TEACHING AND LEARNING INSIGHTS DURING COVID-19 FROM TEACHERS IN INDONESIA AND BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and around the globe is an evolving situation with extraordinary challenges not just for the healthcare system of a country but also to the educational providers of the nation. We are currently experiencing rapid and sudden changes in the options given as to how the teachers are teaching and how the students are learning. In this collaborative study, we investigated the perspectives and experiences of teachers from Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam in going through the teaching and learning changes during the pandemic. An online survey that consisted of two sections was disseminated. The first section asks for their background information while the second section consisted of open-ended questions related to online teaching and learning practices. In total there were 102 respondents from Indonesia and 19 respondents from Brunei Darussalam. The subjects taught ranged from Mathematics, Geography, Bahasa Indonesia, Civic Education and many more, while the duration of teaching varied from two months to 36 years. The qualitative data collected from the survey were analysed and categorised thematically into online teaching practices, the advantages and disadvantages, the challenges and opportunities of implementation, students’ receptiveness towards learning through online means and teachers’ decisions in continuing the online practices. The general findings from both countries mainly showed similarities in the teachers’ online teaching practices especially in the usage of chosen online platforms, the challenges faced during implementation such as Internet connectivity and the teachers’ views regarding their students’ mindset and attitude towards learning online. Interestingly, although face-to-face lesson interactions are mostly preferred, majority of the teachers, regardless of how long they have been teaching, indicated their willingness to continue the online classroom practices and use currently available online resources for the sake of their students’ learning experiences.