Teachers’ Perceptions on Determinants of Effectiveness of E-Learning Among Pre-Primary Learners

Abstract

The advent of technology has led to advancement in different aspects of life including education. It has made Education easily accessible regardless of location, and time and has made learning to continue regardless of epidemics like Corona. Eminent integration of technology in education must be done early in order to equip the students with communication, language, and literary skills. E-learning allows young children to learn by experience, application, and conversation which can take place in the community or on an individual basis (LI and Masters 2009). This paper is hence premised on the fact that in order to improve the effectiveness of E-learning in Kenya, it is imperative to have the input of teachers and gauge their perspective on what determines its successful integration into the education system. Secondly, the paper is predicated on the realization that in order to encourage a culture of learning via technological tools and improve the acceptance of ICT as a way of learning, it is critical to implement the strategies at an early stage of schooling. The main objective of this research is to assess the teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of e-learning among pre-primary learners. Specifically, the study is guided by the following objectives: to find out the determinants of the effectiveness of e-learning among pre-primary learners in Kenya, to find out the challenges facing the implementation of e-learning in Kenya, to identify the manner in which the remote learning system in Kenya has increased the digital divide gap between the high-income households and low-income households and to give suggestions on ways to improve the effectiveness of e-learning in Kenya. This study will help gather the teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of e-learning to help stakeholders craft policies that will raise the use of technology in education to those of developed nations. This research study will give the policymakers the viewpoints and concerns that teachers and school administrators have about the remote learning system. It is essential to understand that remote learning not only affects students but also teachers and their practices. The study will provide new data to those concerns as well as help in making decisions on where professional development programs would come in, in the adoption of technology in the learning system. The determinants of the effectiveness of E-learning that were studied included teacher training, human interaction, ease of use of technology, technological acceptance, learner characteristics, individual perceptions, and challenges facing successful effectuation of E-learning. The study employed the use of inferential statics to answer research questions. This statistical technique draws conclusions about a population from a sample (Byrne, 2007). Inferences were made using multiple regression which was based on the assumptions from the sample of the population. Seeing as e-learning is a phenomenon that has existed for decades in different countries and regimes, it is important to study how it is carried out and the improvements that can be done to make it a better experience for the learners, teachers, and managers in the education sector which is aided with the use of inferential statics. This study used a concurrent mixed-method design by using qualitative data acquired from asking open-ended questions to teachers. A mixed method design combines both qualitative and quantitative research into one study providing a more conclusive insight as compared to if the data was used alone (Cresswell & Cresswell, 2018). The population of this study comprised pre-primary school teachers and head teachers at pre-primary schools in Nairobi County who had been involved in the process of e-learning as a means of delivering content to their students. The population of interest was 200 preschool teachers, 100 from school that are private and 100 from school that are public in Nairobi County. For this research 60 head teachers were also included, 40 were from private pre-primary schools and 20 were from public pre-primary schools. The study used purposive and convenient sampling techniques. In it, primary and secondary data were both used. A combination of Microsoft Excel and the statistical program for social sciences (SPSS) was utilized to analyze and interpret aforementioned data types. Additionally, the analysis and interpretation of the data made use of statistical techniques like frequencies, percentages, standard deviation, and mean. Moreover, to analyze qualitative data, content, and thematic analysis methods were employed. According to Stemler (2000), content analysis helps in examining certain words or texts in qualitative data and aids in its transformation into quantitative data to allow for the drawing of conclusions. On the other hand, Joffe (2012) contends that thematic analysis aids in the identifying patterns in qualitative data to allow for its analysis. These two techniques were used to analyze the response from the teachers and draw appropriate conclusions. The correlation between the effectiveness of e-learning effectiveness and its determinants was shown using a multiple regression model. So as to conduct the regression analysis data was collected from teachers on various factors affecting e-learning effectiveness as well as data on the latest average score of a subject whose instructions were delivered through the online model. A possible constraint of the research is that it was carried out in only one county in Kenya. With a confidence level of 90% that the margin of error for this research is 10%. The research paper sought to evaluate the perception of teachers on e-learning effectiveness among pre-primary pupils. It looked at the challenges that teachers have faced in the implementation of e-learning in the country. Part of what this research identified was that the perception of teachers towards e-learning was that teachers had issues adapting to change. All the respondents agreed that teacher training is vital to the effectiveness of e-learning in Kenya. The respondents of the study agreed that even though the technology is making the process of content delivery more efficient and less tedious, teachers have a central role to play in ensuring that the technological objectives are aligned with the goals of the courses they are used to teach. As such, it is imperative to train teachers not only on the workings of technological learning tools but also on the importance of integrating online education into their normal teaching practices. This is in line with the assertion of Al-Mobaideen and Allahawiah (2012) that training teachers on e-learning leads to a deeper degree of appreciation for the advantages it brings to the educational process. However, the respondents noted that there is a lack of adequate training resources and facilities needed to train teachers in e-learning. This explains the finding that one of the biggest impediments to the successful implementation of e-learning is inadequate training. This underscores the efforts currently being put to implement e-learning in Kenya, and by extension negatively affects its effectiveness. The study also found that most teachers agree that the human element is vital to the effectiveness of e-learning among the group being studied. The respondents postulated that the most important interaction is between the teacher and the students. This further supports the need for teachers to be adequately trained so that they can have beneficial interactions with their students during online study sessions. Therefore, a teacher’s perception of e-learning plays a huge role in determining the degree and the level of technology integration in their classroom. Additionally, a teacher’s level of education does play a key role in impacting their perception. Based on the findings the study gave the following recommendation: expansion of the study to include larger areas, adequate training resources, training the technical staff, scaling up of technological reach all over Kenya, a study to be made capturing parents’ opinion, more education funding to be made by the government, parent to increase more support on procuring and purchasing e-learning facilities, school head teachers to recruit qualified staff with knowledge of E-learning and ICT skills to prioritize data privacy and security, teachers and students to be given support on the use of digital tools, for easy acceptability schools can create an online community comprising of the parents, teachers and school managers and monitoring a child learning progress in the online space and schools to choose the appropriate learning methodologies based on the economic status of the school and the students.;기술의 출현은 교육을 포함한 삶의 다양한 측면에서 발전을 이끌었다. 그래서 장소와 시간에 제약 받지 않고 교육을 쉽게 접할 수 있게 했고 코로나와 같은 전염병과 상관없이 학습을 지속할 수 있게 했다. 기술을 교육에 성공적으로 통합하는 것은 어린 아이들이 경험, 응용, 그리고 대화를 통해 배울 수 있도록 하기 때문에 학생들에게 의사소통, 언어, 그리고 문학적 기술을 갖추기 위해 초기 단계에서 이루어져야 한다. 따라서 본 논문은 케냐에서 이러닝의 효과를 개선하기 위해서는 교사의 의견을 수렴하고 이러닝이 교육 시스템에 성공적으로 통합되는 것에 대한 교사의 관점을 측정하는 것이 필수적이라는 사실을 전제로 한다. 둘째, 본 논문은 기술적 도구를 통한 학습 문화를 장려하고 학습 방법으로써의 ICT(Information and Communication Technology)의 수용을 개선하기 위해서는 학교 교육의 초기 단계에서 전략을 실행하는 것이 중요하다는 인식에 근거하고 있다. 본 연구의 주요 목적은 선행학습자의 이러닝 효과에 대한 교사의 관점을 평가하는 것이다. 이 연구는 이해관계자들이 선진국과 유사한 교육에서의 기술 사용을 높일 수 있는 정책을 수립하는 것을 돕기 위해 이러닝의 효과에 대한 교사들의 관점을 모으는 데 도움이 될 것이다. 이 연구는 연구 질문에 답하기 위해 추론 통계를 사용했다. 모집단 표본의 가정에 기초한 다중 회귀 분석을 사용하여 추론을 수행했다. 또한 교사에게 개방형 질문을 통해 얻은 질적 데이터와 동시 혼합 방법 설계를 사용했다. 이 연구의 대상은 학생들에게 콘텐츠를 전달하는 수단으로 이러닝 과정에 참여했던 나이로비 카운티의 유치원 교사와 교장으로 구성되었다. 이 연구는 목적과 편리한 샘플링 기술을 모두 사용했다. 그리고 이 연구에서는 1차 데이터와 2차 데이터가 모두 사용되었다. 앞서 언급한 데이터 유형을 분석하고 해석하기 위해 Microsoft Excel과 SPSS(Statistical Program for Social Sciences)을 조합하여 사용했다. 또한 질적 자료 분석을 위해 내용과 주제 분석 방법을 사용했다. 이 두 가지 기술을 사용하여 교사의 응답을 분석하고 적절한 결론을 도출했다. 본 연구를 통해서, 이러닝에 대한 교사들의 인식이 변화에 적응하는 데 문제가 있다는 것을 확인했다. 모든 응답자들은 교사 교육이 케냐의 이러닝의 효과에 필수적이라는 것에 동의했다. 이 연구의 응답자들은 기술이 콘텐츠 전달 과정을 더 효율적이고 덜 지루하게 만들고 있음에도 불구하고, 교사들은 기술적 목표가 그들이 가르치기 위해 사용하는 과목의 목표와 일치하도록 보장하는 데 있어 중심적인 역할을 해야 한다는 것에 동의했다. 또한 대부분의 선생님들이 인간적인 요소가 연구 대상 그룹 간의 이러닝의 효과에 필수적이라는 것에 동의한다는 것을 발견했다. 응답자들은 가장 중요한 상호작용은 선생님과 학생들 사이에 있다고 가정했다. 연구 결과를 바탕으로, 연구는 다음과 같은 권고 사항을 제시했다: 더 큰 영역을 포함하도록 연구를 확장하고, 적절한 훈련 자원을 제공하며, 기술 인력을 훈련하고, 케냐 전역의 기술적 범위를 확대하고, 부모의 의견을 포착하는 연구가 이루어져야 한다, 학부모들은 이러닝 시설을 구입하기 위해 더 많은 재정적 지원을 제공해야 하며, 각 학교의 교장들은 이러닝에 대한 지식을 가진 자격 있는 직원들을 모집해야 하며, 학교는 이러닝의 쉬운 수용을 위해 부모들과 교사들로 구성된 온라인 커뮤니티를 만들어야 한다, 학교는 학교와 학생들의 경제적 상태에 따라 적절한 학습 방법론을 선택하고 온라인 공간에서 아이들의 학습 진행 상황을 지속적으로 모니터링하는 것이 중요하다.