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AsiaCALL Online Journal Received: 03/08/2021 

ISSN 1936-9859; https://asiacall.info/acoj Revision: 04/09/2021 

Vol. 12, No. 5, 2021  Accepted: 05/09/2021 

pp. 24-33  Online: 07/09/2021 

 CITATION | Le, T. T. M. (20201). A case study of students’ views on effective online learning. 

AsiaCALL Online Journal, 12(5), pp. 24-33. 

 

A Case Study of Students’ Views on Effective Online Learning 

Le Thi Tuyet Minh 

University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  

Corresponding author’s email: snowle@ueh.edu.vn 

   

ABSTRACT 

This study investigates the students’ opinions of the elements of effective online learning. The 

respondents (n=172) completed a twelve-week course in the module 3 English classes at the 

University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) taught by the author with an eight-week 

online period. The tool includes a questionnaire with 14 questions regarding the factors that 

enable them to be engaged in the online lessons and an open-ended question asking for the 

student's contribution to the ideas of effective online learning. The questionnaire utilizes the 

Likert scale via Google Form. The elements cover the three components: cognitive presence, 

teaching presence and social presence in the foundational model for online learning developed 

by Garrison et al. (2000). Seven main elements for effective online English teaching are 

recognized as: teaching method, course content, learning activities (updated news delivery, 

games, polls, and student presentations are favourable), myriad interaction (short questions 

are preferable), learning incentives (bonus marks), supportive learning environment (teacher 

voice, praise, encouragement, good teacher-student and student-student relationships) and 

supplementary materials (revision, extra resources, etc.). Finally, the writer draws on some 

suggestions for effective online teaching and learning. 

Keywords: effective online learning, online teaching, student engagement 

 

1 INTRODUCTION 

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions to move into online teaching. This 

type of education requires more effort from both teachers and students as it presents new 

modes of presentation and interaction. In this paper, the writer first gives the theoretical 

background of effective online teaching before presenting the results of the students’ opinions 

(n=172) of the elements that enable them to be engaged in online lessons. The writer then 

suggests some ideas for effective online teaching and learning.  

Online education has been studied for decades but has recently gained high focus due to the 

Covid-19 pandemic. There have been numerous studies on online teaching and learning over 

the last year.  



ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal  Vol. 12; No. 5; 2021  

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The best-known theoretical framework for designing an online learning environment is the 

model developed by Garrison et al. (2000), which presents three critical components for an 

effective online educational community: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching 

presence. Cognitive presence is providing a sufficient degree of the content of the course. 

Social presence relates to establishing a supportive environment for students. Teaching 

presence involves the way teachers design and organizes the learning experience. This 

theoretical framework has been the most popular model for online educational studies. 

Likewise, Gold (2001) points out three basic roles of online facilitators: organizational, 

social, and intellectual. The organizational role involves setting the agenda, objectives, and 

procedures for the learning process. This is essentially the teaching presence of Garrison et al. 

(2000)’s framework. The facilitator’s main social role is the creation of a friendly 

environment for the students by giving welcome messages, using a personal tone, seeding 

students’ feedback with specific examples and references. Good teachers also play a social 

role model of good online and intellectual behaviour for students and help them become better 

students. Correspondingly, this is the social presence. Finally, in the intellectual role, 

moderators facilitate the students' understanding through discussion, questions, probing 

responses, synthesizing, summarizing, and developing themes and resources. This is basically 

cognitive presence. 

In addition, Oliver & Herrington (2003) demonstrate the constituent elements of online 

learning settings as in Figure 1.  

 

Figure 1. Constituent elements of online learning setting (Oliver & Herrington, 2003) 

 



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The online educational setting involves three elements: learning tasks, learning support, and 

learning resources. Designing learning tasks is ‘the design and specification of tasks to 

engage and direct the learner in the process of knowledge acquisition and development of 

understanding’ and 'characterized by learner engagement in cognitively complex tasks 

involving such activproblem-solvingm solving, critical thinking, collaboration and self-

regulation (Oliver & Herrington, 2003, p.113). They suggest that the learning activity be 

authentic. Planning learning support is arranging the strategies to enable learners to 

implement and complete the learning tasks successfully. The design and specification of 

supports are to scaffold the learning and provide feedback that is responsive and sensitive to 

their individual needs for the online learner. Selecting the learning resources is 'the design and 

specification of the learning resources needed by the learner to successfully complete the set 

tasks and to facilitate the scaffolding and guidance' (Oliver & Herrington, 2003, p.113). They 

recommend that instructors provide content with perspectives from a multitude of sources 

using both conventional materials and electronic sources and that the resources be relevant 

and authentic. 

Scholars have also given a myriad of pedagogical recommendations for online education. 

Doolittle (1999) emphasizes the importance of an active learning environment for online 

students with eight recommendations: 1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-

world environments. 2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation. 3. Content 

and skills should be made relevant to the learner. 4. Content and skills should be understood 

within the framework of the learner’s prior knowledge. 5. Students should be assessed 

formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences. 6. Students should be encouraged 

to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware. 7. Teachers serve primarily as 

guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. 8. Teachers should provide for and 

encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content. 

Furthermore, May & Short (2003) used the metaphor of gardening in cyberspace to 

demonstrate the process of enhancing online teaching and learning. There are well-matched 

analogues between the practices of gardening – positioning, conditioning soil, watering, and 

controlling weeds and pests – and the online pedagogical practices, including addressing 

individual differences, motivating the student, providing feedback, and avoiding information 

overload. 

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, online education has become popular. Numerous studies 

on online teaching and learning have been carried out over the last year. Many studies focus 

on the advantages and disadvantages when implementing online teaching and learning in their 

own institutions, like most recently Nguyen, H.N. (2021), Nguyen, T.N. M., Tra, V. D., & 

Nguyen, P. H. (2021), Tran, V.M.Y., &Nguyen, T.U.N. (2021), Nguyen, H. U. N., & Duong, 

L. N. T. (2021), etc. 



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27 

We know that effective online learning results from thorough instructional design and 

conscientious implementation. Instructors in an online class need to make a lot more effort 

than they do in a traditional classroom.  

 

2 METHODS 

2.1 Pedagogical Setting & Participants 

The subjects are the students (n =172) in module 3 English classes at UEH. All of the 

participants had finished a 12-week English course taught by the author with an 8-week 

online period. The students were taught online via Google Meet. 

2.2 Design of the Study 

A questionnaire via Google form is utilized to measure the students’ views on the items 

related to effective online English learning.  

2.3 Data collection & analysis 

The first part asks the students to rate the 14 items that can affect their online learning. The 

Likert scale is utilized, ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, no idea, agree, and strongly 

agree. The second part is an open-ended question asking for the student's contribution to the 

ideas of effective online learning and teaching. 

2.4 Research Questions  

The research aims at promoting effective online teaching and learning from students' 

perspectives.  Through analyzing students' views, the writer identifies important elements that 

can engage students in online learning and then proposes some ideas for effective online 

English teaching and learning. 

The purpose of the study is to answer the two questions:  

1. What elements are considered important for effective online learning in students’ 

viewpoints? 

2. What should teachers do so as to promote effective online learning? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 

3.1 Findings 

The results of students’ opinions on the elements that can engage them in online learning are 

shown in Table 1.  

Table 1 

Students’ ideas on the elements that can engage them in online learning 

Items   SD =1 D=2 N=3 A=4 SA=5 Mean 

1. Lecture content 6 4% 2 1% 4 2% 61 35% 99 58% 4.42 

2. Bonus marks  5 3% 4 2% 14 8% 82 48% 67 39% 4.17 

3. Up-to-date news  4 2% 2 1% 18 10% 73 43% 75 44% 4.24 

4. The teaching method  5 3% 1 0.5% 3 1.5% 73 43% 90 52% 4.41 

5. Teachers’ voice and 

intonation  

5 3% 1 0.5% 18 10.5% 74 43% 74 43% 

4.23 

6. Games  5 3% 5 3% 18 10% 88 51% 56 33% 4.08 

7. Discussion questions  4 2% 5 3% 37 22% 81 47% 45 26% 3.92 

8. Presentation activities 7 4% 16 22% 41 24% 77 45% 31 18% 3.63 

9. Q& A section after a 

presentation  

2 1% 17 10% 33 19% 88 51% 32 19% 

3.76 

10. Pair work and group 

work. 

3 2% 10 6% 44 25% 83 48% 32 19% 

3.76 

11. Short questions 4 2% 2 1% 26 15% 101 59% 39 23% 3.98 

12. Students' opinion 

poll  

4 2% 5 3% 44 25% 86 50% 33 20% 

3.81 

13. Encouragement and 

praise 

6 4% 4 2% 52 30% 75 44% 35 20% 

3.75 

14. Learning atmosphere 5 3% 2 1% 14 8% 76 44% 75 44% 4.24 

Note. SD: Strongly disagree, D: Disagree, N: Neutral, A: Agree, SA: Strongly agree 

Teaching content and teaching method are the two elements that are valued the most highly 

(mean = 4.42 and 4.41 respectively). The teaching method gets the highest number of total 

agreements (95%), including agreement and strong agreement, preceding lecture content 

which makes up 93%. However, lecture content is the element that receives the highest 

number of strong agreement (58%), while the teaching method gets 52%. On the opposite end 

of the scale, the teaching method is one of the elements that have the fewest number of 

disagreements (about 3%), while lecture content gets 5%. 

 A supportive learning environment stands out as the third significant element (mean = 4.24), 

which accounts for 88% of agreement in total. The students show a strong desire for bonus 

marks, with 87% of the students expressing their favour. Furthermore, the lecturer's voice is 

highly appraised in attracting students to the lecture (mean = 4.23).  

The two activities that are appreciated the most are the inclusion of up-to-date news (87%) 

and games (84%). Short questions get high approval of 82%, whereas discussion questions 

obtain 73%. In addition, students like to join in opinion polls, with 70% of the students 



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wanting the teacher to conduct regularly. Also, most students (64%) would like to be praised 

and encouraged regularly. 

The presentation activity gets the least favour with only 63% of the students showing their 

approval. Moreover, this is also the factor which is disagreed the most (26%). Besides, after 

the presentation, the question and answer session is the second least favoured, with 11% of 

the students showing disagreement. The role of pair work and group work in enhancing 

student-student interaction is not highly appreciated, with 8% disagreeing, 25% showing 

neutral ideas, only 67% agree. 

In the open question, the students are asked to give suggestions for effective online English 

learning. Most of the students place emphasis on more interaction between teacher and 

students as well as between students and students. They also show a preference for teachers 

frequently asking small questions so as to increase interaction and pull them back to the 

lesson as it is easy for them to lose their attention when studying online. 

Many students propose modifying lessons with games, videos, etc., to make the lessons more 

interesting. They expect a fun, friendly learning atmosphere. 

They suggest using another website for listening as sometimes the audio files are not clear 

when transmitted online. The students want more learning materials, exercises, resources for 

self-study, as well as more assignments with bonus marks. They recommend giving students 

some small topics to look for information, which they will share with one another in the next 

class meeting. After each lesson, they would like to have some small review exercises on 

LMS (learning management systems) to help them consolidate the knowledge. 

There is also the idea that all students should turn on their webcams so that they see other 

students' faces in order not to feel lonely.  

3.2 Discussion & Suggestions 

The teaching method stands out as the essential factor that can engage students in the lesson. 

Thus, teachers should pay much attention to their teaching method development as the 

teaching method has never lost its vital role in the learning process.  

Lecture content is considered the second most vital element. This is the cognitive presence 

element (Garrison et al., 2000) for effective online education. The teacher needs to 

concentrate their effort to design the course content which is meaningful and relevant. 

Educators should promote activities that are active, experiential, and authentic.  

In the teaching presence element (Garrison et al., 2000), along with the teaching method, 

which is considered the most important aspect, the teacher's voice is also critical in promoting 

effective online learning. Teachers can use their voice and intonation to attract students. The 

cyberspace of online learning limits the teacher's interaction with the students. The only 

means by which the teacher can communicate with the students in his/her voice. Thus the 

teacher should try to use an appealing voice so as to engage the students. The voice should 

also show the teacher's enthusiasm. It is only enthusiasm that can pervade, transfuse and 



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provoke enthusiasm. How can the students be enthusiastic about the lesson if the teacher is 

not enthusiastic himself/herself?  

Additionally, students like the inclusion of up-to-date news in their lessons, so teachers 

should integrate some news into their instructional designs to make the lessons more practical 

and updated. Students will pay more interest in the issues that are to their concerns, realistic, 

and useful. 

Students also express their enjoyment in games. Games still play a significant role in 

involving students and creating a fun and appealing learning atmosphere. Teachers can make 

use of gamification in their instruction to make the lesson more interesting. The learning 

activity can be either gamified by adding competition mode or modified with game-playing 

via various tools like PowerPoint, online games with Kahoot, etc. Furthermore, creating 

games is the job of the teacher and the task that students like doing.  

Interaction is identified as a vital element by the students. Teachers need to promote teacher-

student as well as student-student interaction as much as possible, employing all kinds of 

vehicles at their best. The students prefer short questions for increasing interaction more than 

discussion questions or the question and answer session after the presentation. Therefore, it is 

necessary that teachers frequently ask interactive questions to involve students as it is easy for 

students to feel lonely and lose their focus when studying online. Teachers can ask questions 

about students' feelings and opinions during the lesson or put simple questions that students 

can answer easily. For the questions that require complicated answers, teachers should break 

the question into small parts to give students scaffolding. Teachers can, from time to time, 

conduct students' opinion polls during the lesson to increase students' participation in the 

lesson.  

A few students (8%) express their dislike, and 25% show their reluctance to pair work and 

group work since the online environment makes it difficult for them to interact with each 

other directly.  Hence, pair work and group work can be exploited by project-based learning 

or task-based learning with the students’ presentations about their job. The presentation 

should be short, concise and have a time limit as other students will easily lose their attention 

and get bored with long presentations.  

Regarding the social presence element (Garrison et al., 2000), teachers should try to promote 

a supportive learning environment, which is regarded as the third significant aspect by the 

students. A supportive learning environment must deploy both good teacher-student 

relationships and student-student relationships.  Students like praise and encouragement, so 

teachers need to commend students' achievements and give encouragement when necessary 

frequently. On the ground that students show a strong desire for bonus marks, teachers can 

utilize bonus marks as stimulation for their participation. In addition, students may be 

encouraged to find a studying companion. The lack of physical presence in a real classroom 

will make it easy for students to feel lonely and distracted. Good companions can take care of 

each other in the learning process. Teachers sometimes also need to ask students to turn on 



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their webcams so that they see other students' faces, which helps create an atmosphere like a 

face-to-face classroom to lessen the feeling of being lonely. 

In today’s 4.0 era, teachers should take advantage of technology to facilitate learning and 

engage students. Teachers can integrate with other websites together with LMS, etc. and can 

deploy the channels like Youtube, TED talks (Ted-ed), etc.; the apps for creating 

presentations like Mentimeter, Flipgrid, Padlet, AnswerGarden, etc.; the apps for quizzes like 

Quizizz, Quizlet, etc. in order to enrich the lessons. 

 

4 CONCLUSION 

In sum, seven main elements for effective online English teaching are recognized as: teaching 

method, course content, learning activities (updated news delivery, games, polls, and student 

presentations are favourable), myriad interaction (short questions are preferable), learning 

incentives (bonus marks), supportive learning environment (teacher voice, praise, 

encouragement, good teacher-student and student-student relationships) and supplementary 

materials (revision, extra resources, etc.). To promote effective online learning, teachers must 

pay attention to four primary dimensions: structuring an effective course design, creating 

community and engagement, facilitating online interaction, and supplying adequate learning 

support. Online education emphasizes an interactive learning environment; therefore, 

effective online instructions have to facilitate and enhance interaction with both teacher to 

student and student to student dimensions. Teachers have to learn how to make the most of 

the advanced learning tools in the 4.0 era. The study has a fairly small number of respondents 

and a limited number of learning activities. Further research can exploit more learning 

activities and online resources.    

 

REFERENCES  

Doolittle, P. E. (1999). Constructivism and online education. Retrieved June 27, 2021, from 

https://jgregorymcverry.com/readings/Doolittle%20-%201999%20-

%20Constructivism%20and%20online%20education.pdf 

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based 

environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher 

Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. 

Gold, S. (2001). A constructivist approach to online training for online teachers. Journal of 

Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(1). Retrieved June 27, 2021, from 

https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1886/717 

May, G.L & Short, D. (2003). Gardening in cyberspace: A metaphor to enhance online 

teaching and learning. Retrieved from  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1052562903257940 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1052562903257940


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Nguyen, H.N. (2021). A case study of home-based teaching and learning practice at Ton Duc 

Thang University. AsiaCALL Online Journal, 12(2), 1-11.Retrieved from 

https://asiacall.info/acoj/index.php/journal/article/view/24 

Nguyen, H. U. N., & Duong, L. N. T. (2021). The challenges of e-learning through Microsoft 

Teams for EFL students at Van Lang University in COVID-19. AsiaCALL Online 

Journal, 12(4), 18-29. Retrieved from 

https://asiacall.info/acoj/index.php/journal/article/view/60 

Nguyen, T.N.M., Tra, V.D., & Nguyen, P.H. (2021). Difficulties and some suggested 

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pandemic. AsiaCALL Online Journal, 12(4), 9-17. Retrieved from 

https://asiacall.info/acoj/index.php/journal/article/view/58 

Oliver, R. & Herrington, J. (2003). Exploring technology-mediated learning from a 

pedagogical perspective. Journal of Interactive Learning Environments, 11(2), 111-126. 

Tran, V.M.Y., & Nguyen, T.U.N. (2021). The practice of online English teaching and 

learning with Microsoft Teams: From students’ view. AsiaCALL Online Journal, 12(2), 

51-57.Retrieved from https://asiacall.info/acoj/index.php/journal/article/view/41 

 

Biodata 

Le Thi Tuyet Minh is a lecturer of School of Foreign Languages at University of Economics 

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She has got an M.A. degree in TESOL and has been teaching for 

more than 15 years. She mainly teaches Business English and TOEIC. Her major research 

interests are student motivation, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Educational 

Technology, and ELT Methodology. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal  Vol. 12; No. 5; 2021  

33 

Appendix  

The questionnaire in English 

Dear students, 

In order to enhance the online learning of English, please help me answer the following 

questions.  

Thank you very much for your valuable contribution. 

Part 1. Please choose the degree which shows your agreement/disagreement. 

Items   Strongly  

disagree 

Disagre

e 

Neutra

l 

Agree Strongl

y  agree 

1. Interesting lecture content is very important.      

2. Bonus marks for students’ participation in the 

lecture create great motivation for students to 

join the class. 

     

3. The inclusion of up-to-date news in the 

lecture is very attractive to students. 

     

4. The teaching method is very important in 

attracting students to the lecture. 

     

5. Teachers’ voice and intonation can help 

attract students to the lecture. 

     

6. Games in class make students more 

interested. 

     

7. Discussion questions help increase interaction 

in class. 

     

8. Presentation activities help students become 

less boring. 

     

9. The Questions & Answers session after the 

presentation creates an opportunity for students 

to interact with each other. 

     

10. Teachers should enhance student-student 

interaction through pair work and group work. 

     

11. Teachers often ask short questions can 

increase interaction with students, which will 

make students more attentive in class. 

     

12. Teachers should regularly conduct students' 

opinion poll during the lesson to increase 

students' participation in the lecture. 

     

13. Teachers should regularly encourage and 

praise students. 

     

14. Teachers should create a friendly, fun online 

learning atmosphere, which can help engage 

students. 

     

Part 2.  What are your suggestions for the online learning of English to be more effective?  

Thank you for completing the questionnaire.  

 


