Remote Learning Challenges by Public School Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: Malaysian Case
Subbarao A.1*, Yvonne Lee1, Lilian A.1
1 Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 August 2021 | Published: 1 September 2021
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Abstract: Technology has changed education, affecting how teachers teach and transfer knowledge. Teachers are agents in the phenomenon of digital learning due to the pandemic.
The actions of teachers in implementing digital learning during the Movement Control Order to be analysed through observations or interviews in order uncover the actual implementation process, the teachers’ perspectives on and responses to the implementation of digital remote learning, how teachers adapted their classroom teaching techniques in using digital learning tools, and “how challenges during the introductory period was navigated. This paper aims to explore the remote learning challenges faced by public school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight informants whom to be identified as public school teachers from two different states, Penang and Perak. Purpose sampling was used till the saturation point reached. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five key themes were identified as the elements of remote learning in digital teaching which were teaching tools, facilities, training, IT skills and other skills. The findings show that although all the five main themes were important in remote learning, teaching tools was the most important element on contributing to the teacher’s challenges in remote learning. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that the occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for all teachers to use Information Communication Technology for online learning.
Keywords: remote learning, challenges, teachers, teaching tools
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1. Introduction
Technology has changed education, affecting how teachers teach and transfer knowledge.
Initially, computers were used to facilitate cognitive skills but technological advancement has been shown to be an efficient tool in teaching. In the event of school closures, teachers may be presented with challenges when it comes to remote teaching and distance learning. Distance learning allows students to continue to follow the guidance instruction of their teacher outside of the physical classroom and away from their peers.
Distance education is defined as the provision of learning access to individuals who are separated by distance. Although defined at a point of time to differentiate between two different types of learning modes - online and offline, it has since evolved to mean education that happens among two sides (learner and instructor) and is asynchronous in terms of time and/or place using various types of “instructions materials”. e-Learning refers to the delivery of learning materials not only through through online means, but also through any multimedia materials such as audio and video, as well as satellites and televisions. Online learning was perceived as the latest iteration of distance education (Moore, Dickson-Dean & Galyen (2011).
Basak, Wotto, and Belanger (2018) defined e-Learning as both the alternative of traditional mode of education delivery as well as complementary of it.
Digital learning, or D-learning has been increasingly used in place of e-learning as is defined
“open and distance learning” that uses information and communication technology (ICT).
Instead of solely limited to the conduit of delivering learning materials, digital technology plays a role in supporting learning and “studying activities. D-learning improves understanding of study materials by learners and teaching by instructors, while improving knowledge sharing activities (Basak et al. (2018). In addition, in becoming a repository of knowledge and the medium of instruction, D-learning could improve learning outcomes through personalisation of teaching and learning based on data garnered from D-learning platform as well as increase collaboration and communication among learners and between learner and instructor (Basak et al (2018). Therefore, it is possible that the old definition of distance education which insists on some form of classroom presence is done away, and D-learning could exist solely online (Burdina, Krapotkina & Nasyrova, 2019).
The COVID-19 virus has hastened the transition to D-learning for sure. Studies have shown that there is an ‘online penalty’ for vulnerable learners that are struggling (Reich et al., 2020).
Research on existing virtual school systems has shown that although students that are naturally good will continue to do well if they are transferred to virtual schools, students with previously poor grades will suffer from the ‘online penalty’. It is proposed that students that will suffer the ‘online penalty’ of pandemic schooling are those who are economically vulnerable - students who are the most exposed to negative effects of recession, food and housing insecurity, and lack of access to healthcare during a pandemic (Reich et al. 2020).
Past studies on schooling during emergencies or crises note that schooling is vital as part of the child’s routine, providing intellectual stimulation for the child, as well as in enabling the child to maintain established relationships with peers and trusted grownups in his or her life (Reich et al., 2020). The extended time spent on D-learning however, has given rise to the question of whether online lessons should introduce new materials or reinforce materials or skills already learnt during the current school year. This is vital because in Malaysia, the school year began on 2 January 2020. Therefore, school has been going on for less than three months before the transition to D-learning occurred. It was proposed that new materials can be introduced as long as the majority of students can cope with the lessons. The remainder of the students may obtain targeted support after physical schooling resumes. However, the risk is that families and teachers will be stressed to ensure students can cope with the lesson. It was proposed that during this time away from physical schools, students should focus on “connected learning, hobbies and interest-driven knowledge” instead of following the syllabus (Reich et al., 2020).
Teachers are agents in the phenomenon of digital learning due to the pandemic. The actions of teachers in implementing digital learning during the MCO needs to be analysed through observations or interviews in order uncover the actual implementation process, the teachers’
perspectives on and responses to the implementation of digital remote learning, how teachers adapted their classroom teaching techniques in using digital learning tools, and “how challenges during the introductory period was navigated (Nielsen et al., 2015).
This paper aims to explore the remote learning challenges faced by public school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
This paper begins with a discussion on the background of the study, underlying theory, and elements of remote learning in digital teaching. Subsequently, it presents the research methodology continued with results and discussion. Finally, the conclusion, implications, limitations, and recommendations for upcoming works are outlined.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Terminologies
Distance education can be defined as the interactive exchange of data based on web and advanced technological tools and equipment between students and teaching staff who are distant from each other (Odabaş, 2003).
With the school closure, temporary online classrooms are being arranged as an alternative to the face to face classroom. While parents are adjusting to this new scenario, it is also important for teachers to stay focused and active online. Active learning is a method of learning in which students are actively or experientially involved in the learning process and where there are different levels of active learning, depending on student involvement. (Bonwell & Eison 1991).
It is also defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. In short, active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing (Prince, 2004).
In active learning, students will engage in small or large activities centered around writing, talking, problem solving, or reflecting. It stands in contrast to "traditional" modes of instruction in which students are passive recipients of knowledge from an expert and asks students to engage in the learning process.
2.2 Underlying Theory
Underlying Theory for this study is agency theory. Agency theory describes the relationship between two or more parties, in which one party, designated as the principal, engages another party, designated as the agent, to perform some task on behalf of the principal (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Moe, 1984; Ross, 1973). The principal can be the Ministry of Education, the school board, or a school principal. The agents are those actors who receive salaries and assignments from principals. Therefore, agents can include school teachers, administrative managers, etc. The theory assumes that once principals delegate authority to agents, they often have problems controlling them, because agents’ goals often differ from their own and because agents often have better information about their capacity and activities than do principals.
2.3 Elements of remote learning in digital teaching 2.3.1 Teaching tools
Scotland, UK, Fullerton in California, the US, and Australia are three education jurisdictions that initiated one-to-one laptop projects for some or all schools in the jurisdictions. In Australia, this one-to-one laptop programme with related technologies is named the ‘Digital Education Revolution’ delivered 910,000 laptops to all Year 9 students across Australia (Nielsen, Miller,
& Hoban, 2015). The laptops are equipped with software programs, and the schools are also provided with educational technologies such as “software, wireless networks, and interactive whiteboards, as well as technology support and professional learning for teachers” (Nielsen et al., 2015). If teachers do not face issues and need to troubleshoot unanticipated issues with technology, they may “stay engaged longer in building their repertoire (of laptop lessons, in this case) (Nielsen et al., 2015).
One of the biggest changes occurring in the digital age is the movement to increase access.
This transition is from a model that has one (or very few) computer(s) in classrooms, which makes integrating e-learning activities difficult, to a model that strives to get one computer (or other e-learning digital device) into the hands of every student every day (Delgado, Wardlow, McKnight, & O’Malley, 2015). If students do not have access to computers, then teachers cannot be expected to transform their instructional methods.
2.3.2 Facilities
An alternative to digital teaching is where teachers could “curate, print, and distribute” through mailing service, school buses, or ‘family pickup sites, paper sets of learning materials. In addition, there are states in the US that recommend that students learn from activities and infrastructure around them, for example; cook meals, help with house chores, or plant gardens.
Another approach in the US that is also adopted by Malaysia is using public broadcasting systems that provide scheduled programming on TV for students. Teachers can coordinate lessons and exercises to coincide with the scheduled TV programming (Reich et al., 2020).
In the US, there were a few types of communication methods that were used to guide teachers, mainly video messages from the state commissioners (state directors for education), high level summaries of various aspects of teaching, comprehensive guidance, templates and checklists, as well as phased approaches.
In the classroom, connectivity is an important factor so that lessons’ materials can be accessed.
The Australian DER programs’ schools were observed to have dead spots, limited capacity of 25 simultaneous logins, and other issues. The anticipated time required to trouble-shoot classroom- as well as students-related connectivity issues has led to teachers simplifying their lessons to only use one technology (Nielsen et al., 2015). In addition, the schools have bought software that were eventually found out to be not compatible with the laptops supplied by the Department of Education (Nielsen et al., 2015). The DER one-to-one laptop program assumed that internet connectivity is a given at home, which may not be the case for some households.
Therefore, the benefits or utility of the supplied laptop is dependent on the economic strata of the student’s family and/ or the location of the family home (Nielsen et al., 2015).
2.3.3 Training
For the Digital Education Revolution one-to-one laptop rollout in Australia, selected teachers from each school were sent to Department of Education-sponsored workshops, and these selected teachers will then teach their colleagues at their own schools as a cost-saving measure (Nielsen et al., 2015). The teachers who attended the first workshop also ran an introductory session to the laptop for the Year 9 students for which the laptops were allocated (Nielsen et al., 2015).
2.3.4 IT skills
Apart from technology usage confidence and existing beliefs about teaching and technology, it was proposed that perception of risk-taking and experimentation in teaching of teachers are also important factors (Howard & Gigliotti, 2016). Teachers that perceive that they are capable of utilising technology would be less anxious and doubtful, and have positive attitude towards technology utilisation. Thereafter, they will feel that using technology in teaching is not risky (Howard, 2013). The findings of a case study on using technology in teaching states that the teacher being studied initially had doubts that students acquired as much knowledge as they should be, when learning using technology, although technology may lead students to be more engaged in lessons (Howard & Gigliotti, 2016). Furthermore, the preparation of lessons using
technology resources is time-consuming and there is also the risk that time is wasted where the website crashes or technology does not work, especially towards the end of the class, and students run out of time to re-do the work once trouble-shooting resolves the problem.
However, if teachers seek assistance from peers and improve skills and time taken to prepare lessons, the teachers will have more technological knowledge, and therefore be more confident in handling any arising issues with technology, in addition to be more willing to adopt other new technologies (Howard & Gigliotti, 2016).
In the Digital Education Revolution case in Australia, one of the two teachers observed had to assist almost all students who were having technical issues during the beginning of a lesson.
Due to those technical issues which took nearly an hour to resolve, the teacher resorted to lecturing using her textbook, and guiding the few who could access the materials online through the next steps that followed (Nielsen et al., 2015).
2.3.5 Other skills
Remote learning during pandemic results in teachers taking different primary roles than previously. Teachers view their job “as providing whole-class, oral, direct instruction “(Reich et al., 2020). Pandemic schooling on the other hand, asks that teachers play two roles - “curating asynchronous curriculum and providing regular feedback, coaching, and support”, (Reich et al., 2020).
Teachers under the DER used laptops only to realise that the students have low engagement towards lessons despite having completed worksheets on the lesson’s topic the day before. The reason for that is students were just copy-pasting answers and did not engage meaningfully with the information gained from the worksheet. Another issue was that the task-based time did not necessarily mean that higher-order thinking skills were sought from students, or that the tasks had any meaningful impact. The students were not willing “to engage with the computers as a learning tool”. The lack of engagement by students could indicate that teachers are yet to adapt “available technology tools” to their lessons (Nielsen et al., 2015). Students' disengagement in using laptops as a learning tool could be caused by students who perceived devices that are highly connected as social networking tools, not education tools (Nielsen, 2013; Nielsen et al., 2015).
3. Methodology
Data was gathered by using interview method. Each interview session was conducted with each informant individually. All the sessions were conducted via video conference. Each one of them was scheduled based on their availability. To get a fixed date and time, a series of communication was established. The duration period of each interview session ranged from 45 to 60 minutes. Each interview session was recorded and field notes were taken for further transcription. At the end of each interview session, all the data gathered were disclosed to the informants to gain their acceptance and confirmation for data precision.
A total of 8 teachers were contacted for the interview session from 4 different schools where 2 schools from Penang state and 2 schools from Perak state as per Table 1. To ensure that the data collected for this study was retrieved from the correct sources, the researcher strictly interviewed informants who had the experience of ten years and above in teaching in Malaysian government schools.
Table 1: Informants’ Characteristics
Informant ID School Name Position
Total Years of
Teaching Type of school Informant A SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal Principal 21 Government Informant B SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal Senior Teacher 20 Government Informant C SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal Teacher 21 Government Informant D SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal Discipline
Teacher
22 Government
Informant E SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal Ketua Bidang Sains dan Matematik
33 Government
Informant F SMK Taman Widuri, Sg Jawi Teacher 14 Government
Informant G SMK Jati Ipoh Subject
Coordinator
19 Government
Informant H SMK Sungai Pari, Ipoh Teacher 12 Government
The most critical question in this interview is Question 1 (Q1), which is designed to determine which challenges faced by the teachers in remote learning are applicable for the informants.
These challenges were taken from literature as mentioned in Section 2.3. Based on the (Q1) responses, further questions were asked to the informants to collect more data. Most of the informants listed that most of the challenges are applicable in remote learning. List of the feedback is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Informants Feedback based on Category Extracted from Literature
The researchers performed the reliability test of the transcribed data by executing a peer review of the data transcription. Hence, data reliability was established using the Cohen Kappa method (Viera & Garrett, 2005). Cohen’s Kappa value obtained is 0.70, which falls in the range of satisfactory. All the collected data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Following are the six phases that was followed using thematic analysis:
Phase 1: Familiarize with data
This is the first phase of thematic analysis where the researchers get acquainted with the interview transcription. Researcher need to read again and again the transcribed interview to get the general idea of the phase.
Phase 2: Generate initial codes
In this phase, initial codes were generated based on the units of analysis which was identified from the literature. The units of analysis (anchor nodes) that were found from literature and were adopted the literature are Teaching Tools, Facilities, Trainings, IT skills and Other Skills.
Phase 3: Search for themes
In this phase, researcher went through the transcription for each question based on informants’
feedback. Then, themes were formed according to each units of analysis.
Phase 4: Review themes
Once the themes were formed, the researcher will examine to ensure the themes suit according to the category (units of analysis).
Phase 5: Define and name themes
All the formed themes will be finalized based on its units of analysis as shown in Figure 2.
Phase 6: Produce report
Finally, the report is produced which consist of the overall result as shown in Table 2.
Figure 2: Thematic Mapping
4. Findings and Discussion
Findings from the semi-structured interview is given above in Table 2.
4.1 Teaching Tools
Some of the respondents to the semi-structured interview faced the issue of not possessing better equipment to prepare and present lessons during the Covid-19 lockdown stage. The existence of a tension of having the expertise to plan a proper lesson, only to fail to capture the students’ attention due to equipment issues (Nielsen, 2015) is reflected in Informant 1’s observation,
“We ourselves not well equipped with teaching tools, not well equipped means a good camera, a good audio to support the teaching, better equipments are needed, need a proper and clear one. To create the interest among the children, we need to use good teaching tools so that students will be interested to learn. When teachers don’t use a clear mic or without camera etc, students feel very lazy to study, they seem to not to show the interest in study in remote learning.”
Access of equipment is vital, and Fedina et al. (2017) proposed that there has to be financial support for teachers. One of the lessons learned from the ‘forced online learning’ period was that Malaysian teachers do not necessarily have required ICT equipment, and had to resort to other means to access the needed equipments, as what was done by Informant 2:
“I do not have a laptop of my own. I had to borrow my sister’s. We setup a time-table to use the laptop so that we could both use the laptop.”
Educators also need to be flexible in terms of how the teaching materials are presented to the students (Nielsen, 2015). In the case of the interview respondents, one respondent had to adjust his/ her expectations of the students preferred platform for submitting assigned work, namely WhatsApp Messenger, instead of the Google Classroom with which the classwork was assigned. This is likely due to the fact that the chat application is already installed in the mobile device that students have access to, while Google Classroom is a speciality software that needed to be installed. The mobile device may lack memory storage space to install Google Classroom. Informant 4 observes that:
“Secondly, insufficient facilities, software and training for the students in remote learning.
Therefore, it effects the process of Learning and Teaching. For an example, 5A students really showed interest in completing their task however If the task is given through Google Classroom, they prefer to submit in WhatsApp. In order to encourage the students, I will just accept any tools they use.”
Informant 7, who teaches mathematics, found it challenging to teach that subject online initially, as she could not use the teaching aids she previously used. Eventually, she learnt to use Google Classroom, which includes Google Meet, for her teaching and according to her, the teaching process is smoother now. A paper observed that, there are some online teaching tools that actually reinforce traditional ways of teaching, such as the YouTube videos that feature the ‘stand-and-deliver’ method favoured by TED Talks, MOOCs, and other forms of instructional videos (Allen, Rowan & Singh, 2020). That may have been the case for Informant 7 who is more comfortable with her old teaching aids, and Google Meet, which is a video form, fulfils her need to use her own teaching aids.
On the other hand, a couple of the respondents did comment that they have ready access to teaching tools but due to the lack of training prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, had to source through videos, colleagues, and other means to learn to use the tools. Respondent 5 noted that:
“Whether you like it or not, slowly one’s still has to pick-up a little bit of know-how on these teaching tools. Having say that, actually there is another way out, that is to look for resources prepared and generously shared by fellow teachers in the internet which can be used for one’s own teaching.”
Informant F, mentioned that she is familiar with the teaching tools, and started remote learning from the first day of the COVID-19 lockdown:
“As a teacher, I am prepared to conduct remote learning smoothly. As an example, I had started remote learning from the first day schooling in MCO era itself from 23rd March 2020”.
4.2 Facilities
The semi-structured interviews found that most respondents were using their own internet connections and devices to conduct remote teaching. This is as reported by a local newspaper, which mentioned that dedicated teachers were using their own devices and ingenuity conducting remote teaching (Soon & Wong, 2020, April). This was reflected by the answer to the question of whether this study’s respondents face issues regarding facilities by Informant 5:
Luckily for me, I don’t face challenges in terms of facilities in remote learning. I have my own gadgets, internet connection at my area is fast enough for me to do my work smoothly. I did heard from colleagues that they faced challenges in remote teaching causing by poor or slow internet connection.
However, a research by a national think-tank note that teachers, as well as parents and students are “still grappling with e-learning” and face the issues of inadequate equipment and unconducive environments. Based on the interviews, Informant 3 and Informant 4 face issues in accessing facilities. Informant 3 was depending on school facilities, as can be discerned from this quote:
...School did not provide any facilities during MCO. I do not have facilities such as a scanner whereby I could scan and edit pictures for pupils in their lessons. I also faced difficulty in buying ink for my printer as the shops were all closed. In school however, the Internet service is good. It is fast and easily accessible.
Informant 4 had to use her mobile phone for her teaching materials creation as well as assessment:
The challenge that I faced in terms of facilities in remote learning is I have to depend only on my IPhone. It has a small screen and difficult to assess students' assignment. I had to spend more time to read and comment on their work individually.
The outcomes of the semi-structured interviews were not surprising. The district of Nibong Tebal, where the informants’ school is based, is located in the state of Penang, in that state, the percentage of individuals using computer by Penang is 75.9%, while the percentage of households with access to computer in 2019 is 76.87%. The percentage of individuals using the Internet in the state of Penang is 86.7%, which is just slightly above the national average of 84.21%.
In terms of ICT skills, the percentage of individuals who are able to create electronic presentations using computer software is 34.54% in 2019 while individuals who can use copy and paste tools to duplicate or move information within a document is 76.73% in 2019.
4.3 Training
Majority of the interviewees unanimously agreed that the ‘forced’ online learning was one of the challenges faced by teachers with the sudden shift from physical teaching to online teaching during the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, many interviewees reported there exist insufficient training among the teachers to conduct online teaching as reflected in a few of the informant’s experience.
Informant A:
“Not many IT trainings are given to us as we have IT teacher in the school. Training such as Effective communication, teaching pedagogy, psychology training, counselling, all were very useful during this time”.
Informant C:
“I do not have proper training in using Google Classroom. All the work I gave my students was done by trial and error method. I’m still not very satisfied with the teaching. In the university I have learnt to do editing of pictures that was helpful in sending pictures to students so that they can do essays. I need training which will enable me to see my students face to face and interact with them in order to help them in their learning process.
Informant D:
“I don't really have sufficient training in remote learning until I just used materials that forwarded by my Head of English Panel or took from Youtube to carry out Teaching and Learning during MCO. I really need Training on creating own materials using the suitable software or technology”.
Teachers had to learn new online pedagogies so quickly. Although some informants revealed they had some fundamental training on teaching online, they needed a more in-depth training as mentioned by Informant E.
Informant E
• “Lack of in-depth trainings in remote learning.
• Some in-house trainings and side training during courses on Google Classroom and other Apps for remote learning.
• More in-depth trainings and workshops on the use of the many Apps for remote learning. “
Teachers had no time to prepare or go through trainings materials properly. In other words, the covid-19 pandemic has forced them to teach online without much know-how knowledge. This resonates with the findings by Moorhouse (2020), where the author reported that tutors and instructors must be given sufficient training so they are able to deliver courses online in the event of any health emergencies (Moorhouse, 2020). Likewise, training that can be provided to teachers include lesson preparation, online class delivery, online teaching strategies, teaching resources, etc. Providing training to teachers enable them to optimise their teaching design and thus, offering students better online learning experiences (Zhao, Wu, & Liu, 2020). With sufficient training, teachers are also able to support students who are learning independently at home (OECD, 2020).
4.4 IT Skills
The results from the interview revealed that the shift has been easier for teachers that had embraced technology before the lockdown as mentioned by a few informants. Thus, online classes were conducted with ease.
Informant F:
“Basically, I didn’t attend any IT trainings outside. Yet, I had conducted online classes with independent learning. Tutorial classes in YouTube had also helped me to overcome these challenges. I am pretty sure that I am in in INTERMEDIATE category as I need to explore continuously the latest applications and technologies”.
Informant G:
“I never attend any IT trainings outside but take my own initiative to learn through online. I think I am in INTERMEDIATE category as I need to explore more”.
However, school teachers with poor Information, communication and technology (ICT) skills had to seek help from others to conduct the online classes as noted by Informant D and E.
Informant D:
“I'm really poor when it comes to IT skills. I always seek help from other Teachers especially the young Teachers who are really expert in IT. I know I need to enhance my IT skills therefore recently I joined in a Workshop on producing Materials”.
Informant E
“Lack of IT skills may cause stress and anxiety when faced with problems related to this. To overcome this challenge, I may seek help from family members, call up a colleague, or Google for help in the internet. I rate myself as a Beginner in IT skills”.
The lack of experience in online teaching and the use of IT to teach among school teachers are common (Moorhouse, 2020). Researcher, Peachey urged that teachers are in need of new and extended skills (Peachey, 2017). The occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for all teachers to use ICT for online learning. Thus, developing fundamental IT skill training is a must to help teachers mitigate their challenges.
5. Research Implications
This study examined the factors where teaching tools and facilities are inequal, teachers and students are left behind. Basically we had shortage of laptops in year 2020 where Donald Trump, President of United States of America (USA) don’t want products from China. Gadgets made in China are much cheaper and affordable but USA government refuse to accept China made laptops. This could create a hurdle.
Moreover, teachers who have the fundamental IT skills they find it very easy to cope with online teaching. Training has to be an ongoing activity in school to make the teachers well equipped with IT skills and updated with their teaching related to the teaching pedagogy.
Training has to be specific which is related to the school teaching and assessment.
Table 2: Findings of Semi-Structured Interview Challenges
(Anchor Node)
Number Parent Node Child Node
Teaching Tools 1 Better equipment Hardware
Software Good camera Good audio Proper mic Discussing board 2 Online lessons
3 Internet access 4 Students’ readiness
5 Teaching procedures, process and knowledge
6 Teaching calculation subject via online 7 Students’ preparedness
8 Resources 9 Teaching aid
Facilities 10 Insufficient facilities No gadget
Data problem Internet connection 11 Access to facilities Data problem
Internet connection 12 Parental support
13 Students’ attitude 14 Teacher's role 15 Teaching equipment Trainings 16 Insufficient training
IT skills 17 Conducting online classes with ease 18 Poor IT Skills
19 Seek help from others Other Skills 20 Time management
21 Communication skills 22 Self-regulated learning 23 Self esteem
Other Challenges
24 Students’ attitude 25 Parents’ support 26 Teachers’ attitude 27 Weather
28 Progress monitoring
6. Research Limitations and Future Works
This research, was inherently confronted with limited geographical coverage where we wanted a balanced participant from urban and suburban view. Furthermore, we don’t cover premier schools, rural schools, boarding schools, private schools and international schools. In future, it could cover more selective intakes such as how do the teachers cope, difference coverage of internet areas with internet accessibility, more types of school variety and others. From research methodology perspectives, it could measure attitude of teachers, perceive difficulty level of teaching with all this challenges and others.
7. Concluding Remarks
The main purpose of this research was to explore the remote learning challenges faced by public school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The qualitative component revealed supporting sub-theme for teaching tools, facilities, training, IT skills and other skills
that contributes to the elements of remote learning in digital teaching. Further investigation through in-depth interview found that teaching tools was the most important element on contributing to the teacher’s challenges. Better equipment, Online lessons, internet access, Students’ readiness, teaching procedures, process and knowledge, Teaching calculation subject via online, and Students’ preparedness. Resources and teaching aid were identified as the subthemes of teaching tools. These findings provide sufficient evidence on the contributing elements of remote learning in digital teaching.
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