Teachers’ Feedback on Using Discord as an Online Learning Platform

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22246

Keywords:

e-learning, distance learning, online learning, conferencing software, Discord

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has called for a shift in the teaching and learning landscape from conventional classes to e-learning. This propels the use of a range of online learning and distance learning platforms massively, notably MS Teams, Zoom US, and Google Classroom. However, the fact that the aforementioned require a monetary subscription to unlock their full potential proves detrimental to the accessibility to education during the pandemic, i.e., not all students and/ or educational institutions have the available means. This paper thus seeks to affirm the capability of Discord as an alternative online learning platform that is not only efficient in its own right but also comes at no expense. To this end, a handful of English teachers who had been teaching online via either of the three platforms above were offered to switch to Discord for a fixed amount of time. They received instructions and support from the research team concerning the platform along the way and were asked to participate in a survey afterward. With the use of SPSS for statistical data analysis, the paper pointed out that Discord achieved a high compatibility level for both parties in use, namely the teachers and the students.

Author Biographies

  • Uong Tran Gia Tri, The University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

    Tri Tran Gia Uong is a MA student in the TESOL program by HCMUSSH and the co-founder of C-Plus English – an educational project based in HCMC whose target demographic is teenagers wishing to learn academic English. As a technophile himself, he loves exploring meaningful applications of technology into his Teaching.

  • Nguyen Duy Khoi, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance, Vietnam

    Khoi Duy Nguyen is an aspiring M.A. in TESOL program student at HCMUSSH as well as a core teacher at IPP Education and Language Link Vietnam, both of which specialize in teaching for the IELTS certificate. As a veteran educator, he is famous for his unorthodox approach to English pedagogy.

  • Nguyen Huu Nhon, HCMC Open Univeristy, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Nhon Huu Nguyen is currently participating in the M.A. program organized by the Open University. Apart from his professional development, he is concurrently working at WESET English center, addressing his learners’ needs in terms of IELTS and honing his teaching quality. His main interests are primarily concerned with ELT.

References

Ajabshir, Z. F. (2018). The effect of synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) on EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 169–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.015

Anderson, D., Imdieke, S., & Standerford, N. S. (2011). FEEDBACK please: Studying self in the online classroom. International Journal of Instruction, 4(1), 3–15. https://www.e-iji.net/dosyalar/iji_2011_1_1.pdf

Arum, R., & Stevens, M. L. (2020, March 18). What is a college education in the time of coronavirus? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/opinion/college-education-coronavirus.html

Baran, E., Correia, A., & Thompson, A. (2011). Transforming online teaching practice: Critical analysis of the literature on the roles and competencies of online teachers. Distance Education, 32(3), 421–439. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2011.610293

Beatty, K. (2010). Computer-mediated communication. In Teaching and researching computer-assisted language learning (pp. 69–75). London, England: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833774

Blake, R. J. (2013). Computer-mediated communication. In Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and foreign language learning (pp. 77–108). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Cacho, J. F. (2020). Using Discord to improve student communication, engagement, and performance. UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo. 95. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/95

Coppola, N. W., Hiltz, S. R., & Rotter, N. (2001). Becoming a virtual professor: Pedagogical roles and ALN. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(4), 168–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2002.11045703

Crawley, F. E., Fewell, M. D., & Sugar, W. A. (2009). Researcher and researched: The phenomenology of change from face-to-face to online instruction. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(2), 165–176.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). London, England: Pearson.

Dang, L., Watts, S., & Nguyen, T. (2017). Massive open online course: International experiences and implications in Vietnam. The Twentieth Informing Science and Information Technology Education Conference, Santa Rosa, CA, United States. http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3745

Dao, V. T. H., & Ha, T. H. Q. (2021). Student barriers to prospects of online learning in Vietnam in the context of covid-19 pandemic. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 22(3), 110–123. https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.961824

Dhawan, S. (2020). Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0047239520934018

Fein, A. D., & Logan, M. C. (2003). Preparing instructors for online instruction. In S. R. Argon (Ed.), Facilitating learning in online environments: New directions for adult and continuing education (pp. 45–55). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Fraenkel, J., Wallen, N., & Hyun, H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from https://saochhengpheng.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/jack_fraenkel_norman_wallen_helen_hyun-how_to_design_and_evaluate_research_in_education_8th_edition_-mcgraw-hill_humanities_social_sciences_languages2011.pdf

Gass, S. M. (2018). Input, interaction, and the second language learner. London, England: Routledge.

Gülbahar, Y., & Adnan, M. (2020). Faculty professional development in creating significant teaching and learning experiences online. In L. Kyei-Blankson, E. Ntuli, & J. Blankson (Eds.), Handbook of research on creating meaningful experiences in online courses, (pp. 37–58). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-0115-3.ch004

Hummel, K. M. (2014). Introducing second language acquisition: Perspectives and practices. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Karboul, A. (2020, December 04). COVID-19 put 1.6 billion children out of school: Here’s how to upgrade education post-pandemic. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/12/covid19-education-innovation-outcomes/

Kebritchi, M., Lipschuetz, A., & Santiague, L. (2017). Issues and challenges for teaching successful online courses in higher education: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 46(1), 4–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239516661713

Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2020). Facilitating synchronous online language learning through Zoom. RELC Journal, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220937235

Long, M. H. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 126–141. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.126

Moore, J. L., Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2010). E-learning, online learning, and distance learning environments: Are they the same? The Internet and Higher Education, 14(2), 129–135, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.10.001

Moorhouse, B. L. (2020). Adaptations to a face-to-face initial teacher education course ‘forced’ online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 609–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1755205

Murphy, E. (2009). Online synchronous communication in the second-language classroom. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35(3), 10–22. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ896571.pdf

Nguyen, H. G. (2022). Non-English majored students’ preferences of online learning during the COVID 19 pandemic: A case study in Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry (HUFI). International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(3), 272–283. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.222319

Nguyen, H. T. (2022). Non-English-major students' attitudes toward English learning and Teaching via video conferencing. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(1), 296–309. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.222118

Nguyen, N. H., & Nguyen, K. D. (2022). Vietnamese learners’ performance in the IELTS Writing Task 2: Problems, causes, and suggestions. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(1), 170–189. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.222111

Peachy, N. (2017). Synchronous online Teaching. In M. Carrier, R. M. Damerow, & K. M. Bailey (Eds.), Digital language learning and teaching research: Theory and practice (pp. 143–155). London, England: Routledge.

Pham, S. N. (2022). The effectiveness of Teaching and learning online: A study on HUFI's English-majored students. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22231

Roos, G., Oláh, J., Ingle, R., Kobayashi, R., & Feldt, M. (2020). Online conferences – Towards a new (virtual) reality. Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, 1189, 112975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comptc.2020.112975

Styck, K. M., Malecki, C. K., Ogg, J., & Demaray, M. K. (2020). Measuring COVID-19-related stress among 4th through 12th grade students. School Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1857658

Suprianto, S., Arhas, S. H., Mahmuddin, M., & Siagian, A. O. (2020). The effectiveness of online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Jurnal Administrare: Jurnal Pemikiran Ilmiah dan Pendidikan Administrasi Perkantoran 7(2), 321–330. https://doi.org/10.26858/ja.v7i2.16441

Wahab, A. (2020). Online and remote learning in higher education institutes: A necessity in light of COVID-19 pandemic. Higher Education Studies, 10(3), 16–25.

Wulanjani, A. N. (2018). Discord application: Turning a voice chat application for gamers into a virtual listening class. The Second English Language and Literature International Conference, Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia. https://jurnal.unimus.ac.id/index.php/ELLIC/article/view/3500/3332

Downloads

Published

20-07-2022

Issue

Section

Research Article

How to Cite

Uong, T. G. T., Nguyen, D. K., & Nguyen, H. N. (2022). Teachers’ Feedback on Using Discord as an Online Learning Platform. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(4), 84-104. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22246

Similar Articles

1-10 of 96

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.