail.com
English Department, State University of Jakarta
Abstract- Indonesia will face an era of Asian Economic Community, where one of the components thereof is the allowance of skilled labor working in Asian countries. To get the young generation be ready for this, it is important for them to have specific required skill(s) such as the skill in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It has been popular nowadays as it is the part of 21stcentury learning. Particularly, it is integrated in the learning pro-cess in every level of education. Therefore, the teachers and the students should improve their functional and critical thinking skills with the use of in-formation, media, and technology (ICT). According to several studies, one of the teaching methods employed to support the use of ICT is blended learning.
It is a combination of a technology-based instruction (online language ing) and a face-to-face classroom teaching. Nevertheless, since blended learn-ing remains to be entirely applied in Indonesian system of education, it can cause a problem, whether the students are interested and can comprehend the materials or not. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out students’
perception on the benefits and problems of blended learning. The methodolo-gy used in this study is a survey using a questionnaire with a Likert scale. The analysis of the data includes the benefits and problems regarding to blended learning. The result of the study indicates some benefits, such as, flexibility and assistance in doing tasks. On the other hand, the problems are internet connection and the preference in learning in a traditional class.
Keywords: blended learning, benefits, problems, face-to-face learning, online language learning
1 Introduction
Indonesia will face an era of Asian EconomicCommunity, where one of the components thereof is the allowance of skilled labor working in Asian Coun-tries. To get the young generation be ready for this, it is important for them to have specific required skill(s) such as the skill in Information and Commu-nication Technology (ICT).
adfa, p.1,2011.
The development of technology itself has been widely utilized in every field, government, health, education, and so on. Moreover, due to its use in edu-cation, Partnership for 21stcentury skills has published a framework regard-ing to 21stcentury learning, which makes students use more technologies to analyze information, collaborate, solve problems, and even make decisions.
Therefore, teaching-learning methods nowadays have integrated technology to their activities since it has successfully removed the limitations to access knowledge in learning [10]. In addition, teachers and students should im-prove their functional and critical thinking skills with the use of information, media, and technology (ICT).
The technology provides the students an environment that let them to deliv-er their studies in tdeliv-erms of place, time and pace, and the most important thing is, ICT gives more opportunities to the teaching staff to actually com-municate with students than just face-to-face [1].
According to Srichanyachon (2014), one of the examples of the integration of ICT in education is the use of LMS (Learning Management System); a soft-ware application or web-based technology which has become a powerful tool for conducting an e-learning environment. Srichanyachon has also con-ducted a study regarding to EFL students’ perceptions of using LMS. The re-sult showed that the level of the students’ perceptions in general was mod-erate. There were students who did not agree to the statement that LMS can function as a learning tool.
Hence, the term ‘blended learning’ has come to surface. It is the combination of traditional learning (face-to-face) with the modern one, using ICT and it aims to provide an effective and efficient learning experience, as students can develop their autonomous learning and at the same time, have enthusi-asm when they have face-to-face session [11].
Nevertheless, since blended learning remains to be entirely applied in Indo-nesian system of education, it can cause a problem, whether the students are interested and can comprehend the materials or not. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out students’ perception on the benefits and problems of blended learning.
The result of the study is hoped to give new perspectives to the education system in Indonesia; to integrate ICT more in the classroom to get students ready for the upcoming era of Asian Economic Community and to develop better ICT system and connection.
2 Literature Review
Blended learning is a combination of face-to-face interaction in the class, i.e., the giving of classroom instruction and e-learning [5][8]. Blended learning also means an opportunity to integrate the use of innovative technology de-velopment in e-learning, with the participation and interaction in the tradi-tional environment as in the classroom [14]. Furthermore, Erdem & Kibar (2014) stated that blended learning is one of the ways in creating a more effective learning experience and we can use supporting social media such as Facebook in doing so.
Hilliard (2015) stated the rationale for the application of blended learning in university; since university is a place for forming students to be ready to work in certain workplace and institutions, it needs to be up-to-date with what innovations happening outside. For example, Hilliard added, the global environment in work today has demanded to have skillful employees in technology and problem-solving. Therefore, it is important to embrace blended learning and for the faculty members to develop their skills in teach-ing online abilities.
There are benefits and problems in having blended learning in the lesson.
Based on a study from Napier, Dekhane, & Smith (2012), there are positive aspects of blended learning, such as:
Flexibility: The students do not have to come to the class every day, so they focus on having their assignments done outside the school when they have time.
Interaction with professor: Even though the students can learn outside the class, they still need the help from the professor to answer questions they have during completing the task done by e-learning.
Independent learning: Blended learning has helped the students to devel-op their own responsibility since there is no instructors keep telling them to finish the task.
Authenticity: Blended learning also has assisted the students to feel the
‘real-world’ experience because when doing the task outside the class, there is no one to guide them.
Learning style: The students have been more understandable of what they are learning.
Social presence: Blended learning has made the students enjoy the activity more, since they learn new things and meet new people.
Moreover, Napier, Dekhane, & Smith (2012) report about the use of blended learning to assist students to be more engaged in learning since they are prepared enough before coming to the classroom.
A similar study also was also conducted by Zumor, et.al., (2013) which re-veals some advantages in utilizing blended learning in education. Students are learning by doing, managing their time easily, especially when dealing with assignments, i.e., they can consult their instructor at anytime, and even having their confidence improving. In addition, according to Zumor, et.al., (2013), students make essential contribution in discussing materials through discussion boards, so their reading and vocabulary competence have devel-oped more.
Based on a study conducted by Isiguzel (2014), blended learning can also improve students’ motivation and success. His study was using experimental and control group. The result showed significant improvement of motivation and success in the experimental group. Even though the control one had the increase in those two elements, it could not be the same as the experi-mental. Isiguzel has also found out that since the learner need to manage their own learning process and materialize learning itself, it means that blended learning has developed students autonomous in learning.