Online Learning: Challenges and Solutions for Learners and Teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an expansion and increase in the demand for online teaching and learning across the globe. Online teaching and learning is attracting a large number of students for enhanced learning experiences. However, there are many challenges and hindrances that pose a problem in the smooth learning. The impediments in the learning process are suppressing the advantages that may aid the learners with augmented learning sessions. The article presents some challenges faced by teachers and learners, supplemented with the recommendations to remove them. JEL Code: A20

A Comparison of Online Learning Challenges Between Young Learners and Adult Learners in ESL Classes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Review

This critical review aims to make a comparison of online learning challenges between young learners and adult learners in ESL classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has forced the closure of schools and institutions and the shift from face to face classes to online learning which forced the learners to adapt with the transformation. The challenges being faced by the young and adult learners were categorized into three themes, namely learning styles, psychological effect and low academic performance. A total of 40 articles were screened from the years 2020 and 2021. Out of those articles, 29 articles were recognized for the adult learners’ challenges and 11 articles for the young learners’ challenges. The findings suggested there were differences of challenges between the young and adult learners. It is important to recognize the challenges faced by these two levels of learners so that these challenges can be addressed accordingly in the future.

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: THE CASE OF OVERSEAS EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

This article highlights an increasingly popular form of experiential learning, namely overseas exchange programs. Experiential learning is regarded as a valuable way to link up theoretical knowledge and practical skills in hospitality and tourism education. Although some studies have addressed the importance of experiential learning, the factors influencing students’ choice of overseas exchange programs, and the challenges and benefits of students’ experiential learning are still unclear, especially on the overseas exchange programs. The purpose of this study is to reveal the whole picture of overseas exchange programs by utilizing experiential learning cycle theory, and further understand students’ perception of overseas experiential learning. By employing quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with students who have participated in the overseas exchange programs and content analysis of program information, this study analyzes the differences of factors considered by males and females in choosing overseas exchange programs, and displays the four-stage learning process of experiential learning in overseas exchange programs and identifies two themes of challenges (living challenges and learning challenges) and five themes of benefits (cognitive development, behavioural change, multiple skill development, social bonding development, academic competitiveness & employability enhancement) for experiential learning for students majoring in Hospitality and Tourism. The study enriches our understandings of the experiential learning cycle theory and provides insights to educators in the design of future overseas exchange programs.

COVID-19 AND EDUCATION OF MASS COMMUNICATION:

The sudden closure of educational institutions in 2020 brought multiple financial and learning challenges for Pakistani female students. In our experience, not only formal and informal learning realms of female students have been affected in the post pandemic educational landscape, but a distinct gender and digital divide (GDD) is also noticeable between technology-equipped and deprived students. Considering the theoretical perspectives of digital divide, this paper will essentially explicate the chasms existing within female students of Mass Communication in Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s conservative and patriarchal culture, it is very important to study how female students of Mass Communication, from both urban and rural areas, responded to the change after the pandemic. Through in-depth interviews of twenty female students, we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated already existing GDD in Pakistani educational landscape. Especially the first order GDD in education can be seen frequently in Pakistani rural locations. Moreover, economic limitations and socio-cultural norms also play an essential role in exacerbating second order GDD in the Mass Communication education. Thus, in this sense, the pandemic has brought a change that is charged with exclusion and disparity. Moreover, we argue that digital divide is a gendered concept for a periphery country such as Pakistan.

PENGEMBANGAN MEDIA KOMIK DALAM MENINGKATKAN MINAT BELAJAR KESEHATAN REPRODUKSI KADER GEMPI KESPRO (GENERASI MUDA PEDULI KESEHATAN REPRODUKSI)

Health material is material that requires caution in distributing so that students do not get it wrong. For this reason, teacher expertise is needed in packaging elements in the learning process. One way that can be used in responding to these learning challenges is to develop learning media. Comic is one of the visual media that has several functions in learning, namely the function of attention, affective function, cognitive function and compensatory function. This illustrated media contains learning materials that are packaged to suit the daily lives of students. This type of research is a development research that aims to develop comic media in order to increase interest in learning reproductive health in Gempi Kespro cadres. The development research model used is a modification of the procedural model from Borg and Gall which consists of a preliminary study, determining the goals to be achieved at each stage, developing the initial product form, initial testing, initial revision, main trial, 2nd revision, validation test expert and final revision. Product reviews use modifications of criteria based on quality, namely design, breadth of material, ease of understanding, coherence of images and text as well as image and text writing. The data is presented descriptively. The results of the initial trial, main trial and expert validation showed a positive value for all aspects of the assessment. The conclusion of this study is that the learning media for reproductive health comics is appropriate to be used in increasing student interest in learning in the field of reproductive health ABSTRAKMateri kesehatan reproduksi merupakan materi yang memerlukan kehati-hatian dalam penyampaian agar siswa tidak keliru dalam menerimanya. Untuk itu diperlukan kepiawaian pengajar dalam mengemas unsur dalam proses pembelajarannya. Salah satu cara yang dapat digunakan dalam menjawab tantangan pembelajaran tersebut adalah dengan mengembangkan media belajar. Komik merupakan salah satu media visual memiliki beberapa fungsi dalam pembelajaran yaitu fungsi atensi, fungsi afektif, fungsi kognitif dan fungsi kompensatoris. Media bergambar ini berisi materi pembelajaran yang dikemas menyesuaikan kehidupan siswa sehari-hari. Jenis penelitian ini merupakan penelitian pengembangan yang bertujuan mengembangkan media komik guna meningkatkan minat belajar kesehatan reproduksi pada kader gempi kespro. Model penelitian pengembangan yang digunakan adalah modifikasi model procedural dari Borg and Gall yang terdiri dari studi pendahuluan, menentukan tujuan yang akan dicapai disetiap tahapan, mengembangkan bentuk produk awal, uji coba awal, revisi awal, uji coba utama, revisi ke-2, uji validasi ahli dan revisi akhir. Review penilaian produk menggunakan modifikasi dari criteria berdasarkan kualitas yaitu desain, keluasan materi, kemudahan materi dipahami, keruntutan gambar dan tulisan serta kejelasan gambar dan tulisan. Data disajikan secara deskriptif. Hasil dari uji coba awal, uji coba utama dan validasi ahli menunjukkan nilai positif dari keseluruan aspek penilaian. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa media pembelajaran komik kesehatan reproduksi ini layak digunakan dalam meningkatkan minat belajar siswa di bidang kesehatan reproduksi

Using DAWs as modelling tools for learning design sound-based applications in education

This article discusses a proposed design and sound tool teaching and learning approach, with interesting solution-based challenges not immediately associated with traditional DAW instruction. By stepping outside of the usual boundaries of DAW use, music production teaching is presented with a number of novel learning challenges. There is potential for DAWs, especially in educational settings, to be used to enhance the discipline, encourage experimentation and stimulate design-based ideas that promote DAW use beyond the mixing and engineering type contexts. By shifting DAWs into areas of sound-based music, as proposed by Landy, this innovative approach, facilitates deeper, experiential learning where sound is treated as the basic musical unit, therefore allowing for a potentially greater range of designed outputs.

On the relationship between research parasites and fairness in machine learning: challenges and opportunities

Machine learning systems influence our daily lives in many different ways. Hence, it is crucial to ensure that the decisions and recommendations made by these systems are fair, equitable, and free of unintended biases. Over the past few years, the field of fairness in machine learning has grown rapidly, investigating how, when, and why these models capture, and even potentiate, biases that are deeply rooted not only in the training data but also in our society. In this Commentary, we discuss challenges and opportunities for rigorous posterior analyses of publicly available data to build fair and equitable machine learning systems, focusing on the importance of training data, model construction, and diversity in the team of developers. The thoughts presented here have grown out of the work we did, which resulted in our winning the annual Research Parasite Award that GigaSciencesponsors.