Technology-Mediated Task-based Instruction During COVID-19: A Case Study from Higher Education in Morocco

Abstract

Background: Two interests come together in this article, both from the perspectives of teachers and students from the Department of English Studies at Mohamed First University, Morocco. One is the extent to which Task-Based Learning (TBL) can inform educational technology. The other related issue is the need to capitalise on the interactive connectivity of online learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic so as to reconsider the teacher-fronted classes that have long dominated higher education. It is noticed that the sudden shift into online learning has been accompanied by a respective perpetuation of the lecturing style; in-class lecture notes were transferred into PDF documents to be downloaded and memorized by students. background: Two interests come together in this article, both from the perspectives of teachers and students from the department of English Studies at Mohamed First University, Morocco. One is the extent to which Task Based Learning TBL can inform educational technology. The other related issue is the need to capitalize on the interactive connectivity of online learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic so as to reconsider the teacher-frontedness that has long dominated higher education. Methods: After reviewing the relevant literature, we carried out a curriculum observation of the university’s e-learning platform, where professors and students of the English department undertook all their instructional and learning activities. In parallel, two questionnaires were administered. One questionnaire was addressed to (18) professors, and the other one targeted (155) students. In their totality, the contents of the questionnaires aim to investigate the participants’ perceptions of the unexpected move to e-learning, including questions of affordability, usability and methodology of presentation and application. The resultant quantitative data were used to test the major hypothesis that online instruction in the present context lacks a methodological framework that organizes the process of presenting and practising the assigned contents on the university’s elearning platform. Results: While results come as a mixture of the encouraging, the discouraging and, occasionally, the puzzling, teacher-centeredness is certainly the unchanged aspect of this online transitioning. With the absence of a methodological framework that informs online instruction, both students and teachers are found to miss the interactive prospects afforded by the existing e-learning platform. Thus, there is an imperative to reconsider the lecturing style and teacher-centredness in post-pandemic higher education in Morocco. Conclusion: Technology-mediated TBL methodology is proposed as a working alternative to the lecturing style dominant in the e-learning platform in the case under research and in similar universities elsewhere. conclusion: Technology-mediated TBL methodology is proposed as a working alternative to the lecturing style in e-learning platforms in the case under research and in similar universities elsewhere.