Online Learning Through the Lens of Children in a Jamaican Single Parent Household

During the COVID – 19 Pandemic

Lamar Edghill

Temple University, Philadelphia

Submitted: 19 July 2021

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the lived experiences of children towards online

learning, but specifically, children of a single parent household who have access to online

learning opportunities. The epistemological approach to this study was interpretive in design,

as it took on a phenomenology approach to investigation. The study was conducted with 3

children from separate single parent households. This research was guided by a two – step

process that utilized semantic differential scales and semi – structured interviews. The findings

of this study revealed that the children preferred learning face to face at school, and they learned

more when at school rather than online at home.

Keywords: Online Learning, Children from single parent household, COVID – 19 pandemic

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 Background to the Study

In March 2020, the Jamaican government announced the closure of schools due to the

rising cases of COVID – 19 in the island. Consequently, the education ministry, through the

National Council on Education (NCE) provided a series of student engagement models to be

adopted by schools in order to safely engage students. Among the teaching and learning

modalities presented to the education system, online learning became a dominant approach to

student engagement. Many schools resorted to utilizing WhatsApp groups, Google

classroom, Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft teams among others. It has been

approximately 15 months since the education system begun supporting and promoting online

learning within the country. Despite the efforts to transition to the virtual space, many

students are without the means available to access online learning. Mr. Jasford Gabriel,

President of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) reported, that from his survey,

approximately one – third of students in the country are unable to access online learning

opportunities (Williams 2020).

There are indeed students faced with challenges of not being able to actively access

online education, however, this study will focus on only the lived experiences of children

who are able to access online learning, as there are also students faced with challenges

despite their ability to fully access virtual learning opportunities.

Studies suggest that online modalities have been met with great difficulties for

learners, whether they are advance or struggling students, amidst the available technology

(Heppen et al., 2020). One such study investigated the experiences of Delhi’s school students

who transitioned to online classes during this COVID-19 pandemic (Khan, 2021). Having

exposed the students to online learning, the study asked students which teaching modality

would be better for students in future education, of which only 17.4% preferred online

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education. Despite this revelation, it was reported by Khan (2021) that 46% of students

involved in the study were satisfied with the state of online classes during the pandemic.

Within the Jamaican context, there are no published studies that explore the general

perception of students as it pertains to online learning. This is an understandable position, as

online learning, as a modality to teaching was not widely appreciated and utilized, more so at

the primary and secondary levels. The epistemological approach to this study was interpretive

in design, as it took on a phenomenology approach (Cal & Tehmarn, 2016). This study aims

to understand the lived experiences of children towards online learning, but specifically,

children of a single parent household who have access to online learning opportunities. It was

Leslie (2020) who in a survey discovered that single parent households account for 41% of

families in Jamaica. With such a large percentage of single parent families in Jamaica,

coupled with the forced transition from in person teaching to virtual education, it is for this

reason, this study focuses on children from a single parent family, and there perception of

online learning during the COVID – 19 pandemic.

Research Questions

 What are the views of children from single parent households, towards learning online

during the COVID – 19 pandemic?

 How did children from single parent households, feel about learning online during the

COVID – 19 pandemic?

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 Method

This qualitative research was guided by a phenomenological methodology. This

approach was most fitting for the study, as Bloor & Wood (2006) describes it as a means of

understanding and interpreting human experiences, which represents precisely what this

study aims to achieve by exploring online learning through the experiences of children from

single parent households. Such a phenomena is best investigated using semi-structured

interview format, as it both encourages communication, as well as allows the participant to

feel comfortable (Doyle, 2020). This is even more important, as the research participants are

students, who need to be comfortable in order to get the most out of their participation.

Before the interview process begins, the children will be allowed to complete a semantic

differential scales. It was Kuhn (2018) describes semantic differential scales as being a

survey question with a ranged scale, for which the endpoints of each scale having opposing

statements. This approach is useful when focusing the thought and perceptions of the research

participants, as the intervention questions are being asked.

Research Group

The study was conducted with 3 children from separate single parent households. The

sample comprised of 2 females and 1 male, all of which fell within the ages ranging from 13

– 16 years. The small number of participants was mainly due to the limited time available to

conduct the study. As a qualitative study that focused on children within a specific context,

purposive sampling was used to identify the research participants. Palinkas et al. (2011)

highlighted that such an approach ensures that participants would provide rich case related

data surrounding the phenomenon in focus. In keeping with criterion sampling as a type of

purposive sampling (Palinkas et al., 2011), during the sampling process, emphasis was placed

on ensuring that the children identified, were born and raised in Jamaica, from a single parent

home, and had access to online education, all in keeping within the parameters of the study.

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When engaging the participants, consent was sought from their respective parent.

Additionally, the participant were protected by the use of fictional name assigned to give

anonymity, in essence, a pseudonym (Given, 2008).

Data Collection Process and Tool

This research was guided by a two – step process that utilized semantic differential

scales and semi – structured interviews. To ensure that all ethical considerations were met,

the parent of the children were written to obtain formal consent to have the children

participate in the study, as there were all under the age of 18. All the children were engaged

individually and in separate locations. This was done so as to ensure that the children would

not be influenced by the thoughts, views or expressions of their siblings and more so their

parent. The first step in the data collection process saw the students completing a semantic

differential scale (see Appendix A). The scale was used to focus the thoughts of the children

as they prepare to share in the interview process. The differential scale had three questions,

with each scare spanning from 1 to 5. The first question utilizes two images; a smiling and

frowning face. The frowning face was placed above number 1 on the scale, while the smiling

face was placed above number 5. The following questions was asked in relation to the first

semantic sale, “Which face represents how you feel about learning online during the COVID

– 19 pandemic?”

The other two semantic differential sales were structured as follows:

 At the lower end of the rating scale was the statement “I prefer learning from home

online”, while the upper end had the statement “I prefer learning face to face at

school”.

 At the lower end of the rating scale was the statement “I learn more from home

online”, while the upper end had the statement “I learn more when I am face to face at

school”.

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 After a rating was selected by a participant, probing questions (see Appendix B) were

asked to ascertain the motivations for the selections made. The Otter mobile application was

used to record interview sessions.

Data Analysis Process

The data collected thought the use of the Otter mobile application was transferred into

three transcripts, one for each interview session conducted. In exploring the lived experiences

of the children, the decision was made to code only the children’s responses to the questions,

and not the questions or statements from the interviewer, as this information would not fall

within the scope of the children’s experiences, which is a focus of this study. The decision

was made to code the respondents’ turns, and to code those turns as themes. A thematic

coding approach was selected for the purpose of determining which themes were frequent

and common among the research participants (Medelyan, 2021). An inductive coding method

was utilized, as the researcher saw it fitting to express the themes directly from the lived

experiences of the children or research participants.

For each respondents’ turn within each transcript, one or two themes were assigned.

In analyzing the data, the common themes were collated. Cross theme analysis was

conducted across transcripts of the three respondents to ascertain the main theme, which were

then used to form headings from which the reports and discussions were based. The common

themes identified are listed below:

 Face to face learning at school, presents greater learning opportunities

 Learning online at home, teacher student interaction is less

 Learning online at home is challenging due to internet instability

 Learning online at home is difficult because it is self-directed

 Face to face at school facilitates greater socialization among students

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 Table 1 depicts an excerpt of a coded transcript of an interview conducted with one of

the research participant.

Table 1. Excerpt of coded transcript from one research participant

Speaker Coded Text Open Code (Theme)

Respondent: I don't like learning online because it's harder, and Learning online at
sometimes, if you like miss a class and stuff. Like, if the home is difficult
teacher give notes in those class yes sometimes recorded During Online
but the recording is not always clear. So it's better to be in learning, teacher
Google meet while they're doing it so you can tell them student interaction is
like your problems or the issues you're having with seeing less
the thing that they have there. But if it's not there for you
then you can't really do anything if you miss the class and
you have to look on a recording. At school now, Yeah, it's
easier because you're right there at school I can see
everything on the board.

Respondent: Learning face to face is way easier than learning online, Face to face
because there you have like, what's the word I'm looking learning at school,
for. You can interact with more people there, you can presents greater
interact with your friends you can talk to them, and on learning
online classes, you can't really do that because if you talk, opportunities
then the whole class is hearing you. And if you type, then Face to face at
everybody sees the message come up by the side, but on school facilitates
face to face class, it's easier and you can just like, ask the greater socialization
teacher to talk to your friend or at lunchtime you talk to among students
them, but they don't really have any lunchtimes faced
online learning because it's, it, well, you just get a break in
between classes, so it's harder on online than it is face to
face.

Interviewer: I see. All right. From Could you tell me a little about your
experience online during the pandemic?

Respondent: Sometimes I'll go onto classes, and the teachers. They don't During Online
even notice that we're in the class. And, like, usually on learning, teacher
face to face classes, the teacher could see everybody she student interaction is
could look around, she could say okay you I want you to less
answer this question and she could point, but the teachers
know only have only some of the children of their school
on the screen that they can see, so they don't really know,
they don't really have the variety of options to choose from,
so they only choose from the ones that they see on a screen
and it's kind of unfair to the other students because they
will never get picked for any question because the teachers
can't see them.

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 Results

Following the analysis of the data collected, the five major themes generated were

used to form sub-titles from which the results were reported and discussed. To perverse the

true identity of the children, the following pseudonyms were used; Tajeme, who is a boy, and

the oldest of the group of children interviewed is 16 years of age. Treshagay is at the age of

15, and is one of two girls who participated in the study. Sharon is the youngest participant, a

girl at the age of 13 years. The results of the analysis are discussed below, revealing the

major themes from the interview sessions.

Face to face learning at school, presents greater learning opportunities

Within this theme there is a reoccurring notion among the three children, that face to

face learning at school presents greater learning opportunities. There are three central points

established as justification by the children for their claim against online learning. The first is

that at school, the teacher explains more, which allow for better understanding on the part of

the children. Tajeme who was very vocal on this matter stated that "at school, is like teachers

get to explain more and you can see what they're doing and stuff like that, and helps me to

learn better”. The second point is that at school, the opportunity exist for learning to take

place from peers. Treshagay shared that “I do learn more when I'm face to face at school.

That's because, you know, we're in person, and it's, it's much, much easier because I have my

friends to socialize with, and really to talk things through”. The third point made was that of

teacher demonstrations. Tajeme highlighted “At school, I learned better and I understand

when teachers are explaining and showing, showing me what to do”. Teacher demonstrations

seem to be more prominent in face to face sessions. This point is further supported by

Treshagay’s statement about teachers in online sessions, “they mostly just send us work and

give us questions to answer and PowerPoint”. It would seem as if not everything depicted

8
across the virtual space is clear to the children. Sharon stated that “At school now, Yeah, it's

easier because you're right there at school I can see everything on the board”.

Learning online at home, teacher student interaction is less

This theme promotes the claim that student teacher interact in lessened when it comes

to online learning. This has been reported by the children to be one of the reasons they do not

like online learning. Tajeme clearly stated that “teachers don't really pay students as much

attention online than face to face. And sometimes you can't reach them and stuff like that”. In

some cases the teachers do not turn up for class, but send work to be done by the students.

Treshagay shares her experience, “some of the teachers, some of them, we just don't get

classwork somedays. Sometimes they give us classwork to review, which is okay, but other

times I would prefer if you do classwork because it's just boring to be at home, I'm not doing

anything sometimes”. Some teachers do recordings and send for students to watch. This is

how Sharon feels about this process, as she shared that “the recording is not always clear. So

it's better to be in Google meet while they're doing it so you can tell them like your problems

or the issues you're having with seeing the thing that they have there”. Sharon went further to

share that “sometimes I'll go onto classes, and the teachers, they don't even notice that we're

in the class. And, like, usually on face to face classes, the teacher could see everybody she

could look around, she could say okay you I want you to answer this question and she could

point”.

Learning online at home is challenging due to internet instability

It was reported by two of the children that internet stability made learning online

challenging at times. Treshagay stated that “because it was very challenging for the past

couple months, it's been a year now, it's really challenging. Number one, you know internet

give problem a lot”. Treshagay when discussing why she prefers face to face learning, added

that at school “we don't have any problems with internet lagging”. Sharon supported this

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point when she shared that “we’re online, and we’re trying to learn and the, sometimes the

teacher’s internet or our internet is not really working properly, so you can’t really hear

what the teacher is saying, and it’s hard to understand and learn from that so you don’t

really understand what they are saying and you can go back and watch the recording

because its just the same thing”.

Learning online at home is difficult because it is self-directed

This theme spoke about the difficulty of online learning being self-directed. Tajeme

when discussing online learning stated that “Sometimes the teacher dont explain, they just

give notes and you're supposed to read and sometimes that doesn't help you”. He went on to

share that “sometimes, it's kind of difficult because you have to research notes and yeah you

have to, like, basically teach yourself and sometime, sometimes that doesn't help at all,

because you don't know the subject you're teaching yourself”. Treshagay who spoke

extensively on this matter also supports this point in two ways. Firstly, there is the issue of

teachers sending work to be done independently. She shares “sometimes they give us

classwork to review”. When teachers do turn up for classes in person, according to Treshagay

they “When they're present, it's not like we do video class or anything because they mostly

just send us work and give us questions to answer and PowerPoint. I do read the

PowerPoints, because I find it more effective than Google sometimes. So I do appreciate the

teachers, honestly, but sometimes, some of them are just not there enough”.

Face to face at school facilitates greater socialization among students

Both girls shared concerns of online learning at home negatively impacting

socialization. Treshagay in her response to why she prefers face to face learning at school

shared that “I have friends, and it's better to socialize”. Treshagay went further to share how

having her friends at school as aids her in the learning process. She state “I do learn more

when I'm face to face at school. That's because, you know, we're in person. And it's, it's much,

10
much easier because I have my friends to socialize with, and really to talk things through”.

Sharon also shared similar views to that of Treshagay. Sharon stated that “learning face to

face is way easier than learning online, because… you can interact with more people there,

you can interact with your friends, you can talk to them”. Sharon went further share on the

limitations of socializing online in class. She stated that “online classes, you can't really do

that because if you talk, then the whole class is hearing you. And if you type, then everybody

sees the message come up”.

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 Discussion

Findings

According to the findings of this study, none of the children interviewed were in favor

of online learning from home, but instead they preferred learning face to face at school, as

well as they also believed that they learn more when at school. The results of this study aligns

with the findings presented by Khan (2021) who reported that only 17.4% of students

preferred online learning after being exposed to it. Looking closer at the data presented, the

most salient theme among the children was that of online learning being difficult due to it

being self – directed. The children were not pleased, as they struggled to lead the learning

process independently. Conversely, the children preferred learning from school, as they could

see the demonstrations of the teacher, they could seek assistance from peers, and had greater

opportunity for teachers to provide greater explanation. This was further compounded by the

fact that during online learning, there was a reduction in the student teacher interaction as

revealed within the results of the study. One student went as far as to claim that some

teachers were not easy to contact.

Another salient point was that of internet stability. The instability made learning

online difficult for the students. They mentioned that connection issues occurs on either their

end, or that of the teachers. This affected the children as the lagging disrupts the learning

process. This adding to the fact that the teachers were hard to contact, made recovering the

missing information or explanation difficult, which impacts the earning process negatively.

The final major theme from this study was that of not being able to adequately

socialize with peers during online learning. This was point that was mainly supported by the

two female participants. They shared how their peers would normally support the learning

process while face to face at school, however, this was not ready facilitated in online classes

from home. One child in particular mentioned the struggles students face in communicating,

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as messages not intended for all are not easily concealed, nor are statements made openly are

for the hearing of all students.

Conclusion

The COVID – 19 pandemic has shifted the educational paradigm. The transition to the

virtual space was done forcefully, with teachers quickly working to adjust to the new means

of engaging students. Exploring online learning as seen through the lens of children from

single parent households, it can be concluded that the children view online learning as

difficult as it currently provides less learning opportunities (learning from peers, and

explanation from teachers), it is not supported by an increased teacher student interaction, it

is affected negatively by internet instability which affects learning, and it does not support

very well open socialization among students.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are being put

forward:

 Professional sessions are needed for teachers in the effective use of the virtual space

in order to better facilitate teaching and learning, with great emphasis on teacher

demonstration and explanation.

 Teachers are to priorities fostering greater student teacher interaction in the virtual

space. Greater emphasis should be placed on ensuring that students can reach

teachers if they need to get in touch. If there is a channel for communication between

teacher and students, then sensitization is need for the parents and the students on

how to access school teachers for consultation and support.

 There needs to be an improvement to the network system for stronger and long

lasting internet connectivity. This would diminish the connectivity issues some

students are having.

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  Systems should be established to better facilitate social interaction of students across

the virtual space during class hours.

Reflection

In reflection of all that has been done to produce this study, it was beneficial to use

the semantic differential scales to guide the interview process. The process was found to be

extremely helpful, especially when dealing with children. It is the researcher’s belief that

conducting open coding for the turns of the respondents was a good direction to go in. This is

a phenomenology design, which focuses on the lived experiences is better represented by the

unique themes that can be derived from what is shared by respondents. It was good to

represent the data based on popular themes, but I have learnt that coding each students would

have also been a good way of representing the data, so data presented better represents the

data collected. For future studies, when working with a phenomenology design, the

researcher intends to use applications to record interview sessions.

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 Appendix A
Semantic Differential Scale

1. Which face represents how you feel about learning online during the COVID – 19
pandemic?

2.

I prefer I prefer learning

learning from face to face at
home online school

3.

I learn more I learn more

from home when I am face
online to face at school

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 Appendix B

Guided Questions for interview

Question 1

Describe how you feel about online learning as you were making this selection

Could you say why you feel this way about online learning?

Question 2

What motivated you to make the selection you did?

What has been your experience learning online during the pandemic?

Question 3

What was going through your mind as you made your section?

Could explain what it is like trying to learn online?

18