Exploring Omani EFL Students’ Perceptions of the Newly Adopted Online Learning Platforms at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Salalah

Abstract

Due to the rapid advancement of the relevant technology and the COVID-19 health pandemic, educational institutions have had to adapt to ongoing and ever-changing circumstances at a very rapid rate. Thus, the Moodle and Microsoft Teams platforms are being used by teachers to more directly teach students, as well as fulfilling its initial role in providing a supplementary tool to maintain, the convention of independent learning. The current study explores the perceptions of a group of Omani students who are currently enrolled in the English Language Center of the University of Sciences and Applied Technology, Salalah campus, (hereafter referred to as UTAS) regarding the new online learning platforms, i.e. Moodle and Microsoft Teams. To this end, a questionnaire was adopted from Rojabi’s (2020) study to measure the perceptions of the students towards both Moodle and Microsoft Teams platforms. A sample of 100 students was randomly selected from the population. The findings of the study have offered some important suggestions on how to improve the existing online platforms and pave the way for further research to be conducted in the same area.

Omani Students’ Satisfaction with Independent Learning Tools during Covid-19

“…Other studies by the same author (2022a) and (2022b) at UTAS-Ibra, Oman, confirmed that online teaching via digital tools positively affects teaching and learning. Findings of the research conducted by Kashoob (2021), andAlameri et al (2020) validated that MS Teams and Moodle have been very conducive to motivating students and promoting self-study among students. Another study by Ali et al (2021) at UTAS-Ibra, Oman, suggested that My ELT has played a crucial role in helping students gain more knowledge.…”

“…" (p. 31). A similar study by Kashoob (2021) explored Omani EFL Students' Perceptions of the Newly Adopted Online Learning Platforms at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Salalah. The findings of the study suggested that "the online learning environment is very conducive in motivating them towards learning English through an admittedly complex and challenging framework, that not all members of a learning community can take Arab World English Journal www.awej.org ISSN: 2229-9327 366 comprehensive advantage of."…”

EFL Instructors’ and Students’ Perceptions of Online Writing Instruction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Online learning is employed through self-paced independent study units, asynchronous interactive sessions, and synchronous interactive meetings (Kashoob1 & Attamimi, 2021). Thus, learning has become flexible and accessible to university students who learn virtually both online and offline via student portals (Houlden & Veletsianos, 2020).…”

An exploration of course and cohort communication spaces in Discord, Teams, and Moodle

“…Other articles describe Teams characteristics but fail to provide data-based analysis. For example, Kashoob and Attamimi (2021) report on using Teams and Moodle to support language learning. The article introduces both platforms in detail but does not specify how they are used in teaching.…”