Elementary Students' Most Difficult Remote Learning Activity: 'Collaborating on Assignments'

Need for Institutional and Curriculum Improvements to Foster Digital Literacy

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Since COVID-19, elementary school students have found it most difficult to complete assignments together with others during remote classes.

On the 9th, the Korea Educational Development Institute conducted a survey in September last year targeting 1,017 elementary school students. The highest percentage (47.8%) identified "doing assignments together with others" as the most challenging activity during remote classes.

Next were joining online classes alone (46.5%), finding or downloading materials posted by teachers (43.3%), and using Hangul Word Processor, Word, Excel, and PPT (38.5%) in that order.

Jae-won Jeong, a senior researcher at the Digital Education Office of the Korea Educational Development Institute, explained, "In the case of elementary students, the learning gap has widened more compared to other school levels during the COVID-19 situation. This is because elementary students faced more difficulties with remote classes and have relatively less self-directed learning ability."

When asked why remote classes were difficult for elementary students after COVID-19, 65.0% answered "difficulty accessing learning sites." Other responses included lack of computer skills (44.0%) and lack of concentration (40.4%).

Elementary students learned how to visit internet sites or find materials mainly through family (46.5%) or by themselves (29.1%).

The skills they considered necessary during remote classes were "ability to use online classes" (49.1%), "finding or downloading learning materials" (47.2%), "doing assignments together with others online" (41.6%), and using Hangul Word Processor, Word, Excel, and PPT (38.0%) in that order.

Understanding and utilizing digital devices, known as "digital literacy," must be the foundation to develop self-directed learning abilities. To this end, there are calls to improve the digital education environment, which has been slow, and to expand digital literacy classes that enhance skills such as searching and utilizing materials.

Researcher Jeong stated, "Since the main difficulty for elementary students in remote classes was unstable internet access causing trouble connecting to learning sites, it is necessary to support technical personnel for problem-solving and provide guidance for using online classes to ensure stable access to learning sites." He added, "Digital literacy-related systems need to be improved and infrastructure secured."

As elementary students experienced difficulties communicating with friends and teachers during remote classes, observing online etiquette, and searching for information on the internet, support measures to cultivate "digital literacy" skills are also necessary.

Researcher Jeong analyzed, "In future remote classes, it is necessary to provide education on using online platforms related to digital collaboration and methods for digital collaboration to facilitate smoother group projects. Through curriculum improvements such as setting digital literacy competencies and providing universal basic digital literacy education, support for cultivating digital literacy should be provided."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.