Methodology
Ontology and Epistemology
Ontology examines ‘being’ itself and the structure of reality (Crotty, 1998). Ontology deals with the nature of what exists in the natural and social world (Al-Saadi, 2014). Bryman (2016) examines the concept of social ontology and whether ‘objective existence’ in society can be independent of the actors in the social world. In education, the ultimate purpose of education influences the process of education. In this case and aspect, ontology has three main components to focus on, the student, the academic level, and the learning object, which in this case has more to do with the subjects under study. With the learning technology in the twentieth century, online learning has been more based on instructional learning. In this case, the Chinese students have been more composed in adapting to the numerous technological innovations which have brought about technological advances. In ontological terms, the systems being adopted have used up so much personalization to achieve some significant levels of achievement, which is conversant with the students’ academic achievement, expectations, and experiences.
The current study of the project uses a basic model that adopts more to the use of interaction or the attribute data between the students and the school system. According to White et al. (2012), this has much to do with the task ontology, curriculum modeling, and other services provided through the e-learning process and service. The analysis of the project proves that the students use collaborative learning as a form of popular technique in online learning, especially during the pandemic. From the students’ analysis and the questionnaires provided, using the online ontology-based features provides the students with the best outcomes, feedback, and assessment throughout the learning process. The metadata that will be achieved from this in terms of the perceptions and experiences is more likely to be positive.
Epistemology is concerned with knowledge and embodies a particular understanding of what is held within it. Epistemology involves providing a philosophical foundation that determines the possibilities of knowledge, the scope of knowledge, and how researchers ensure that they are legitimate (White & Mc Burney,2012). In research, researchers combine quantitative and qualitative methods to explain the merits and feasibility of the approach concerning the specific research question. As a result of the increased cases of COVID-19, the need to have online learning was massive. The need to adapt to virtual tutoring language apps and video conferencing to bridge the education gap was a necessity. The method offered the Chinese students more time to meet and expand on their potential goals.
The exposure to more information and significant experience provides an excellent integration for the students. The process has long grown to compose an integral part of the school system, which has brought along successful transitions for many. The process has changed the teaching perspective with more effective and transparent means of teaching, sharing, and communicating during the pandemic. Online learning techniques offer a more positive and effective way of learning that helps ensure and accelerate the learning of concepts. The classroom setting also played a leveled ground for the technique’s success. Providing a well-structured classroom with well-equipped students brings in some aspects of intelligence, inclusion, and personalization.
In this project analysis, the students have managed to utilize better the student-centered approach, where they are very much involved and encouraged to establish and reinforce their education process with a less physical presence. From the students’ perceptions, the online education platforms provided the students with the right technological tools to explore, transfer and share with others. They are enhancing the online services for educational purposes and providing a blended learning experience that is more innovative and interactive from various perspectives. Thus, online education facilitated a positive environment and background to coordinate and provide some form of interactive and prominent classes for the students providing efficient means of learning and modality.
Strategy
This paper uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods, not to prove a hypothesis but to analyze the questions explored by the researcher based on the findings. Questionnaires and interviews are used, with open-ended questions that allow respondents to express their feelings more visually and qualitative analysis based on their answers. The questionnaire must also contain concise and easy-to-understand questions to make it easier and quicker for the participants to summarize the findings.
The project aimed to analyze the perceptions and experiences of Chinese students in online education during the Covid pandemic. The study would be focused on analyzing the type of activities the students were engaged in and the proposed perceptions by the teachers. This was aimed at getting some of the constructive ways and processes that the teaching fraternity used and centered in their education activities. This was to be manifested through the set of questionnaires and interviews. This aligns with the research made by Edmundson., (2013) that gives data and characteristics that outshow the teaching activities teachers have adopted online and give more positive and undoubtedly significant perceptions.
The project will engage through the teaching hours and classes to find the greater frequencies and consequently understand some learning activities and how they were attained. Through the process, both the teachers and the students have a compulsory way of influencing their perceptions and experiences through the teaching process. According to Cohen et al. (2002), every teaching activity influences the perceptions and influence of the students in a different way to acquire various variables. The study and process are made more experienced and productive owing to the activities conducted and ambiguous activities (Edmundson,2012).
The third objective would be to analyze the activities and outcomes of the learning activities to comprehend the students’ perceptions of the learning experiences. This would be attained by the answers provided through cooperation and prompted questions to the students. The student’s attitudes to the directed control groups and profiles of the students would be given the required information on the studies. Various profiles of the students will be examined to engage better and understand the total activities and perceptions. They include the Interpretative, Reproductive, active and also Passive. This aspect would follow some of the perspectives and changes attained through online education in centered, predominating, and consistent ways (McKim,2017).
In summary, the activities undertaken will show the self-centered perceptions that the students have towards the twenty-first skills that are facilitated by the adoption of digital technologies in teaching. The constructive analysis of the activities will not only provide a versatile learning process but will also ensure that the students are more exposed and learn from the different platforms that may be adopted due to various reasons. The use of the perceptions and experiences, especially during the pandemic, will enable and support the students to reflect on the use of resources, the ability to comprehend, and also ensure that adequate facilitation to any learning is provided and well catered for (Basuony et al., 2021).
The various objectives of the study will be analyzed through the descriptive statistics provided by the student, the basic data, and perceptions dictated from the online education platforms. This could be effectively achieved by applying the lag sequential analysis as Bokayez et al. dictated (2021). The lag consequential analysis effectively decodes the behavioral patterns and visualizing some of the experiences that the students have towards the learning process during the pandemic. According to Lin et al (2020), this method has been effectively utilized in scar folding the education collaborative program and studying the learning environment to show behavioral patterns. In investigative research by Callister et al. (2016), students were found to have a certain behavior pattern and experience when learning was more focused and attained through Facebook during the pandemic. The research revealed that more students were found to be more engaging in terms of commenting and sharing as opposed to students having to take their online classes through platforms such as Zoom, which reduced the collaborative construction of the students through the platform, which resulted in reduced concentration and engagement among the students.
Design and Methods
The research project used a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaires and interviews. McKim (2017) argues that mixed-methods research results in a more profound and extensive research project than not using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative research uses numbers and objective statistical analysis to reflect the phenomenon under investigation, while qualitative focus more on the understanding and feelings of the respondent’s perspective (Cohen et al., 2002). Firstly, the researchers wanted to investigate how online education was implemented during the Covid-19 epidemic. The investigation was conducted regarding class time, curriculum, and after-school assignments. The questionnaire was then divided into Eastern, Central, and Western China according to the country’s geographical region.
The researcher then did a qualitative analysis. One of the significant qualitative methods used is qualitative coding. This was mainly adopted when analyzing the interview questionnaires open-ended questions. The code log and analysis comprised feedback from the students and collaborative comments from the various questions asked and assigned. According to Bryman (2016), the coding analysis would effectively note the list of perceptions highlighted and the deductive attitudes dictated by the students during the research. The designs aimed to capture the discrepancies, the collaborative comments from the students, and the additional responses given. The progress would be gauged as per the alignment and responses given during the interviews and the questionnaires.
The cross-sectional survey design was the most efficient design for the project. As a result of the lack of present exposure to online classes at the time of the research, the project resolved to use a comprehensive unit of the existing relevant literature for the course. This was based on crucial information and statistics in regards to the assessment strategies employed, the communication methods made use of, and the motivators and demotivators of students while undertaking the online classes as opposed to having face-to-face learning lessons. The questions posed on the questionnaires were designed to assist the student in understanding the perception they had developed and the experiences they have been exposed to (Coman et al., (2020). This is majorly with respect to the assessments, formative feedback given the challenges encountered during the online learning process, and some of the teachers’ teaching activities. Before disseminating the survey questions, the participants were well informed that the information they would provide would be anonymous, the participation would be voluntary, and there would be an impact on their various subjects’ assessments.
Participants
The participants were students from a Chinese University. The students were postgraduates and undergraduates. The students are selected randomly from the various universities. In China, students are required to take compulsory education from six to sixteen years. Various subjects are covered in every class. The teachers involved in every subject are different, making it easy to collect the data. For the study, we made use of the school directories to collect information from public and private institutions. This move enabled for direct contact with the participants as the students were encouraged to participate. For the project, 1000 students were to participate in the interview and questionnaire. Some two hundred students were eliminated from participating due to their age and hesitation to provide the required answers for the questionnaire. The interview and questionnaire were to take one hour, providing the participants with efficient time to give the appropriate answers and ensure that they completed it. The questionnaire was made up of ten questions that involved the various activities carried out during the online education schedule and some of the perceptions and feelings that the students had towards it. The project would adopt the Cronbach Alpha coefficient to ensure thorough consistency for both the questionnaire and the interview. This would ensure that reliability and excellent assessment would be achieved.
The questionnaires were posted through an active school Instagram account for fast responses where many students were active. The social media platform effectively analyzed some of the focuses on education and promoting positive mindsets for most students. The questionnaire was posted on the platform, where active responses were achieved less than half an hour later. Through the analyses of the responses, more than 70% were from female students, while the male made up 27%. As the survey was to get the student’s experiences from remote learning, identifying information was not collected. Another set of survey questions was made available to the students by issuing Google Docs. The questionnaire survey was ensured to be effective using the Likert Scale format to rate the various statements provided in the document as required in research, according to Bokayey et al. (2021). Data was imported through Excel, which was used to facilitate the SPSS analysis.
There are three sources of data for this research project
Literature Analysis
Reading the research’s past literature helped the researcher to set the questions for the research project questionnaire, view the similarities and differences between domestic and foreign online education through the literature, and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of online education in China. Through significant research and analysis of the firm-established role of online education, the research was aimed at the shifted and increased impacts realized from disseminating information and knowledge through online learning. The researcher perused through the various articles and books to provide information and dissect more on the attitudes and perceptions that many have towards the online education platform and also the application of instructional design, which has been adopted in various universities in China to ensure that online learning is successful.
From the analysis, the researcher provides information on the mode of education mostly adopted during the pandemic and the various forms initiated for the students to ensure that they discover their independent capabilities. Through the literature analysis, the comparison between the face-to-face teaching method and the online method was outlined. The classroom mode of teaching provided the students with more face-to-face instruction compared to the interactive classes and courses offered online during the pandemic. According to Callister et al. (2016), the main difference between the two education systems was the mode of delivery and the completion rate. The shift and adoption of technological skills in teaching provide students and teachers with many benefits, especially with the capacity (Bryman (2016). Online learning raised different perspectives and perceptions, with the highest number being more prone and explored to optimistic opinions.
The literature analysis also equipped the project with the challenges encountered with using and adopting online learning. Some key challenges include compatibility, competence, and workload for students and the school system. According to Cohen et al. (2022), the rate of student education satisfaction is lower in online learning as compared to face-to-face classrooms. However, with the compulsory adoption of the system, the students have had to trigger and adopt more adequate learning, which assists in understanding the system and some of the positive and negative aspects that comes with it. The analysis from the literature review also sheds light on some of the issues that may lead to negative attitudes and perceptions toward online learning. Some of the factors include; the lower level of interaction, high levels of inexperience with most students, and also technical issues arising from one time to the other. The negative aspects may relate to students’ negative perceptions of the learning process. More involvement of the students with the teachers will result in a positive analysis of the whole process.
Through the literature analysis, the project learning activities and processes that ought to be undertaken to ensure success in online education for students in China. One of the critical aspects is ensuring the technical infrastructure is maintained and is up to the right quality. The competency of the online process dictates the success of the system. Thus, the students have to be technology competent to ensure that some negative aspects that can be solved do not affect the education delivery. The behavior towards learning ought to be dictated by the comprehension levels and user satisfaction.
Questionnaire Survey
Respondents completed a questionnaire online to investigate undergraduate students’ attitudes at university, depending on the major studied, towards online education and the efficient way online education communicates knowledge content to students. Teaching activities were one of the critical topics covered. As per research by Cohen et al. (2002), the method would enable the researcher to understand more of the behavior and attitudes that the students have towards the online learning process. The process would be assumed to be either productive or constructive. The questions would be aimed at finding much information on the type of learning that was promoted during the online learning sessions. This would show the number of proposed objectives and the robust use of the practical formula that ensured good or bad perceptions for the students.
The second analysis covered by the questionnaire would be the post-havoc results for the classes. This would be used to determine the level of activeness of the students during the class activities. The analysis would also guide the project to projecting the different perceptions that the students have towards the system and the subjects. This would be a key factor contributing to any of the experiences the Chinese students gave. The third factor covered would be the cooperation dimensions. This objective would be used to measure the level of seriousness among the students from the classes. The students’ perceptions of the cooperation would be used to understand the type and level of experiences that the students had.
The questionnaire is also built upon the learning outcomes. This would be more focused on the student’s attitudinal learning, the responses, and the effect of some of the classes on the students. Their memory mediation will give the most extraordinary perceptions that the students have towards online learning activities. According to White & McBurney (2012), the attitudes towards the content and process can result from the students’ less achieved outcome. Thus, the questionnaire would be employed to know the consistency and examine the specific issues that may be outlined as a result of the learning outcome for the student. The last analysis the questionnaire covers would be a profile of the teachers involved. The analysis would be used to confine education perspectives and proceed to analyze some of the ways that the students identify teaching activities and the identify the different modes and types of learning that they apply. This would include a questioning phrase that has a question sequence with benefits and limitations expected.
Interview Survey
The researcher chatted and conversed with participants to discover what problems they encountered during their online education, whether the subsequent problems were resolved, and whether teachers or parents were helpful. Get a more profound sense of how students feel about the online classroom. The interview survey was based on the teaching activities, attitudes, and experiences highlighted and developed based on research by Edmundson (2012). The interview survey was composed of three main parts; the first is the provision of primary data, which includes the names, the age, and the gender of the student. Next would be the level of learning and the learning experience the student achieved over the years during the pandemic. The learning experience and perceptions would be attained through the use of various interview questions, which include;
- Were you experienced in online learning before the pandemic?
- Which method worked best during the online learning period?
- How was the teaching process in aspects of achievement and comprehension? Was it blended, asynchronous or synchronous?
- Which online platform used by the teachers was more effective and why?
- Was the teaching process analyzed to include the learning interaction, the learning effectiveness and or was it a teacher superiority case.
- Some of the challenges faced during the learning process?
- Resolutions undertaken during the learning process?
- Ways in which parents and teachers assisted to overcome the challenges?
- Resolutions made for future adoption?
The interview surveys were done through some various instructional behaviors that would assist show the facial and body expressions of the students. Some of the teaching aids used were playing some of the videos made during some of the classes covered online, practical demonstration and also refined suggestions that had been acquired from previous studies. The learning effectiveness activities engaged include the class study experience, the class online questionnaire, the class peer evaluation process and the after-class experience for the student. The in class assignments were also used to gauge the work reports and ensure from the students of the comprehension levels for most of the students and how they have managed the experiences.
References
Al-Saadi, H. (2014). Demystifying Ontology and Epistemology in research methods, Research gate, 1(1), pp.1-10.
Basuony, M.A.K., EmadEldeen, R., Farghaly, M., El-Bassiouny, N. and Mohamed, E.K.A. (2021). “The factors affecting student satisfaction with online education during theCOVID-19 pandemic: an empirical study of an emerging Muslim country”, Journal ofIslamic Marketing, 12 (3), pp. 631-648. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-09-2020-0301
Bokayev, B., Torebekova, Z., Davletbayeva, Z. and Zhakypova, F. (2021). Distance learningin Kazakhstan: estimating parents’ satisfaction of educational quality during the coronavirus, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, pp.1–13.
Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://ktpu.kpi.ua/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/social-research-methods-alanbryman.pdf (Accessed 6 Jan. 2023). pp.604, 118-124.
Callister, R.R. and Love, M.S. (2016). “A comparison of learning outcomes in skills‐based courses: online versus face‐to‐face formats”, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 14(2), pp. 243-256.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2002). Research methods in education. Routledge. pp.133-164.
Crotty, M. (1998). Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and perspective in the research. process (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003115700
Edmundson, M., (2012). The trouble with online education. The New York Times, 19.
McKim, C.A. (2017). The Value of Mixed Methods Research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 11(2), pp.202–222. doi:10.1177/1558689815607096.
White, T. L., and McBurney, D. H. (2012). Research methods. Cengage Learning. pp.169.
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