Teachers strategize their readiness towards online teaching and learning

Readiness means being fully prepared for a specific event or action. Form the data the
aspect of readiness that needs to be highlighted in online teaching divided into three which
are the extent of readiness, the important online learning technology and improvement for
online learning.
Based on the data collected, all key informants stated that they were not quite ready
using the online system. But as a teacher they believe that they should ready for anything
even for the worse. Furthermore, all the teachers (key informant) showed a good attitude
toward the use of technology in teaching online during pandemic Covid -19. They used the
technology in teaching online and their involvement in it is quite high. They also show effort
to master the new system of teaching and learning by develop their digital skill.
All of the key informants stated that to improve their skills and knowledge teaching
online, they set up a regular weekly meeting for teachers, using a synchronous (real-time)
platform such as google meet to share ideas that have worked well, or things they have
learned. Other then that, the key informants agree that teachers should master the online
platform to make the teaching attractive and effective to students. There are a few current
online platforms that the key informant used as tools for online learning like combination of
google meet, youtube and video call through Telegram, sharing material or notes via
Whatsapp, Canva, wordwall etc.

Teacher A
…At first, I personally not comfortable with delivering the course; it presented a jump from face-
to-face to online delivery that was very new to me. I improve myself with my colleague by sharing
from each other and join any sharing in Webinar…
Teacher B
…I often use Whatsapp because it is simple and familiar around the students. But for teaching,
sharing material and task I use Google Classroom or google meet because it is more organize in
class management…
Teacher C
…even the students sometimes ask questions about assignments at night, hmmn… outside of
working hours but they should be served, this is also the aspect that teacher shoulf be ready to, to
standby all the time…
Conclusion
Learning is a continuous process in an individual's life to gain necessary skills
through learning and knowledge in order to achieve any desired goals of their life. But, since
Corona Virus Disease 19 (Covid-19) has spread out to the world, education is one of the
sectors that have a generally large impact on its condition when teaching and learning
procedure has a big revolution which do face to face must be changed to an online system.
Covid-19 changes everything in the education system. The announcement on the global
pandemic of Covid-19 was taken place on 12 March 2020 and it causes policy to have social
distancing which render a problem such the school closing affecting the learning of millions
of children.
There’s a lot of issues arise when teaching and learning from face-to-face change to
online system. Suddenly students, parents and teachers forced to use online system in
teaching and learning process due to the closure of schools. Teachers have used online
platforms to reach out to students, webinars have become temporary classrooms, parents have
been asked to monitor home, and students have been deprived of social interaction between
peers. Based on the data by UNESCO the closures are impacting about 60% of world’s
student population and bring difficulties especially to the students in low-income families that
couldn’t afford to use the technology (UNESCO, 2020).
Before this pandemic, its undeniable that online teaching and learning is not
something new to teachers but this method is only as a support to conventional learning
conducted in the classroom. When this pandemic occurs, online learning through the Home-
Based Learning (HBL) approach has become a necessity for educators. Therefore, all
teachers need to fully implement online learning to replace face-to-face learning.
The findings show that the overall the teachers give a positive view of online learning
during this period of pandemic. Teachers are also ready to implement online learning by
using printed modules and learning materials available on the internet such as Youtube
despite facing various challenges. Among the challenges faced are the difficulty of teachers
establishing two-way communication with students, lack of learning support from parents and
guardians and lack of knowledge and skills of teachers to implement online learning. It is
hoped that the findings of the study can be used as a guide for administrators, teachers and
also the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) to plan emergency online learning sessions
using existing educational technology that in line with the current circulation.