Saudi Female Teachers Perceptions to Using E-learning for Enhancing Their Professional Development - Research Proposal Example

Saudi female teachers’ perceptions towards using e-learning for enhancing their professional development Name: College: Course name/number: Professor’s name: Assignment number: Date: Saudi female teachers’ perceptions towards using e-learning for enhancing their professional development Purpose of the study Saudi Arabia has made great advancements in incorporating technology in its learning institutions as espoused in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and the Eighth National Development Plans (Alqarni, 2015). Indeed, the Saudi government has recognized the pertinence of developing its human resource as a conduit for attaining sustainable social and economic goals (Ramady, 2010). This has seen the introduction of educational technologies and subsequently incorporation of computers into educational institutions to facilitate learning (Rahman & Alhaisoni, 2013). However, blended learning is a relatively new approach of helping obtain the maximum benefits from both the traditional approaches to learning and the electronic approaches to learning as well (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Montrieux, et al., 2015). The application of blended learning has been bolstered by the decree made by the ministry of education, which required that Saudi educational institutions employ both tradition and technology assisted approaches to learning. Indeed, it has been 2 years since the ministry made this introduction and there is a scarcity of information regarding how teachers are fairing on, and what benefits and challenges they may be experiencing with the employment of technology in their professional development. In addition, considering that the demands on the English teacher required that she remains updated in the latest educational trends and must therefore engage in continuous professional development (Al-Asmari, 2005; Eunjoo & Suhong, 2009). As such, this study focuses on the English language teachers and intends to identify the attitudes that teachers of ELT classes have towards the effectiveness of blended learning as a facilitator of their professional development. To this end, the study is designed to explore opportunities available for EFL teachers to continue their professional development and the extent to which they can benefit from using blended learning to enhance their professional development. The findings of this study will not only help evaluate the success of the employment of technology in professional development of English teachers but also inform on areas that require improvement. Therefore, the findings from this study are not only useful to the English teacher, but also the school management and education policy formulators, who are interested in the enhancement of the quality of teachers and in turn, the quality of teaching and learning processes in schools. Research questions In the mixed method research approach, the framing of research questions and hypotheses can be performed in several ways (Cresswell, 2013). Specifically, the quantitative and qualitative questions can either be developed at the commencement of a study or can be deduced as a later stage of progression of the study. In this case, the questions have been developed prior to the commencement of the study and will comprise of three main questions that can be quantitatively evaluated in the first phase of the study. In addition, supplementary questions in the qualitative segment of the study will provide in-depth insights into the results from the first phase, and thus provide an understanding of the EFL teachers’ perceptions of blended learning for professional development. The hypothesis of the study is: Blended learning can play an important role in enhancing the personal development of teachers in Saudi Arabia. To help test this hypothesis, this study seeks to answer three broad questions, in the quantitative segment, which are: 1. What do English language teachers believe about blended learning in enhancing their professional development?  2. To what extent is blended learning beneficial for enhancing teachers’ professional development? 3. What are the issues arising due to the employment of blended learning by English language teachers? Thereafter, the qualitative segment of the study will seek to clarify and expound on the findings of the qualitative study to provide a better understanding of the influence of blended learning on professional developed and the attitudes held by teachers regarding the blended technology as a facilitator of professional development. To this end, some of the questions that will be posed in this section include: 1. How do teachers compare the effectiveness of traditional professional development sessions and those that are technology assisted? 2. How can technology assist teachers in their professional development and how should they use different technologies? 3. What are the benefits and challenges of using educational technologies in facilitating the professional development of teachers? To help answer these questions, the objectives of research include: To determine the level of application of technology in the teaching and learning process by English language teachers in their ELT classrooms. To determine the beliefs that teachers of English language have regarding blended learning in an ELT classroom. To determine the extent at which the professional development of teachers has been influenced by technology, electronic learning and blended learning. To determine the professional benefits that are derived from blended learning by English teachers To determine the challenges experienced by English language teachers during their employment of blended learning approaches. Methodology Research design The study will be performed using a mixed method approach that has a quantitative component and a qualitative component. Creswell (2013) calls this methodology the ‘dominant-less-dominant’ research design or the sequential exploratory design in which the dominant component of the study is the quantitative study that is performed first while the less dominant component of the study is the qualitative study which is constructed on the basis of the quantitative phase. Specifically, while the dominant quantitative design gathers cross-sectional data about the employment of blended learning by EFL teachers for their professional development, the less dominance qualitative design focuses on a subset of the EFL teachers participating concerning how blended learning facilitates or hinders their professional development and the perceptions associated with this professional development tool. This approach has been chosen for its richness of findings, in which the deficiencies of one approach is complemented by the other approach, and its provision of a comprehensive portrayal of the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of EFL teachers regarding the use of blended learning for professional development (Creswell, 2013). In addition, this approach will help interrogate a particular aspect of blended learning in greater detail thus enabling the gaining of deeper insights of the issues addressed by the study. The data collection tool for the quantitative study is the questionnaire while that for the qualitative study is the interview. Quantitative study The quantitative study will involve a survey performed using a detailed questionnaire as the data collection tool. The questionnaire shall comprise of 19 items, with the first 10 items dwelling on demographics of the teacher and the school in which she is teaching. The other nine items shall dwell on perception and attitudinal issues regarding the employment of electronic leaning, traditional learning, and blended learning in their professional development endeavors. Qualitative study The qualitative study will comprise of a survey in form of interviews. Ten interview questions that aim at answering the three research questions will be used to guide the discussion during the interview. These questions will provide in-depth insights regarding the feelings, perceptions and attitudes that the participants hold regarding the employment of technology, electronic-learning, traditional learning, and blended learning in their professional development. The data obtained from the interviews will be analyzed thematically with a view of answering the research questions. Variables of the study The dependent variable of this study is the perceived level of use of blended learning for professional development among EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia. In the other hand, the independent variables in the study are: Teachers’ perceived access to educational technology Teachers’ perceived expertise in use of blended learning for professional development Teachers’ perception towards educational technology as a complementary tool for traditional learning approaches in professional development Selected characteristics of EFL teachers such as age, teaching experience, educational attainment, and TESOL certification among others Participants The study will employ 30 teachers of English language in secondary schools as participants (n=30). These participants will be purposively sampled considering that they will be sought from among teachers who teach English in secondary schools who will have granted their consent to participate. English teachers who have international certification such as teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) or an in the process of gaining such certification will be encouraged to participate. In addition, the participants will be female to enable the narrowing down of the study while facilitating the gaining in-depth insights as well. However, the sampled participants will be derived from as many cultural backgrounds as possible in order to have cultural diversity. Data collection and analysis procedures Data collection procedures The collection of data will be preceded by securing of consent from the relevant institutions and participants as well. First, the researcher will seek permission from the university in which the research will be undertaken accompanied by the engagement of supervisors for the project. After that, the permission from the Ministry of Education office at Najran City, which oversees the 560 public schools and 10 private schools therein, will be sought (Ministry of Education, 2017). Thereafter, permission from secondary schools with ESL teachers will be sought, which will provide access to a wide population of participants. After all permissions have been secured, participants will be invited through electronic mail and the respondents sampled purposively to ensure diversity is culture, age, and professional experience. The questionnaire will be piloted using 10 % (3 teachers) of the targeted participants in order to ascertain the suitability of the items, and the validity and reliability of the data collection tool. Two models of questionnaire administration, namely hard copy questionnaires and web-based questionnaires. A dedicated e-mail and telephone line will be set up to address any issues that participants of the pilot study may need addressed. This will facilitate the improvement of the quality of the data collection instrument. Specifically, the results of the pilot study will be used to modify and improve the questionnaire items after which the questionnaire shall be administered to the 30 participants. After that, interviews shall be administered to the selected participants using technology-enabled avenues such as Skype and telephone. The responses of the participants shall be recorded in transcripts, which is be analyzed thereafter. Data analysis procedures Data obtained from the questionnaires shall be coded and analyzed using a computer program (SPSS). The statistical tests that will be performed on the data will comprise of correlation coefficients to determine the correlation between participant characteristics and perspectives regarding blended learning, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for variations among and between different teacher groups as informed by their demographics (Ott & Longnecker, 2015). The data obtained from the transcripts of the interview will be classified and categorized to reveal and identify the underlying themes. The information thus obtained will facilitate the answering of the research questions by providing in-depth insights from the participants. Justification The employment of questionnaires as the data collection tool is informed by the anonymity concerns of the participants, because the tool presents a high level of confidentiality, thus addressing some of the ethical concerns of the participants (Fox, Murray & Warm, 2003). In addition, the questionnaire, particularly when web-based, can be undertaken at the convenience and comfort of the participants, thus encouraging participation (Lalla & Ferrari, 2011). This is vital to the study because it would result in a reduction of missing responses, which would compromise the validity and reliability of the findings. In addition, when well designed to ensure content validity, a questionnaire has been favored for measuring opinions and attitudes of the respondents as indicated by Bryman (2015). However, the disconnect between the researcher and the participant may lead to different interpretations of the questionnaire items, and the consequential variety of responses from the participants, a major of invalidity of the instrument. To improve the overall quality of data, interviews were used as follow-ups of the questionnaires because they enable inconsistencies observed in the questionnaires to be addresses and clarified, thus improving the quality of the data. In addition, the interviews will facilitate the researcher in discerning the feelings and emotions of the participants due to the one-on-one interaction. In both cases, technology will be leveraged in form of web-based interview and Skype, to enhance the convenience of the participants while ensuring cost effectiveness in light of limited time and financial resources available to the researcher (Lalla & Ferrari, 2011).   Ethical considerations Researches that involve human beings as participants always present ethical issues that need to be addressed before such researches can be performed. Indeed, research in social sciences, particularly in education, usually involves human beings as participants; and therefore it unavoidably involves ethical concerns (Dörnyei, 2007). Dörnyei (2007) maintains that the key element of research ethics is that researchers should make sure that the participants do not get hurt either physically or mentally due to their participation in the study. In educational research, it is important to have research ethics in consideration, although this type of research often does not pose any type of threats to the participants, while on the other hand, they can benefit from the study results (Mackey & Gass, 2005). It is believed that ethical issues are more intense in studies employing the qualitative research method than the quantitative studies because qualitative research usually goes beyond the’ private lives of participants and asks for their personal views and feelings towards the investigated phenomenon (Dörnyei, 2007). Therefore, in this study, the researcher will carefully put the ethical issues into consideration since, as stated in the methodology, this study will utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods. In addition, physical and emotional distress of the participants will be reduced by scheduling their participation during the longest school vacation, which is between 15th of June 2017 to 10th of September 2017 or between 20/09/1438 and 19/12/1438 according to the Hijri calendar (Ministry of Education, 2017). According to the ministry of education’ academic calendar, this duration will be when the schools are closed for summer vacations. Further, the researcher will employ various communication approaches such as email, Skype, telephone, and face-to-face meetings to administer both the questionnaires and the interview to ensure minimal inconvenience to the participants (Fox, Murray & Warm, 2003). Time scale Three months starting from June 15, 2017 have been allocated for this study; the scheduling of tasks has been outlined in the time plan in table 1. Table 1: Time plan Activity Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Developing the literature review chapter Refining the questionnaire items Securing participants’ consent Piloting the questionnaire and modifying the items Administration of questionnaires Analysis of data from questionnaires Administration of interviews Analysis of data from questionnaire transcripts Thesis report writing Limitations to the study Collection of data may be limited by the 3-month window presented by the summer vacations, because it may not be sufficient to collect all the data envisaged. This will make it difficult to undertake face-to-face interviews in particular due to time constraints. In addition, the use of Skype for interviewing may present some challenges particularly in situations of poor internet connectivity and lack of Skype-enable laptops by the participants (Deakin & Wakefield, 2014). Nevertheless, this challenge may be eradicated by resorting to audio interviews administered using telephones instead. References Al-Asmari, A. M. (2005). The use of the Internet among EFL teachers at the colleges of technology in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University). Bryman, A. (2015). Social research methods. Oxford University Press. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Deakin, H., & Wakefield, K. (2014). Skype interviewing: Reflections of two PhD researchers. Qualitative Research, 14(5), 603-616. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics : quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eunjoo, O., & Suhong, P. (2009). How are universities involved in blended instruction? Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(3), 327-342. Fox, J., Murray, C., & Warm, A. (2003). Conducting research using web-based questionnaires: Practical, methodological, and ethical considerations. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6(2), 167-180. Garrison, D. R., and H. Kanuka (2004). Blended Learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education: ELSEVIER, Internet and Higher Education, v. 7, p. 95- 105. Lalla, M., & Ferrari, D. (2011). Web-based versus paper-based data collection for the evaluation of teaching activity: empirical evidence from a case study. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(3), 347-365. Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2005). Second language research: methodology and design. Mahwah, NJ ; London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Ministry of Education (2017). Academic calendar for the year 1437 H – 1438 H. Retrieved 16 May 2017 from https://www.moe.gov.sa/en/PublicEducation/Gov/Pages/AcademicCalendar.aspx. Montrieux, H., Vangestel, S., Raes, A., Matthys, P., & Schellens, T. (2015). Blending Face-to-Face Higher Education with Web-Based Lectures: Comparing Different Didactical Application Scenarios. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 18(1), 170-182. Ott, R. L., & Longnecker, M. T. (2015). An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis. Nelson Education. Rahman, M. M. & Alhaisoni, E. (2013). Teaching English in Saudi Arabia: prospects and challenges. Academic Research International, 4(1), 112-118 Ramady, M. A. (2010). The Saudi Arabian economy: Policies, achievements, and challenges. Springer Science & Business Media. Appendix Appendix 1: Questionnaire Instructions: Please tick [√] the most appropriate answer to each of the questions provided Do not indicate your name or provide any information that may disclose your identity Please answer the questions as truthfully as possible Your confidentiality is guaranteed Section A: Teacher demographics 1. Please state your age group? Younger than 25 [ ] 25-34 years [ ] 35.44 Years [ ] 45-54 years [ ] 55 years and older [ ] Prefer not to say [ ] 2. How long have you worked as a teacher? Less than 1 year [ ] 1-3 years [ ] 4-10 years [ ] 11-20 years [ ] 21-30 years [ ] 31.40 years [ ] More than 40 years [ ] 3. what is your highest education qualification College [ ] Undergraduate [ ] Posts graduate [ ] 4. What is your first language? Najdi Arabic [ ] Hejazi Arabic [ ] Khaliji Arabic [ ] Egyptian Arabic [ ] Takalog [ ] Rohingya [ ] Udru [ ] Others [ ] 5. What is your English teaching proficiency certification? TESOL [ ] TEFL [ ] CELTA [ ] 6. When did you last engage in a professional development program? Less than 1 year [ ] Between 1-2 years [ ] Between 3-5 years [ ] Over 5 years [ ] 7. How many students are in your English class? Less than 5 [ ] 5-9 [ ] 10-14 [ ] 15-19 [ ] 20-24 [ ] 25-29 [ ] 30 and above [ ] Section B: School demographics 8. Is your school a public school or a private school? Public school [ ] Private school [ ] 9. Does your school have electronic-learning tools? Yes [ ] No [ ] 10. If yes in Q. 9, are electronic-learning tools sufficient for all students and teachers in the school? Yes [ ] No [ ] Section B: Teacher perceptions and attitudes 1. Do you use the e-learning tools for professional development? Yes [ ] No [ ] 2. Do you use traditional learning approaches for professional development? Yes [ ] No [ ] 3. Are you familiar with blended learning approaches? Yes [ ] No [ ] 4. Do you employ blended learning approaches for your professional development? Yes [ ] No [ ] 5. Are there any benefits of using blended learning approaches in professional development? Yes [ ] No [ ] 6. If yes for Q. 5, list these benefits a) ……………….. b) ……………….. c) ……………….. d) ………………. e) ………………. 7. Are there any challenges of using blended learning approaches in professional development? Yes [ ] No [ ] 8. If yes for Q. 6, list these challenges a) ……………….. b) ……………….. c) ……………….. d) ………………. e) ………………. 9. Please carefully read the following statements and then tick [√] your most honest answer in the relevant box (tick only one answer): Statement Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree 9.1 I think e-learning tools contain a lot of useful information for teachers 9.2 I think e-learning approaches are can replace traditional approaches to professional development 9.3 I think traditional approaches cannot be replaced by e-learning approaches of professional development 9.4 I think using blended learning approaches is better that using either e-learning or traditional approaches for professional development 9.5 I think using blended learning approaches of professional development are hectic and inconvenient 9.6 I wish I have more awareness about blended learning approaches for professional development Appendix 2: Interview guide Instructions: Please answer the questions as truthfully as possible Feel free to expand your answer and provide as much information as you wish Your confidentiality is guaranteed Research question Interview questions 1. What do English language teachers believe about blended learning in enhancing their professional development?  Have you participated in a traditional professional development program? Have you participated in an e-learning professional development program? Have you participated in a professional development program that uses blended learning approaches? 2. To what extent is blended learning beneficial for enhancing teachers’ professional development? Do you think that e-learning is better than traditional learning for your professional development? Do you think teachers are aware of blended learning approaches Should blended learning replace either e-learning or traditional learning approaches of professional development? Why would you choose blended learning approaches for your professional development? 3. What are the issues arising due to the employment of blended learning by English language teachers? Why do you think blended learning approaches have not been embraced by English language teachers in your country? What can be done to encourage you to use blended learning approaches for your professional development? What is your outlook of the employment of blended learning in enhancing the professional development of English language teachers in Saudi Arabia in future? Appendix 3: Consent form Consent form Project title: Saudi female teachers’ perceptions towards using e-learning for enhancing their professional development Researcher: ……………….. Introduction You are kindly invited to participate in a survey investigating the mentioned topic, which will consist of a questionnaire and an interview. The study aims at investigating the perceptions of female teachers in Saudi Arabia towards using e-learning and blended learning for enhancing their professional development. However, your consent for participation will be appreciated because the decision to participate or not, is entirely yours. Before completing the survey, you are advised to please read the two questions hereafter and tick against yes or no to indicate your choice and thereafter sign in the spaces provided at the end of this form. 1. I want to participate in this study yes [ ], no [ ]. 2. I am comfortable with my answers being used for the analysis of this study provided the answers will remain anonymous and personal confidentiality is maintained (my name will not be used in the report of the study). yes [ ], no [ ]. Explanation of the study The study will be performed using two approaches, through the filling of a questionnaire and participating in an interview. The questionnaire will consist of questions that seek to your teaching experience and classroom conditions, and others that seek to identify your feeling about electronic learning and employment of blended learning in professional development. Confidentiality All information that will be collected from you will be treated with the highest confidentiality and will only be used for purposes of this research only. If at any point you change your mind and no longer want to participate, you may withdraw from the study without any consequences Participant’s consent I have read the information provided in this Informed-Consent Form. All my questions were answered to my satisfaction. I voluntary agree to participate in this study. Name:………………………………………………… Signature:…………………………………………….. Date: …………………………………………………. Read More