Students and Teachers’ Perception on Online Sports Co- Curricular Activities in Times of Covid-19
Devanageswari Kathiyaiah1*
1 Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Accepted: 15 February 2022 | Published: 1 March 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijares.2022.4.1.11
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Abstract: During the COVID-19 widespread, social education has moved from physical classroom to online learning in order to evade huge gatherings and crowds to block the transmission of the virus. As the widespread carries on and millions of students return to online tutoring, schools have abandoned sports co - curricular activities causing students' health and wellbeing to be at stake. This is because online learning halts the physical activities that students would get at school. In order to overcome this problem, many schools are actively responding to social changes by offering various school curriculum through online classes and developing new methods to education especially to carry out non – academic activities, mainly sports co – curricular activities. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the students and teachers’ perception on the implementation of sports co -curricular activities through online learning platforms. This study employed a quantitative design where two sets of survey questionnaires were used in collecting the data. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis. The targeted populations are 80 Senior 2 students and 10 sports teachers at a secondary school in Klang. The result of the study indicated that the implementation of sports co – curricular activities through online platforms is very effective. Finally, it is recommended that this study could be used by future researchers to explore and shed lights on the challenges faced by the teachers in carrying out online sports co - curricular activities and viable ways to overcome them.
Keywords: Covid-19, Sports Co-curricular Activities, Online Learning
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1. Introduction
The Malaysian Higher Education has executed an Education 4.0 program in alignment with the 4th industrial revolution. (Maskuriy et al. (2019) mentioned that the objective of the Education 4.0 program is to train graduates with the aptitudes and information that the digital-driven industry requires. Education 4.0 in a way completes the phenomenon of digital integration in our regular lives where human beings and machines are adjusted to take out solvent, troubleshoot and of course discover new theories of innovation. In Education 4.0, information is available ubiquitously and the teaching and learning process has become dynamic. In the twenty-first century, information and communication technology (ICT) plays a basic part in permitting individuals to interact, exchange information, adapt and improve diverse resources in order to form new knowledge (Pazilah et al., 2019).
Consequently, many crucial skills such as rote memorization skills, critical thinking, problem solving, social collaboration and communication skills must be established to meet the requirements of 21st Century learners. Fortunately, all these skills can be created effectively outside of curriculums by depending on co-curricular activities. However, the current Novel Coronavirus, too known as COVID-19 pandemic which is shaking the whole nation has caused a switch to online teaching and learning in all the educational institutions in the country. This has caused many challenges among the students and the teachers in having the online learning.
Firstly, not every student and teacher encompass an individual gadget to be utilized for online learning. Adding on, thousands of people around the world are undergoing technical obstacles due to the high usage rate of online learning systems and other digital tools. As a result, internet connection is either unstable or the data plan is inadequate to deal with the progressive e- learning needs. In conjunction to this, many schools have jilted sports co – curricular activities.
One of the problems relating to online learning among the youngsters today is the surge in obesity. Rundle et al. (2020) stated that as the pandemic continues and millions of children return to online tutoring, experts caution that students are at greater risk of attaining too much weight, which may lead to obesity. This is mainly because virtual learning abolishes a few of the physical activities students would generally get at school.
In order to overcome this trouble, countless schools are actively responding to social changes by offering a diverse school curriculum through online classes and developing new methods to education, by Ng, K. (2020). Along with that, many schools have started applying online sports co – curricular activities so that the students’ wellbeing and academic performance are not affected. Currently, as in – person school attendance and online classes are happening in tandem all around the world, there is a necessity to observe more about the implementation of sports co-curricular activities through online learning platforms. Therefore, this paper intends to investigate the students and teachers’ perception on the implementation of sports co - curricular activities through online learning platforms.
2. Literature Review
Education 4.0 is characterized as the utilization of technology within the teaching and learning settings. This is to prepare students for future life and work, thus, Education 4.0 is really necessary (Hussin, A. A, 2018). The execution of Education 4.0 is essential since it is a more practical based approach within the educating and learning settings. To do so, the educating and learning process must be changed, as well as the use of cutting-edge innovation (Hussin, A. A, 2018). In the local context, Malaysian education has been working towards the twenty first century learning (PAK21) which was framed several years ago to prepare students for the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025). Furthermore, the progress of information technologies in education has brought a colossal alteration to teaching- learning by offering a wide array of online information with the internet connection, which permits students to attain all the 21st century skills by joining in co - curricular activities.
Co-curricular activities are activities that are undertaken together with academic studies (Khargharia, A, 2020). Typically, co-curricular activities are held outside the ordinary classrooms, but they amplify the academic curriculum and aid in learning by performing. Co- curricular activities are amazingly imperative and should not be neglected (Sami, A., & Irfan, A, 2020). There are various positive perspectives on students that can be seen from their inclusion in co-curricular activities. First and foremost, co-curricular activities fuel students' learning by invigorating creative thought, improving their social and organizational skills,
developing their interests and talents, and offering them the chance to switch off and do something they truly enjoy (Rono, R, 2013). Besides that, by participating in the co – curricular activities, students learn to manage their time wisely. Not only that, but they also master the skill of prioritizing various competing commitments and become proactive students.
Adding on, not all the students excel academically. Thus, taking part in co – curricular activities could improve students’ self-esteem, especially when they experience success or being recognized for a contribution in the co – curricular activity that they are partaking in. Moreover, Kapur, R. (2018) claimed that participating in co – curricular activities also sharpen the students’ leadership skills. This is because, most of the co – curricular activities that students join in require them to make longer – term commitments and students stay involved in the same co – curricular activities year after year. This enables them to take on a leadership role too.
Last but not least, co – curricular activities contribute a lot in fostering holistic development which is physical, emotional, and social development (Siddiky, M. R, 2019).
Therefore, the significance of sports co-curricular activities is vast. However, due to the staggering impacts of school closure as a result of Covid – 19 pandemic, many schools have forsaken co – curricular activities, specifically sports. This has caused expansion in the number of obesity and health issues among school students. As a method to resolve this matter, schools have taken a productive strategy which is by enacting online sports co – curricular activities.
Therefore, this study is expected to explore students and teachers’ perception on the implementation of sports co -curricular activities through online learning platforms.
Tables and Figures
The tables below show the answers given by the students (Table 1) and teachers (Table 2), subsequently. The results in both tables depict that both students and teachers believe that the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities are very effective.
Table 1: Students’ Perception on Online Sports Co – Curricular Activities Effectiveness
1 SD (%)
2 D (%)
3 A (%)
4 SA (%)
1. It is very effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
70 (87.5)
0 (0.0)
2. It is less effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
8 (10.0)
0 (0.0) 3. It is effective but not fully.
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
1 (1.25)
4. It is not effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
1 (1.25) SD: Strongly Disagree D: Disagree A: Agree SA: Strongly Agree
According to results in Table 1, most students felt that it is effective to have online sports co – curricular activities. Students believed that the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities save time, offers rich resources and alleviates the learning process. However, 8 students or 10.0% of them felt that implementation of online sports co – curricular activities are less effective than the traditional learning. This could be due to the new environment of learning that the students are still unable to get adapted to. Even though most students felt that the online sports activities ease the learning session, 1 student or 1.25% of them strongly agreed that it is effective but not fully. Adding on, another 1 student or 1.25% from them strongly
agreed that the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities is not effective. Lack of facilities and poor internet connection could be the contributing factors for these students to say that online sports co – curricular activities are partially and not effective.
Table 2: Teachers’ Perception on Online Sports Co – Curricular Activities Effectiveness
1 SD (%)
2 D (%)
3 A (%)
4 SA (%)
1. It is very effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
8 (80.0)
0 (0.0)
2. It is less effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
2 (20.0)
0 (0.0) 3. It is effective but not fully.
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
4. It is not effective. 0
(0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0) SD: Strongly Disagree D: Disagree A: Agree SA: Strongly Agree
According to results in Table 2, most teachers felt that it is very effective to have online sports co – curricular activities. Teachers too felt that the execution of online sports co – curricular activities save time, offers rich resources and ameliorates the teaching process. Nevertheless, 2 teachers or 20.0% of them felt that the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities are less effective than the traditional way of carrying out sports co – curricular activities. This could be due to the unanticipated switch from traditional method to online learning which did not give the teachers enough time and space to prepare themselves to face the devices. Moreover, lack of tech – savvy skills could be another prominent factor that could have influenced these teachers to be unfavourable of the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities. Fortunately, none of the teachers felt that the execution of online sports co – curricular activities are neither effective but not fully nor ineffective.
3. Discussion and Conclusion
Covid -19 pandemic has produced a compelling platform for both students and teachers to discover and try carrying out sports co – curricular activities via online teaching and learning platforms. The analysis of the data presented in this section has an overview of 80 Form Five students and 10 sports teachers from a suburban secondary school in Klang, Selangor. From both the tables above, it can be concluded that the participants responded positively when they were asked about their perception on the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities. Majority of them believed that carrying out sports co – curricular activities via online teaching and learning platform is a viable method as a result of the current switch to online learning. These participants are also in the opinion that online sports co – curricular activities help both students and teacher to save time, find more teaching and learning materials and simplifies the whole process. In short, it was observed that the implementation of online sports co – curricular activities are effective for both parties and they are able to adapt to the new learning environment.
As a conclusion, an efficacious way to carry out sports co – curricular activities in times of Covid – 19 is via online learning platforms. It is not only beneficial to the teachers and learners in times of Covid – 19, but also once the face – to – face session resumes as a preparation to meet the requirement of Education 4.0. It is imperative to note that today’s students are 21st century learners, and they cannot be instructed the same way as they were instructed in the
past. Teachers should also be issued with a special guidance to educate the students using the technology. As the quote by DavidGeurin goes, “Classrooms do not need tech geeks who can teach; we need teaching geeks who can use tech.
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