Glendale School Inc.
#11 St. Benedict St. Paradise Village Project 8 Quezon City
The Efficiency of EDMODO as an Online Learning Platform for Junior High school students in GSI
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of
Practical Research
By
Kristine Irish B. Mendoza
Ralph Andrew S. Buenaventura
Chad Matthew Q. Poquiz
March 2018
ABSTRACT
Technology has delved into several fields since its multitude of advancements since the 21st century and one of these fields is Education. Contemporary education is now adapting the use of technology for students to learn. Having multimedia as visual presentations in discussions, the use of E-books and digital resources in classes, and getting information through the internet has now become prevalent. Glendale School, one of the notable computer schools in Quezon City, has decided to introduce an Online Learning Platform for its students for a more flexible way of learning that calls for interaction outside the institution through the virtual system of the internet. This study researches on just how efficient in terms of accessibility and maximizing productivity EDMODO is as an online learning platform for the junior high school students of Glendale School who are affected by the school’s Digital Learning program since 2014.
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION
Technology in the recent years, have now become marks in history that represent the advancements of society. New inventions and innovations serve as the developments that collectively change how society works, whether the change be big or small. Technology has the reputation of making people’s lives easier, as it does things such as tasks simpler. Society has embraced the simplicities technology made them experience with its developments that are why it is now applied in a variety of uses in different aspects of one’s life and in society in general.
Since its emergence in the 21st century, technology and the use of it has developed into something more complex and it’s still growing up until this day. With cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc, accessing the virtual network technology provided our society has never been more mobile. Technological use has now diversified into several fields of our society along with the widespread usage of it in contemporary times. Medicine, Sciences, and even Arts have achieved new feats with the help of revolutionary technology and through the networks it offers, the Internet.
One of the fields of technology has plunged into and revolutionize is Education. Since the beginning of the new millennium, our society began shifting to a more digitally-inclined world. Technology is now recognized as a medium for societal development and breakthroughs, and now breakthroughs, and now adapted in the field of Education. Technology and the Internet hold an infinite capacity for information and resources. Computer classes used to be exclusive to computer schools and private institutions in the 1980s to 1990s, but by the 2000s computer and technology education has made its way to enter school curriculums in numerous countries, including the Philippines.
The Department of Education has recognized the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in improving our state of education, where they started to integrate ICT to the nation’s school system by providing computer laboratory packages to public secondary and elementary schools through its Computerization Program (DCP). Private schools in the other hand have been able to provide computers and technology for schools for decades now.
Glendale School, founded in 1996, is one of the first private institutions in Quezon City that provided computer services. Considered at a “Computer School”, Glendale School has included computers and computer-education for over two decades. The year 2012 marked the start of the integration of virtual networks widely use today to the school’s curriculum, introducing an online learning platform where teachers and students can interact through the internet, where teachers can post requirements and where students can pass home works or consult with the teacher outside the school. While in 2014 Glendale School launched its Digital Learning program where the school started basing on electronic books or E-Books in the place of physical softbound ones. According to Glendale School’s Administrator Ms. Imelda Gomez, the school decided to take advantage of education through technology taking consideration on how this generation’s youth are so technologically inept. The school started to require the use of tablets, laptops, or any portable gadget (the Apple iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab being the most recommended) in the classroom to access both the E-books and the established online learning platform.
Glendale School's first online platform is Moodle, an open-source platform that designed for educators to develop and manage courses online for students to access. According to the site, Moodle is an modular system that base on a plug-in system with plug-ins that serve as “lego-blocks” that are customizable to adapt to whatever content a user needs to access. Moodle’s ability to accommodate different content is what makes them stand out according to them. However, Moodle’s role as Glendale School’s online learning platform was short lived, only lasting two school years.
The school then shifted to EDMODO, a more developed online learning platform. Founded by two school district employees in 2008, EDMODO aims to bridge the gap of between how students live their lives and how the learn. The educational technology company claims that EDMODO was created to bring education into a 21st century environment. EDMODO is the world’s largest K-12 social learning to community and Glendale School has been a part of it for the past 4 years. According to School Administrator Ms. Imelda Gomez, the shift to EDMODO is mostly due to the application’s interface looking similar to Facebook that could prompt the students use it more frequently. The shift to EDMODO was also surveyed amongst the teachers, based on the teachers’ ability to understand and their comfort level in using it that they can, in turn teach the students.
So the question that stands is: has EDMODO become an effective learning platform for students of Glendale School? Has this merge of technology and education benefit the school and its students or hinder their educational improvement?
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Technology is changing how our world is functioning. Its integration with different fields has led to several developments in our society. According to Siemes (2005), technology has now reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn, and that we should be able to understand the principles of why that is.
A work by Downes (2010) also studied how technology provides engaging and immersive environments for learning, and that this substantially improves student motivation and interaction with the given learning materials. He claims that the complex learning environments technology provides, offers more than face-to-face instruction or lecture-based learning.
However numerous researches have also explored the negative impact of educational technology. In a study by Schacter (1999) he compiled studies that show the positive and negative sides of Education Technology alike. Another study by Nazarlou (2013) has also stated that through E-learning, students strengthen their separation from the real world, and eases face-to-face interactive relationships in real life by affecting their focus.
These studies have inspired the researchers to explore the topic of technological education within the context Glendale School that recently introduced digital-learning in their curriculum and even place an online learning platform through the website EDMODO. After the first few years of this program of digital-learning, the researchers want to see the efficiency of this new form of learning with the students of Glendale School, and test out the results of the stated studies.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The researchers of this study EDMODO as an efficient learning platform for High school students in GSI aim to discuss and answer the following questions:
1. How can the efficiency of EDMODO be measured to determine its efficiency as an Online Learning Platform for the Junior High School Students of GSI?
1.1. How can Junior High school students achieve maximum academic productivity through EDMODO?
2. How do the Junior High School Students of GSI use EDMODO as an Online Learning Platform?
2.1. How accessible is EDMODO for the students? Is EDMODO user-friendly for the Junior High students?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study of technological education within the context of the Philippines can make schools and other educational institutions to recognize this new dimension of learning and perhaps consider adapt an online learning platform suitable for them. The outcome of this study can determine whether the High school students of Glendale School are able to maximize productivity through EDMODO that could adjudicate the school’s continual use of the online learning platform. Furthermore, the researchers believe that this study can benefit the following sectors:
Glendale School. This study attempts to measure on how efficient EDMODO is an online learning platform for Glendale School. In turn, the school can benefit from the results that deem whether EDMODO is an efficient online learning platform for the institution. This is also the first study that explores the efficiency of EDMODO after four years of being Glendale School’s functioning online learning platform.
Other Educational Institutions. Learning institutions that don’t have an online learning platform yet for this study on EDMODO’s efficiency and consider it as their own OLP. Institutions that already have an online learning platform can use this study to contrast their functioning OLP to EDMODO for a more profound comparison.
Students. As students and their productivity in EDMODO is the focus of the study, this paper can benefit them in exploring the aspects that do make the product effective. Especially under the context of Glendale School’s digital learning program. Through this study, students can deepen their knowledge on what aspects affect their productivity and how technology plays into it. Students will know which of the teaching methods are more compatible with them, either the traditional way of chalk and board, or modern styles that involve technology and educational software such as EDMODO.
Teachers. The study can benefit the teachers by showing them whether or not students are able to be efficient through EDMODO. The results of the study can rope teachers into adapting more effective ways of using EDMODO that can help students’ learning. The study can also persuade teachers to adapt to more modern teaching styles that base on technology taking into consideration how technologically-based students are today.
Future Studies. As the topic of technological education in the Philippines and online learning platforms in general are still particularly new and unexplored, the topic can still be further researched upon. Studies in the future that want to explore how efficient online learning platforms for other schools. Further studies about EDMODO in and out of Glendale School can so be done in the next few years as a comparative analysis of different time periods.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study focused mainly on the contexts of Glendale School Inc. located in Proj.8 Quezon City. More specifically, the data analyzed in this study centers on the High School division in the annex campus of the school in Paradise Village. The study occurred with the junior High school division of the school and under the pretexts of EDMODO as their functioning online learning platform. The researchers chose to focus on the Junior High school sector of this school for the accessibility of respondents. Although students of the Elementary division from Grades 3 to 6 also use EDMODO as an online learning platform, the researchers found that High school students would provide more dependable responses as they are more affected by the experience.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
For better interpretation and understanding of the paper, the researchers defined the following terms as they are used in the study:
Groupware. Also known as Courseware. A software or program that organizational groups use for educational courses that do not necessarily need the internet.
Online Learning Platform. A program with the purpose of providing resources and a virtual place that students access to interact with educators through the internet.
Efficiency. The ability to achieve maximum productivity with minimum effort and easy access.
EDMODO. The functioning online learning platform of Glendale School that are used by Grades 4 to 12 to access class-related resources and information.
Accessibility. The design of products or devices that can be easily reached without much effort.
Frequency. The rate of how often something occurs or Is repeated over a period of time
Productivity. The quality or state of producing outputs.
User-friendly. The quality of an object is easy to understand and to use.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this part of the paper, the researchers will tackle and discuss the theories that were carefully analyzed with the purpose of giving structure to this study. This study is anchored on three main theories: Connectivism, the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Educational Productivity
Connectivism
According to Siemes (2005), who first coined the theory in his paper Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age, the usual learning theories like Cognitivism and Constructivism have their limitations, especially in the modern digital age. Siemes found that those educational theories do not explore the new dimensions of learning technology has introduced.
Connectivism is the theory that explains how Internet and technology have created and opened new opportunities for people to learn and share information. This can be done through the likes of technologies like Web browsers, email, wikis, social media, etc. A key point to connectivism is how learning is happening through peer networks that take place online. In connectivist teachings, a teacher will guide students with key information and question and let them learn and seek more information on their own. Students are encouraged to express what information they find and share it with the online social network.
In this study, connectivism is applied through how EDMODO supposedly makes learning easier and flexible existing through the likes of technology. EDMODO, an online learning platform, is a digital system that helps students get information and digital resources on topics in their respective classes.
Social Cognitive Theory
The Social Cognitive Theory is also known as the Social Learning Theory is a formal theory proposed by Albert Bandura that asserts learning occurs through observing the contexts of one’s social environment. The theory has three key themes: modelling, self-efficacy, and tutoring and mentoring.
Modeling refers to learners observing other people do actions in context, is it central in learning, so teachers often provide their own models to teach and add to their practice. Access to technology and the digital world, the ability of teachers and students to broaden their knowledge in models are broadened. Compared to before where models being taught were limited and bound within classroom walls, students can now easily reach out to computers and gadgets to learn and familiarize themselves with new models and introduce themselves with different skills and problems.
Self-efficacy, on the other hand, refers to the ability of one to learn, do tasks, and achieve goals all on their own. Technology opens several opportunities for students to learn all on their own and increase their self-efficacy in a click of a button.
The Social Cognitive Theory also stresses out tutoring and mentoring for learning. Technology provides an additional network where you can learn. Students no longer only have school and physical learning institutions to learn and receive tutoring and mentoring. Students can interact with tutors or mentors from all parts of the world through the network technology and the internet that otherwise cannot be possible without it.
This theory is anchored to our study as the junior high school students of Glendale School are now getting educated within the context of the digital learning program the school had launched. As the students are now surrounded and allowed to use technology, they are now learning based on the school’s technological environment.
Theory of Educational Productivity
This psychological theory by Walberg (1980) is a theory that explores the most significant influences when it comes to increasing a student’s educational productivity and efficiency. This theory considers educational process goals and achievement goals as key influences. Educational process goals are interpreted to include student perceptions of the social environment, creativity, self-concept, participation in extra-curricular activities, and interest in subject matter. Aside from personal goals, students’ expertise and abilities are also part of Walberg’s theory as a key influence in educational productivity that base off a student’s understanding on a matter.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The researchers of this study chose the following theories: Connectivism, the Social Cognitive Theory, and the Educational Theory of Productivity. The researchers believe that the stated theories will be helpful in answering and solving the problems presented in this study. Presented in the figure below is the conceptual framework the researchers will be basing this study on.
The study aims to determine the efficiency of EDMODO as Online Learning Platform for Junior High School Students. The Junior High School students learn based on their environment according to the Social Cognitive Theory so the researchers used this as a foundational theory that discusses what influences student learning. The researchers will then see if the influences stated in the Academic Theory of Productivity applies to the Junior High School students. The Junior High School students use EDMODO, the online learning platform that exists because of technology. The researchers aim to show if Connectivism, the theory that technology opens more opportunities to education because of its accessibility, is applicable to EDMODO. With the way the students use EDMODO, the researchers will examine student’s output productivity, frequency in use, how they use EDMODO and its accessibility through a survey questionnaire and a series of interviews. The stated variables of the study will overall determine the efficiency of the Online Learning Platform. The entirety of the conceptual framework is boxed in a square labeled Glendale School as the study happened under the context of Glendale School and the curriculum School Administrators and Faculty members follow.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
In this part of the study, the researchers present various related literature and studies both foreign and locally written that support and define the overall scope of this research. This review features several papers and journals that tackle related concepts in this study such as technology, education and productivity levels relating to it, and education technology within the Philippine context.
Education in the 21st Century
Education underwent vast change since the beginning of the first Millenium. Students in the 20th century focused more on industry-based future as they lived in an industry-based economy. 20th-century education set students for a workforce future, only needing a high school diploma to enter one. The 21st century, on the other hand, being part of the deemed ‘Information Age’, requires much more than a high school diploma to be able to work. (Vail, 2010)
“Economic, technological, information, demographic and political forces have transformed the way people work and live”
(Crane et al. 2003)
With the passing of times, the change is in society through an economy, information and technology have restructured the way we live. So much so, that people in the 21st have to adjust learning skills for work and how to live in the future as it differs vastly from how it is back in the 20th century. Entering the new Millennium, society needed to change education from what we knew it as before due to the developments of the past years. (Crane et al. 2003)
“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist… using technologies that haven’t yet been invented… in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”
(Richard Riley; Crane et al., 2004)
This quote by Richard Riley, a former U.S. Secretary of Education, describes just how complex education has become in this millennium. He explains how students today are learning things that have little to no background as it is newly invented and developed. Students are being taught skills for jobs that didn’t exist before. They are also being taught how to use new technology that even educators themselves don’t understand fully.
A book by Fadel and Trilling (2012) asserts that this century’s educational goals are based on the powerful technologies we have. Technologies we use for communicating, collaborating, and learning. Learning being a central part in life for everyone. They listed Education’s role in the 21st century, the first being that it must contribute to work and society. The 21st century is known as the Knowledge Age, and to be productive contributor to this time’s society one must be able to learn and master the broad portfolio of innovation and technology. Education in the 21st century also helps develop personal talents and fulfill civic responsibilities as our media-rich and Internet-connected world makes it possible for informed participation in societal decision-making.
“Learning the core principles and traditions of a field of knowledge and blending these with the knowledge and practices of other fields to invent and introduce new knowledge, new services, and new products, will be a high-demand skill set in the 21st century.”
(Fadel and Trilling, 2012)
21st-century education’s last goal is to introduce a faster way to learn to new knowledge and applying this to other fields in society. All of this while preserving the core values we hold even before the widespread use of technology.
Education and Technology
One of the fields Technology has delved into is education. An article by Bruyckere et al (2016) for the American Federations of Teachers, they explained the reason behind the educational technology is because people want to change the way of teaching and revolutionize learning.
“We live in a world that is rapidly evolving through technology. This evolution has led to a changing cultural ideology and how we function day to day. The influences of technology have become ubiquitous in almost every aspect of our current society, including in our educational systems. As expectations have risen within our classrooms, for both students as well as teachers, we are seeing more and more educational technology being implemented into academia and at all levels.”
(Hoon, 2008)
In his book, Hoon (2008) stated that our world is rapidly evolving through technology and this change has led many to change their cultural ideology and on how they process it day by day. The presence of technology at this time is now everywhere, which many of the people in our world now use different and advanced technologies that could use for education, buying different products, and others. Our generation has a possibility now of using Educational Technology and could be implemented at all school levels in different schools.
“Numerous educational technology programs and strategies have been developed on all continents to ensure that technology is used effectively for the benefit of student learning and achievement. The impact of technology on learning and instruction is still not clear.”
(Kumpulainen, 2007)
According to Kumpulainen (2007) in his book, many educational programs and strategies are developing in different parts of the globe and to ensure that our new technology is used effectively for the sake of the learning of students, but it is still not clear what will be the impact of the new technology on the education of the students.
Many educational technology programs and strategies have been used to ensure that they could develop the technology that could effectively make the student benefit on studying and learning so they could achieve more goals, and also it is crucial to understand technology’s impact on learning and teaching to the students. (Kumpulainen, 2007)
Traditional vs. Modern Education
Since the late 1990s to present, the traditional way of teaching through boards and books are starting to get challenged by the modern techniques of teaching. In the modern mode of education, digital multimedia presentations replace the traditional blackboards and chalk, E-books replace the usual softbound workbooks, and outputs are now in Word documents rather than written in the paper.
In a research article by Del Campo et al. (2012) that they presented in the 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Spain, they said that the process of adaptation is required for the teachers and that there are also differences in the process of information transfer and education towards the student. According to them, students of the present compared to those in the eighties have significant changes in attitudes, behaviors, accomplishments, and acknowledgments acquired over the semesters within the degree programs.
“Today we all live in the 21st century, everything changed very rapidly & continuously for the betterment of future, new technology is simply a modified version & a technique to overcomes the drawbacks of previous one, that’s proves very beneficial for all. In the era of globalization, traditional education system is losing its relevance. Role & importance of e-education in areas like commerce, management, IT etc. is increasing day by day.”
(Upasana, 2013)
In an academic journal by Upasana (2013), she conducted a comparative study of Traditional Learning and E-Learning (Electronic Learning) with special reference to her country of India. For her, due to the current generation becoming more and more exposed to globalization and technology, traditional learning has been losing its relevance as e-education is now more applicable in our commercial and technological society. However, she concluded her paper by saying that the traditional way of learning can teach things that e-education cannot teach such as interaction face-to-face and that we shouldn’t entirely let go of it.
Online Learning Tools and Platforms
Online learning tools and platforms had a sudden surge in the 2010s alongside the increasing use of social media platforms. Website developers had now created online venues that people can learn and study just like how social media platforms introduced social interaction without even being physically present. In terms of just how much people are learning online is explored in a study by Korazaan and Lawrence (2016).
“The context in which today’s knowledge workers operate is dynamic, multidimensional and demands new perspectives and tools”
Korazaan and Lawrence (2016)
In the study the introduced the online learning platform of Evernote, a “web-based notebook” that has the functionality of a traditional paper notebook and information sharing abilities like social media platforms. Korazaan and Lawrence discuss the how the application can boost student or learning productivity by listing its features. They concluded the paper by attaching their planned lab exercise that involves students making a research project with Evernote to evaluate both their personal and academic productivity. Although no direct results were featured in the paper, Korazaan and Lawrence stressed out on how much students should learn and master these types of learning tools as they believe using the best of what technology can offer us will lead to further developments to organizations and society.
Academic Productivity in Technology Education and OLPs
With the emergence of the integration of technology in education, the question that arises is just how efficient is learning through it. A measure of the efficiency of education can be the productivity of a student when it comes to producing outputs.
In a report by Bakia et al (2012) for the U.S. Department of Education, they explore the implications of online learning to education productivity. They listed the educational effectiveness that may result from online learning such as broadening access to resources and a more personalized way of learning. The report focuses mainly on how cost-effective online learning can be and that unfortunately no studies were found in the report that rigorously analyzed the educational productivity of online learning. Bakia et al. (2012) then conclude the paper that pieces of evidence they did provide in the report on suggests that online learning may improve educational productivity if properly deployed.
In article by Snehansu (2013) for the website EdTechReview, he openly claims that Technology does boost productivity for students and teachers. Online Learning Platforms, called Groupware in the article, for Snehasu, is specially designed for productivity. He defined Groupware as programs that are used by an organizational group like teachers, parents, and students. Groupware allows collection (of outputs), organization, and instruction information from educators involved.
Smart use of technology is not just about reducing wasted time, energy, and money. It is also about creating accessible learning opportunities for all students, including low-income students and students with disabilities. Today both Students and teachers use technology inadvertently in their day-to-day lives. Combining these into the classrooms will definitely give the process of learning a more familiar touch.
(Snehansu, 2013)
For Snehansu (2013), smart technological and online learning platform usage will reduce the wasteful class strength traditional education methods introduced to us. In turn, this will enhance student performance as attention to each individual student is heightened and their education is much more personalized.
Education Technology in the Philippines
In the Philippines, we have now started integrating technology in our basic school curriculum with the Department of Education’s Computerization Program (DCP). The program was under the DepEd Order No. 78 that was implemented with the purpose of giving public schools computer laboratory packages.
Private institutions, however, have been able to go under technology integration much earlier. In an article by Matulac (2004), he shares his experiences on technology integration based on his time as an Assistant Professor in the University of Santo Tomas. He suggests
“Basic Education in the Philippines faces a lot of challenges. The changes in the curriculum, limited IT resources and spiraling changes and improvement becomes overwhelming for administrators and teachers. Today’s education also presents new pedagogies. The resurgence of the constructivist model has brought about cooperative and collaborative learning, multiple-intelligence, discovery learning, and project-based learning, to name a few. Some educators have taken a more creative approach by allowing technology to play a role in the teaching and learning process. “
(Matulac, 2004)
According to Matulac (2004), our country is facing many problems and challenges on our basic education, where the curriculum has changed and many of the teachers and administrators are having a strong effect which is frustrating for them and also to the students. In today’s education there are new ways of teaching lessons for students which others prefer liking it but also others are also not liking it, because they are not comfortable on the new ways of teaching of their school. That's why multiple educators are finding a creative way just to make their teaching more understandable to his/her students and to be influential to them so they could also teach others also in a creative way. After stating his experiences in schools like Don Bosco College and Tondo High school, Matulac (2004) concludes his paper with recommendations for viable ICT integration.
Meanwhile, Rodrigo (2001) compares information and communication technology in private and public schools. She states the many shortcomings of the country regarding ICT development.
“Developing countries such as the Philippines are committed to infusing schools with ICT. There is great faith that these technologies will improve teaching and learning, and consequently afford these countries a greater stake in today's knowledge society … However, considerable gaps still exist in ICT program implementations. There is a lack of data on schools’ use of ICT. ... Finally, there is a need for further teacher training in both computer literacy and ICT integration in the curriculum. These gaps must be sufficiently addressed before ICT can have a significant impact on teaching and learning in Philippine schools”
(Rodrigo, 2001)
Rodrigo (2001) concludes her paper after discussing the pedagogical, social, and economic benefits which it changes the way of education, and on how it benefits the students to their education, and also it cites different programs and new curriculums to input ICT to different schools in our country, also the failure to meet the educational standard.
Conclusion
Education using technology is quite a new feat for the current generation and most studies regarding education and technology just started to be produced for only half the past decade. Majority of the studies conclude that the integration of technology into education is beneficial and should be more explored and mastered as technology continues to change each day. In terms of productivity, the related studies support smart technological use mainly for the reason that technology is now becoming more cost-effective and that technology is now the main focus of this generation’s interests.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researchers will discuss the methods of research, techniques, and instruments that were used to gather data that was analyzed for the study entitled EDMODO as an Efficient Online Learning Platform for High school students in GSI that will determine how efficient EDMODO is as the online learning platform of Glendale School.
This chapter will also enumerate the respondents, methods, tools used to gather the data to be analyzed.
The researchers used the mixed method for this study in order to effectively analyze all the data gathered. The mixed method of research both explores those qualitative and quantitative aspects of research, both of which are present in this paper. The researchers employed the quantitative method of research by measuring how efficient EDMODO is for GSI’s High school division through handing out a questionnaire. The researchers also gathered supplementary data by placing a log sheet in Glendale School’s digital resource section. The log sheet records the student’s individual usage and the websites they access the computers in school. The data gathered from the questionnaire and the log sheet will be computed with statistical means and the overall results will serve as the basis of the conclusions of this study.
POPULATION
Through the sampling method, the researchers covered the entirety of the junior high school division of Glendale School.
The entire student body of the high school who served as respondents totals to seventy-six (76). The population consists of twenty-one (21) students from Grade 7, fourteen (14) students from Grade 8, twenty (20) students from Grade 9, and another group of twenty-one (21) students from 10 Grade. From the total population of respondents, thirty-six (36) are male and forty (40) are female Additional participants of the study are two (2) members of the school’s faculty, and one (1) Glendale School Administrator. The participants were interviewed with the purpose of gaining more insight from the institution on how efficient EDMODO is an online learning platform.
Other participants are two (2) parents of Glendale School High school students, who were interviewed in order to see the perspective of the parents regarding their child’s use of the online learning platform as EDMODO also provide services for parents.
INSTRUMENTATION
For this paper, the researchers handed out questionnaires that will help determine how students can be productive in the online learning platform that is EDMODO. A questionnaire is a set of questions that were structured systematically by researchers to get the needed information from their respondents. (Ododa, 2009)
The researchers designed the questionnaire to methodically answer the research questions of the paper. Thus, the questionnaire was divided into four (4) parts. The first part contained the respondents’ basic information such as age, grade level, sex, and name that was allowed to be filled in optionally. The second part showed the respondents’ how they and use access EDMODO, and their overall purpose of using EDMODO. The third part attempts to measure the how frequently the students and teachers use and access EDMODO. The fourth and final part of the questionnaire solicits the overall viewpoint of EDMODO as the school’s online learning platform of Glendale School.
An observation was used by the researchers to provide data that may give additional information to this study. The researchers observed using a log sheet that asks a student their grade level, name, their purpose of using the digital resource center, websites they’re going to access and their times of checking in and checking out. This observation is to see how productive the students are using technology even if they do not use EDMODO during their time in the DRS.
The researchers also conducted an semi-standardized interview with one (1) School Administrator, two (2) High school teachers, and two (2) parents of High school students, all of which have different sets of questions The interview with the School Administrator was done in order to better understand the overall purpose of EDMODO as the school’s online learning platform. The teacher interviews provided the educator’s perspective that had used EDMODO to interact with students. Finally, a casual interview with parents determined the child’s use of EDMODO and their opinion on the technological aspect of their child’s education.
DATA-GATHERING PROCEDURE
In the process of giving out the questionnaires, the researchers let the student respondents take their time. The researchers remained in the room while the respondents answered the questionnaires to await any questions that might be asked. As for the interviews, the researchers recorded the interactions to be transcribed. Besides the actual interview questions, the researchers took notes in order to ask follow-up questions for the interviewed participants.
Moreover, the gathered data and information from the questionnaire and interviews went through a system of statistics and thorough analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The statistics derived from the data gathered out of the questionnaires are systematically organized by the profile and proximity matrix applied by the researchers. The indicated age, sex, and grade level in the questionnaires provide for the profile matrix. The researchers used IBM SPSS, a statistical software, to accurately determine the frequency and percentage of the results of the questionnaire. The frequencies and percentages are then inputted in Microsoft Excel to present the statistics in visual graphs and tables for a better understanding of data.
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
In this part of the paper, the researchers will present the outcomes of the data-gathering procedures and the analyzations of the results from the questionnaires. The questionnaires are divided into four parts: Access and Purpose, Frequency, Parental Awareness, and their Overall Viewpoint.
The first question asks whether or not the respondent actively uses or have used EDMODO. All seventy-six (76) respondents who are from the Grades 7 to 10 answered that they do use EDMODO, this is expected as using and having an EDMODO account is a required for Grades 4 to 12.
The next question asks what server they use to access their EDMODO accounts more often. The choices include the website server that they can only access through a laptop or a desktop computer with a browser and the mobile application server that they can only access with tablets and smartphones. The last option is that they use both servers equally. Twenty (20) students said they use the website server while twenty-two (22) said they use the mobile application server. Thirty-four (34) of the students or forty-five (45%) of the total number of respondents said that they access EDMODO using both servers. This can be interpreted that majority of the students have gadgets that can access both servers.
The researchers asked if the respondents have the EDMODO mobile app in their respective mobile phones that can help to easily access the online learning platform. Majority of the respondents said that they don’t have the mobile application installed. The gap of those who have the mobile application on their phone to those who don’t is relatively small with only a difference of four (4). Aside from the ten (10) students who don’t have phones, there is a possibility that some of the respondents who answered ‘No’ don’t have smartphones and that their phones cannot support downloading the mobile application.
The researchers then asked the respondents if EDMODO is easy to use and to understand. The researchers added this question in order to test out the connectivism theory that states that technology makes learning and understanding easier. The theoretical claim does correlate with the results of the questions as ninety-six percent (96%) or seventy-three (73) of the respondents agree that EDMODO is easy to use. Only four percent (4%) of the respondents disagree and that EDMODO isn’t easy to use or to understand.
The researchers then queried the respondents on what time of day do they usually access EDMODO. The majority that covers sixty-one percent (61%) responded that they use EDMODO at night. This could mean that most students access EDMODO once they’re at home but not immediately after their dismissal. Meanwhile, the thirty-six percent (36%) said that they access EDMODO in the afternoon which is between 12 noon to 5 pm. It can be assumed that some of the twenty-eight students of that percentage use EDMODO in school or immediately after school so that they won’t need to check again at night time. Only two (2) students use EDMODO at morning possibly before they go to school or before classes start with the school’s Digital Resource Center.
In connection on what time they access EDMODO, the researchers also asked where the respondents use EDMODO. Correlating to the previous interpretations, the majority of respondents do access EDMODO at home covering eighty-eight percent (88%) of the total population. Only eight percent (8%) or 6 students answered that they access EDMODO as School while one student said that they access it somewhere else without stating where it was although it can be assumed as they do not check at home or at school, they may check EDMODO in computer or internet cafes. The researchers gave the option ‘Parents’ Office’ for the respondents but none shaded in the option.
The researchers then asked about whether or not EDMODO makes learning and getting lessons more accessible for the respondents. The majority or ninety-six percent (96%) of the students said that EDMODO does make learning and getting lessons more accessible while four percent (4%) or three (3) students answered otherwise.
In this question, the researchers asked the students if they prefer another online learning platform and if they did the researchers asked them to state the reason why it is. This question was included by the researchers as EDMODO isn’t the first OLP the school had. Majority of the respondents said that they don’t prefer any other online learning platform while 2 students had answered that they do prefer another platform. Suggested online learning platforms include Schoology and Quipper and the reason why they prefer it is that it seems more applicable for the school’s curriculum.
In another multiple answer question, the researchers asked the respondents what they mainly do in EDMODO. Seventy-five (75) out of the seventy-six (76) respondents said that they read and answer posted homework in EDMODO. Only one (1) student said that they use EDMODO for notes. The results show that the majority of students only check EDMODO to read and answer homework. The next option that the respondents answered the most cover twenty-seven percent (27%) or forty-seven (47) of the respondents said that they use EDMODO to catch up on missed class topics that they check EDMODO for lessons they may have missed when they don't get to attend class. A large amount of respondents or twenty-one percent (21%) said that they use EDMODO to help with research. Nine (9) respondents said that they use the online learning platform to consult with teachers, four (4) said that interact with classmates in EDMODO.
This question starts the second part of the questionnaire, the frequency. The researchers asked how often teachers post in EDMODO during a week. The majority or fifty-eight percent (58%) of the respondents said that teachers approximately post three to four times a week including the weekend. Thirty-five percent (35%) of the respondents said that teachers post only one to two times in a week. Seven percent (7%) or five (5) respondents say that teachers post daily.
In this question, the researchers asked if there are instances when a teacher does not post anything in EDMODO. Ninety-three percent (93%) or 71 out of the 76 respondents said yes, teachers do not always necessarily post in EDMODO weekly. The results of this question correspond with the results of the last question where the majority of the students said that a teacher posts occasionally while five (5) respondents said that teachers post daily and there aren't any instances that a teacher does not post in a week. The results of the consecutive questions may be interpreted that students only check EDMODO whenever they know a teacher will post an assignment on the online learning platform.
The researchers asked the respondents on how often they check EDMODO daily. Roughly forty-one percent (41%) or thirty-one (31) out of the seventy-six (76) respondents say that don’t access EDMODO daily. However, the respondents who said that they don’t access EDMODO daily only outnumber those who said that they check EDMODO twice or more by one (1) respondent. Only fifteen (15) respondents said that check EDMODO once a day which may mean that they find it necessary to check the online learning platform once in a day regardless if a teacher will post or not.
On how much time does a student spend in EDMODO whenever they accessed it, the researchers asked the students on how many hours they spend on EDMODO. Majority of the students or seventy-five percent (75%) of the respondents say they log in and exit EDMODO all within the span of an hour. The remaining twenty-five percent (25%) said that they spend one or more hours in EDMODO.
This question starts the third part of the questionnaire that focuses on how are aware parents are of EDMODO. Ninety-one percent (91%) or sixty-nine (69) of the respondents said that their parents are aware of EDMODO while seven (7) respondents said their parents are not. The results were unexpected turning out that not all parents know about EDMODO as gadgets are now required for all students. Aside from the use of E-Books and E-Resources, the gadgets were supposed to be for accessing EDMODO.
The EDMODO community offers to make accounts for parents so that they can oversee the courses their children take in EDMODO. The researchers, with this reasoning, asked the respondents on whether or not their parents use EDMODO. Only eleven percent (11%) or eight (8) respondents said that their parents do have EDMODO accounts while five (5) respondents that they are not aware if their parents do access EDMODO. The majority or eighty-three percent (83%) of the students say that they are sure that their parents do not have EDMODO accounts.
In the final question regarding parental awareness, the researchers asked if the respondents’ parents are supportive in their overall use of EDMODO. Sixty-eight (68) respondents or eighty-nine percent (89%) of the surveyed population said that their parents do support their use of EDMODO. Meanwhile, the remaining eleven percent (11%) or 8 students said their parents do not support their use in EDMODO. This corresponds to Question no. 16 where we asked the respondents on whether or not their parents are aware of EDMODO. Seven (7) respondents said that their parents are not aware. It can be assumed that only one (1) student have parents that are aware of EDMODO and are not supportive of their use of the online learning platform.
In the fourth and final part of our questionnaire the researchers asked their overall viewpoint when it comes to EDMODO. In this question, the researchers asked on whether they prefer passing homework physically through written texts or digitally through emails or EDMODO. The majority or fifty-nine percent (59%) of students said that they prefer passing virtually through EDMODO while the remaining forty-one percent (41%) or thirty-one (31) of the respondents said that they prefer passing physical requirements manually. Majority of the respondents lean to the technological way of passing outputs although the difference of those who prefer passing virtually versus physically is quite big with fourteen (14) respondents.
In this question, the researchers queried the respondents’ satisfaction with EDMODO as Glendale School’s functioning online learning platform. Ninety-two percent (92%) of the students are satisfied and happy with using EDMODO as the school’s online learning platform. Meanwhile, eight percent (8%) or six (6) respondents said that they are not satisfied with EDMODO.
In the last question of the survey, the researchers asked if the respondents’ think that EDMODO can still improve as Glendale School’s online learning platform and if they said yes, they can optionally give examples on how can EDMODO improve. The majority or eighty percent (80%) of the students said that there are ways that EDMODO can improve while the remaining twenty percent (20%) claim that they are satisfied with EDMODO as it is. The researchers gave the respondents an optional question to those who said ‘Yes’ by asking them what ways EDMODO can improve. The majority who answered the optional question said that they just wish for the application to lessen ‘bugs’ which are errors that can happen within a website or an application through its programming. Some of the ‘bugs’ or errors the students said they have experienced are being unable to download certain files or resources from the application.
Regarding the log sheet the researchers placed in Glendale School’s digital resource center to observe students’ computer use in school the researchers saw that none of those who signed in sheet used EDMODO in the DRS. Ten (10) out of the fifteen (entries) are students from Grade 7 – Atom. All the respondents that signed the log sheet used the DRS for research purposes and no entry said that they were going to use the DRS to access EDMODO so the researchers deemed the information in the log sheet inapplicable in this study.
In the researchers’ interview with Ms. Imelda Gomez, one of the school’s administrators, she said that EDMODO is an efficient online learning platform as it is very accessible for everyone and flexible to use. She sees EDMODO as a convenient platform that students can go to for school-related materials anywhere. For her, EDMODO is a place, albeit not physically, that educators and students can communicate and interact without actually being next to each other. Ms. Gomez seems to base the efficiency of the online learning platform to its accessibility and flexibility to use. Sir Mark Padon, a member of the high school faculty who teaches English also believes that EDMODO is an efficient platform for students to learn as students can easily get their lessons and resources in the application that they soon use in class. However, Mr. Padon states that when it comes to actual teaching, he prefers face-to-face instruction and he believes students learn more effectively this through it. As for Sir Andrew De Ocampo, who teaches Science for grades 6 to 11, that the efficiency of EDMODO depends on the preference of the students. Those who still like and learn more through the traditional methods may not be as efficient of a student through EDMODO as it may for those who prefer the online learning platforms.
In the parent interviews, Mrs. Rosalyn Holman, a parent of a Grade 7 student, supports her child’s use of EDMODO as she believes that this new platform for learning best suits her child’s generation and in turn their understanding of things. Mrs. Rochelle Felipe however, a parent of a Grade 10, believes that the traditional and technological methods of education has its advantages and disadvantages. For her, the interaction aspect of traditional education remains necessary for a student, though she does believe that EDMODO is efficient as it can teach and bring information to students even outside from class.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSION
The researchers conclude that EDMODO is efficient when it comes to the student’s ability to access it with minimum effort and hassle. This is supported by the results that majority or 75% of the junior high school students have more than one gadget to access EDMODO with and that 96% or 73 out of 76 respondents believe that EDMODO is easy to use and makes lessons more accessible therefore making EDMODO user-friendly. This shows the Connectivism theory that proves technology makes education opens more opportunities because of its accessibility.
However, when it comes to academic productivity of students through EDMODO, the researchers saw that EDMODO is still not fully-utilized as an online learning platform thus it could be said that EDMODO is not able to maximize academic or output productivity. In the frequency section of our questionnaire, the researchers saw that majority or 93% of the students said that there are instances when teachers does not post in EDMODO in a week which is likely the reason why 31 out of the 76 students don’t check EDMODO daily. The majority or 75% of the students check EDMODO only under an hour, which could mean that students log off their EDMODO accounts as quickly as they can after doing a certain
RECOMMENDATIONS
As the researchers saw that EDMODO is efficient in terms of accessibility and being user-friendly but does not necessarily maximize productivity of the students, the researchers recommend to fully utilizing EDMODO as an Online Learning Platform as the majority of the students mainly read and answer home works in EDMODO. As both teachers and students alike do not use EDMODO daily, the researchers recommend a more scheduled use of EDMODO that we believe can help teachers and students utilize EDMODO better and in turn boost productivity. For a more accurate measurement of productivity of EDMODO, the researchers recommend for future studies to re-evaluate efficiency of EDMODO in Glendale School if a more scheduled us of EDMODO is implemented.
Also, as this study only focuses on the junior high school students, the researchers recommend for this study to be also conducted on grade school students that use EDMODO in Glendale School which are grades 4 to 6. A comparative study can be made evaluating the efficiency of EDMODO to junior high school students and grade school students to determine if age can affect how accessible, easy to use, and productive EDMODO is. Furthermore, the researchers recommend the study to be repeated in the next few years to see improvements in efficiency of different time periods.
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