EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CASE STUDY OF A DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL

Abstract

This article describes the effectiveness of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic of the demonstration school. Teachers’ online instructional model, the availability of students’ online learning tools, as well as students’ and parents’ perspectives of, and satisfaction with, online learning was investigated. Participants were teachers (N = 70), students (N = 981), and parents (N = 981) from a demonstration school in Thailand during the second semester of 2021. The research design used a mixed method approach using survey questions administered to teachers, students, and parents. The findings revealed that most teachers preferred live-teaching (93.30%) through Microsoft Teams (96.70%) to facilitate online teaching and learning. Students had good online learning facilities, including learning tools and internet access. Only a small percentage of students (1.73%) did not have computer access for online learning. While online learning has proved to support the health of students during the pandemic, students and parents moderately agreed that there is no difference in effectiveness between traditional face-to-face learning and online learning (students = 41.87%, parents = 57.54%). They highly agreed that traditional face-to-face learning is still important for learning (students = 96.93%, parents = 90.40%). Students’ and parents’ preference of face-to face learning is attributed to the various challenges associated with online teaching and learning. Our research led to the development of an effective and suitable online learning management system for the COVID-19. Parents and students had high levels of satisfaction with online learning, demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique. These findings are valuable for educators, students and parents to adopt and promote online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.