The purpose of the current study was to investigate teacher satisfaction with online mandarin Chinese courses. This study sought to determine the factors that lead to the satisfaction of online teachers at the mandarin training center. The study also explored the experiences of online teachers during their online courses and their satisfaction levels.
This chapter provided the discussion of conclusions which involved the experience of the mandarin training center online teachers, satisfaction of mandarin training center online teachers, components to increase the satisfaction of mandarin training center online teachers, satisfaction characteristics, difficulties and challenges of the online teaching job position and improvement of teacher satisfaction. This was followed by the limitations and suggestions.
Conclusions
To understand the teacher satisfaction with online courses, the researcher did a deep literature review in order to understand the background of this topic. The research used a qualitative method with in-depth interviews. The conclusions, limitations and suggestions of the present study were discussed in this chapter. This section presented the conclusions in line with the themes. All the themes showed the current situation of online teachers in mandarin training center as follows.
Experience of the Mandarin Training Center Online Teachers
The results showed how technology within the mandarin training center has transformed the teaching and learning of Mandarin Chinese. Since the MTC online was established in 2013, the online teachers received support for the online teaching job position. The mandarin training center has been undergoing through a transformation process that has embraced the digital age for mandarin Chinese language. The online teachers have taught mandarin Chinese to students from different countries and with different backgrounds.
The online teachers were aware that online education represented the future of education of mandarin Chinese language. Every online teacher started to teach online courses under different circumstances, some of them started to teach because of new job opportunities. Every online teacher took training courses related to the design and use of the platform.
96
The online teachers that were committed with their teaching career felt motivated to try online courses. The online mandarin Chinese course at the mandarin training center was considered as a chance to grow and to gain more teaching experience. This type of course has transformed the teaching environment in mandarin training center. Some of the online teachers have taught online courses in the language center and sometimes at their home. The interaction between online teachers and online students was considered to be different than the interactions done in a traditional classroom.
Satisfaction of Mandarin Training Center Online Teachers
The teacher satisfaction levels gained from teaching online mandarin Chinese courses varied among the online teachers. The level of satisfaction found on this study were not satisfied, satisfied, fairly satisfied and very satisfied. The findings of this study reported that five online teachers were satisfied with the online courses while one of the online teachers felt fairly satisfied with the online courses. In terms of the level of satisfaction, two online teachers were not satisfied with the online courses, furthermore two other online teachers were very satisfied with the online courses at the mandarin training center.
Components to Increase the Satisfaction of Mandarin Training Center Online Teachers
The MTC online program could increase the training courses for the online teachers because it can have a positive for their jobs. There was a lack of learning materials, therefore online teachers need more learning materials for their online courses. The lack of books for online courses has reduced the level of satisfaction of online teachers. There was not teacher assistance from the center when they have to design the learning materials. According to the online teachers, the learning platform used to teach online courses had few functions. The internet service has reduced significantly the satisfaction levels of the online teachers. In case the internet was improved, then the satisfaction level of online teachers would increase
During the online courses, more activities and interaction must be used during the online courses to increase the satisfaction of online teachers. More computers, tablets and other technological products are needed for the MTC online program would influence the satisfaction levels of the online teachers.
97
Satisfaction Characteristics
The results showed the factors that made online teachers feel satisfied with the online courses.
This identified satisfaction factors were flexibility, learning technology, multimedia functions, financial saving, interactions, learning resources and student performance. The flexibility factor in this study referred to the satisfaction had when they had to teach mandarin in different locations and time. The learning technology factor referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had with the advances in education technology. The multimedia functions factor referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had when they used images, videos to teach mandarin Chinese online courses in the learning platform.
The financial saving factor referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had when they didn’t have to spend a lot of money to teach online courses. The interaction factor in this study referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had when they interacted with students from different countries and different background. The learning resources factor referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had with the learning materials and learning platform used in the online mandarin Chinese courses. The student performance factor referred to the satisfaction that online teachers had when their students have had a good performance during the mandarin Chinese courses.
Difficulties and Challenges of the Online Teaching Job Position
During their online teaching job at the mandarin training centers, the online teachers have encountered difficulties and challenges that affected their satisfaction with online courses. All of the online teachers have encountered issues with the internet connection while they were teaching. Every online teacher agreed and considered that this issue negatively affects their satisfaction with online mandarin Chinese courses. The online teachers encountered issues which did not allow them to assist their students.
Technical problems related to the sound was found to be a concern. The findings of this study reported that online teachers faced some issues with the technical assistance service offered in the university. The lack of functions of the learning platform used for online courses was found to be a difficulty among some of the online teachers. The lack of interactions in the mandarin online Chinese courses was also found to be a difficulty. The current online teaching method was not found to be appropriate for children.
98
The online course was considered to not be a suitable class for students of a certain age, especially to children due to the fact that online courses require more interaction. When the performance of their online students was not as good as online teachers expected, their satisfaction went down. The online teachers have used learning materials from mandarin Chinese books and other online resources. A lack of suitable learning materials was found in MTC online courses. While the traditional courses of the mandarin training center had books for students, the MTC online program still did not have books for teachers and students.
Improvement of Teacher Satisfaction
The results showed how the teacher satisfaction with online mandarin Chinese courses could improve in the mandarin training center. Some of the online teachers emphasized that if teachers received more training then it could improve their satisfaction with online mandarin Chinese courses. The mandarin center could provide more training about the learning platform.
The language center could provide more assistance whenever online teachers design online courses. The provision of more learning materials for online courses. An online database must be created so that other online teachers can have access many learning materials. The provision of books for online courses could improve their satisfaction. The adobe connect platform could be strengthen in order to be more stable. The learning materials could be used to share such content which could facilitate the online teachers’ workload.
Those learning materials were considered to be important by the online teachers because it could help them during the design of the online courses. The satisfaction of the online teachers would be improved if they receive more help from the MTC online department. The help and assistance received from MTC online staff was not enough, therefore the language center must pay closely attention to this concern. The language center must pay attention to the ideas of the online teachers due to the fact that their opinions are important. The communication between the office and online teachers must be improved.
The latest technology could ease the work of the online teachers. The language center must provide more computers within the mandarin training center facilities. The center could also consider to purchase tablets or mobile devices for online teachers to be used in the language center. The internet connection problems must be solved even though it is not an easy issue to
99
solve. If the language center arranges meetings and conferences for all the online teachers in the mandarin training center, it would be a good opportunity for them to share about the difficulties and solutions they have faced in online courses.
The mandarin training center can use other learning software and not only focus on adobe platform. A long term plan related to the online course program can be supported by NTNU. The language center has to use more financial resources for the online course program of the mandarin training center. The language center must work to attract new students especially exchange students.
The administrative staff, work staff, teachers and the government can work to improve the satisfaction of teachers with online courses. The government must support the promotion of mandarin Chinese education. The Taiwanese government needs to get involved in online mandarin Chinese education and increase the support to the mandarin training center.
Limitations
The study was limited only to the online teachers of the Mandarin Chinese Center of NTNU.
The first limitation of this study was that the sample was selected based on purposive sampling.
The second limitation of this study was that the sample used did not include all the online teachers who were working at the mandarin training center, therefore the results may not be generalized.
Suggestions
Some suggestions for improvement in this study were based on findings and conclusions.
The suggestions are presented in the following paragraph.
Increase Training
The language center could consider to enhance the training courses for the online teachers.
The training sessions must target a specific goal in order to not only guarantee the success of online courses but also to make online teachers satisfied with their job. The training courses could use activities within the language center which seek to enhance the performance of the online teachers through the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitudes. These training courses would definitely help online teachers to gain new skills and knowledge of online
100 education.
The training provision would make online teachers be aware of their role and duties as online mandarin teachers. The increase of training could make online teachers feel satisfied with the role they play at the language center. Trainers, supervisors and managers of the mandarin training center should get involved in the training process of the online teachers. The world is changing at a fast pace and it is important for the trainers and academic managers to remain aware of the changes in online education.
More Learning Materials
The findings of this study encountered that the lack of learning materials affected the satisfaction of teachers, therefore the language center has the responsibility to provide teaching and learning materials in various formats. The learning materials are the center of teaching and is considered as one of the most important influences within a course (Kitao & Kitao, 1997)
The language center could provide more learning materials in electronic formats such as Microsoft word, power point slides, pdfs, images and video formats. The mandarin training could consider to publish books for the MTC online program. These books could help online teachers and students to follow a learning material published by the mandarin training center.
Provide Conversion Software for Teachers
The MTC online could provide conversion software to the online teachers which would be used to convert files into different formats by themselves. Based on the findings, the online teachers have faced problems with files because some of them were not able to successfully convert files. The software would let online teachers to convert successfully word, image, video and presentation files. The training courses would be the perfect occasion to train online teachers to use the conversion software.
Create an Electronic Learning Database
The language center could build an electronic learning database with online mandarin Chinese learning resources. This database could let online teachers to access to anywhere and anytime to have access to the files they need. Having an electronic database could make work more convenient because online teachers can create files, edit them while they are securely stored in an online database. The purpose of this database is to help online teachers to store and
101
organize files and photos from any device with internet. The online teachers could easily login to the database from the language center or home.
Make Teacher Meetings and Conferences
The language center should consider to make more teacher meetings with online teachers, principal, academic managers or any other individual involved in the online course program.
These meetings would be a good opportunity to talk about activities or issues concerning the online courses of the mandarin training center because it could guarantee the efficiency of the program. Based on the findings of this study, it was suggested that the online teachers had more meetings.
By listening each other, the online teachers can understand the issues and share how to solve them. The language center could also organize conferences about online education and invite guest speakers with experience in online teaching. This could definitely improve the satisfaction of teacher with online courses.
Create a Suggestion Box for Online Teachers
The use of a suggestion box in the language center would allow online teacher to provide anonymous suggestions regarding to ideas or issues about the MTC online program. The online teachers could feel better if they are listened about their job at the mandarin training center and if administrators read their ideas before setting policies related to the online mandarin Chinese courses. This suggestion box could also be used to know deeply the issues that may affect the satisfaction of teachers with online courses. Such issues could be identified by the MTC online staff in order to solve them.
Improve the Technical Assistance for Students and Teachers
Based on the findings of this study, online teachers and students encountered technical issues during the online courses. The online course program should improve the technical assistance service by providing rapid support when there are technical issues. The online teachers or students could contact the department for assistance via e-mail, website or by phone. The team could consider to create new technical assistance plans to effectively help students and online teachers who may encounter problems during online courses.
102
Create New Workplace Areas and More Equipment
Over the past years, the mandarin training center has invested in computer rooms and technology services. Based on this study’s findings, new work areas for online courses could increase the satisfaction of teachers with online courses. The language center could consider to create new computer rooms where online teachers can design learning materials, deliver video conferences and conduct training sessions. These computers rooms could include new computers and tablets with learning software equipped with microphones, webcam and video projectors.
Improve the Internet Service
The language center should implement projects to enhance the internet wireless connection.
Due to the fact that slow internet connection were found in this study, the mandarin training center could focus on the weak internet areas of the building and install more wireless hot spots.
Solving the language center’s internet connection issue will definitely require considerable funding. The center could consider to replace old wireless equipment, upgrade the software that manages the wireless and increase the wireless network capacity. If the internet connection issue could be solved, then the satisfaction levels of online teachers could increase.
Use other Learning Platforms
The language center could consider to use other learning platforms to enhance the efficiency of the courses. The new learning platforms could include discussions forums, homework assignments, upload and download files function, instant chat, online calendar, quizzes. The use of other learning platforms was among the suggestion of some of the online teachers. The use of other learning platforms would definitely increase their satisfaction with online courses in the mandarin training center.
Create Mandarin Chinese Learning Software
The language center could sign agreements with software companies of Taiwan to design more online courses. The mandarin training center already has developed software for computers and mobile devices. The language center could also create more software for online mandarin Chinese courses. The software could include features like vocabulary and phrases, practice reading, speaking, writing and listening. The findings reported that the creation of new software could increase the satisfaction with online teachers.
103
Increase the Promotion of Online Chinese Courses
The MTC online must promote the online courses in order to attract more online students.
This type of courses which is only offered by the mandarin training center in Taiwan could help increase the study of mandarin Chinese through online courses. These type of courses could be a more affordable option than traditional courses, therefore the language center must increase the promotion. The language center could consider to sign educational agreements with sister universities of National Taiwan Normal University to let students subscribe and join the online courses.
Cooperation with the Ministry of Education for Online Mandarin Chinese Language Education
The language center could work with the ministry of education in terms of the planning and implementation of online course projects related with mandarin Chinese education. The online courses could receive government financial support which could provide great job opportunities for the online teachers. Due to the fact that studying mandarin Chinese has grown in the last few years and students from different countries already have access to online courses then, the government should get involve in online mandarin Chinese education.
The ministry of education of Taiwan has worked with language centers throughout Taiwan to promote mandarin Chinese learning for foreigners. The study suggested that the ministry of education should get more involved in mandarin online Chinese education. This could definitely increase the satisfaction of teachers with online courses.
Suggestions for Future Research
The future studies about teacher satisfaction with online courses can include mixed methods (interviews, observation and questionnaire) in order to collect more in-depth information. The future researchers can conduct teacher satisfaction studies in educational institutions of countries such as Singapore, mainland China. Since this study only focused on teacher satisfaction, future research can also target online students in order to comprehend their satisfaction with online courses.
104
REFERENCES
Adedoja, G., Adelore, O., Egbokhare, F. & Oluleye, A. (2013). Learners’ acceptance of the use of
Adedoja, G., Adelore, O., Egbokhare, F. & Oluleye, A. (2013). Learners’ acceptance of the use of