Background of the Study

3 As described above, ICT tool that is now becoming prolific is not only the use of computer but also its integration and connection to the internet. It enables a distance learning to happen in which students and teachers are not limited by time and space to interact and to conduct the learning process, either synchronously or asynchronously. Synchronous distance learning is “the situation where teacher and students meet at the same time but in different places”, while asynchronous distance learning is “the circumstances in which both time and place are different” Newby et al, 2011:188. In conducting the distance learning, a Web 2.0 is now commonly used to support the learning process. Web 2.0 is “a term for second-generation Web technologies that allow for communication and collaboration of people in Web- based communities” Newby et al, 2011:189. Lee and McLoughlin 2011:24-25 add that Web 2.0 is characterized by the lenience that the end-user get to access, create, disseminate, and share information. The features are most likely user- friendly and in an open environment. Also, it is usually built on simple software and free or very low cost of use. Some examples of Web 2.0 tools are blogs, wikis, social networking, multimedia archives, synchronous communication tools, 3-D virtual worlds, multiplayer games, mobile learning, and open content. In this research, the Web 2.0 tool mainly discussed is social networking which is generally defined as “a term for various Internet applications that allow individuals to share information and interests in an online community” Newby et al, 2011:188. Social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Tumblr, Path, Instagram and others allow the users to connect and to interact regardless the time and place, thus a room for discussion and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 4 collaboration does always exist. It means that social networking sites or social media are potential to extend the learning process that the students can engage with the materials longer and have broader opportunity to relate them to the students’ daily life through discussion and sharing Notley, 2009 in Collin et al, 2011:14. This, in turn, will enable the process of deeper learning to happen to the students. In addition, Boettcher 2007 in Rennie and Morrison 2011:6 mention that “Social networks are all excellent tools for allowing learners to clarify concepts, establish meaning links and relationships, and test their metal models. Furthermore, they provide a public forum in which the cumulative process of concept formation, refinement, application and refinement, application and revision is fully visible to student peers and teachers.” While learning, including language, is a matter of knowledge construction through interaction and collaboration, the integration of social network during the language learning process will highly facilitate the learning process to happen. However, the social network sites pose significant problem that include the security of the students in terms of bullying and exposure to advertisement and inproper info-sharing. For these reasons, a safer environment of the social network sites are needed to accommodate the learning process with less risk of the security issue Education Week, June 15, 2011. One of many social network sites that is now becoming widely used by teachers is Edmodo which was established since 2008 and has been growing with more than 56 million members, including teachers, students and parents, around the world. Edmodo is the most used K-12 social learning network which dedicates itself in giving the opportunity for especially teachers and students to connect and to be accessible to the materials they need in developing their learning 5 www.edmodo.comabout. It is noted as one of the top twenty five educational networking platforms fostering “the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration” Kongchan, 2012 in Al-Kathiri, 2015; Enriquez, 2014. One that is distinct from Edmodo, besides serving as a costless social learning platform, is that it strives in giving the security to its members that all activities are only accessible to the members registered on the classess. Each member is given particular entry codes to the classes so that it prevents outsiders to access the class. Besides ensuring the security for its members, Edmodo is designed to be user friendly. Its interfaces are similar to Facebook so that the users are easily familiar with the features. More importantly, the features provided by Edmodo are designed to promote the connection among teachers, students, and parents. The features enable the members to share contents that promote exploration and thus independent learning. This interaction will create a friendly environment for the members and reduce their anxiety level. The content sharing and room for discussion will encourage “affective support among peers to increase, especially, students’ motivation toward L2 learning” Lee, 2005; Taylor Parsons, 2008; Beer, Clark Jones, 2010. The motivation created by these learning environments becomes the source of engagement Reeve, 2012 which is essential to student learning process. Student engagement was an aspect which as a result would improve student participation at school and thus influence students’ outcome including “achievement, academic knowledge, and social behavior” Mosher and MacGowan, 1985. Kuh 2003 in Kuh, 2009 explicitly proposed that 6 “engagement helps to develop habits of the mind and heart that enlarge the students’ capacity for continuous learning and personal development” since engagement is the key to lead the students to invest academically and socially to their subjects of learning, to the institutions, and to others they are working with. Student engagement involves various constructs which most of the time overlap one to another. Fredricks, Blumenfeld, Paris, 2004, however, propose that there are mainly three types of student engagement that are behavior engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement. Edmodo, in relation with student engagement, is seen as a tool which is potential to increase the level of engagement through the features it provides. It was proven by Sanders 2012 who examined student engagement and responsible learning in Edmodo. In his dissertation, Sanders aimed to determine whether a teaching strategy which incorporated Edmodo, which he categorized as an academic networking site, impacted on student engagement and responsible learning. His study was a mix method study which employed close ended survey for his quantitative data and open-ended survey questions and document analysis of student entries on Edmodo as his qualitative data. His research found out that particular features on Edmodo impacted on student engagement and responsible learning. He noted in his study that other research should be conducted to examine how Edmodo is used to encourage student engagement and responsible learning. The results of the research by Sanders were in line with Olson’s 2014 finding out that Edmodo was “a flexible and user-friendly environment that encourages student learning and engagement”. Olson examined one mixed-level ability of Environmental Science class in which Edmodo was used during the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 7 teaching and learning process. He used students’ posts both quantitatively and qualitatively using three rubrics he adapted from varied existing rubrics. The data he collected were to answer how the students were engaged seen from the quality and quantity of the posts, to assess the usefulness of the rubrics, to find out students’ attitude while using Edmodo, and to see if the quantity andor the quality of the posts correlate with students’ grade. As he analyzed, it was found out that the students had more diverse posts as Edmodo was used and the rubrics characterizing students’ posts were useful. Olson also found out that students’ had positive manner since they maintained their interest and engagement when Edmodo was used. The last, he discovered that students who posted more often with greatest variety of posts mostly got higher score than those who did not. As seen from the previous research by Sanders 2012 and Olson 2014, Edmodo significantly correlates to the students’ engagement to their learning. While student engagement is proven essential to bring positive impacts to the learning process and eventually the learning result, this research is to find out the types of engagement that occurred most in senior high school English classes and also to elaborate Edmodo engaged the students.

B. Problem Limitation

The notion of student engagement and also social network for learning platform comprises wide aspects and constructs. This research is limited in exploring the types of student engagement occurred when Edmodo was used in English class and the way Edmodo engaged the students during the learning process. The research was also conducted by involving only the third grade PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 8 students of senior high school in various level of English ability in which Edmodo was mainly used in distance learning for three weeks.

C. Problem Formulation

This research attempted to answer the following questions: 1. Which type of student engagement was supported most in Edmodo-facilitated English class? 2. How did Edmodo facilitate student engagement during the learning process?

D. Research Objectives

This research had two objectives. The first, it aimed to finding out the types of student engagement that were mostly facilitated while Edmodo was being utilized during English class. A questionnaire developed based on National Survey of Student Engagement NSSE and Fredricks’s notions on student engagement was used to find out what types of student engagement that mostly occurred when the students used Edmodo. Second, this research aimed to find out how Edmodo facilitated the engagement in their learning process. It was done through depth interview with the students.

E. Research Benefits

As it is has been noted previously, ICT is proven to significantly bring an increase to students’ learning process. Numerous researches have also examined how ICT tools, particularly social media, give impact to students’ outcome. Yet, the exploration of how students are engaged in the chosen ICT tool is still limitedly discussed. Because engagement will serve as a prior tenet to students’ learning outcome, even more to students which English only serves as a foreign 9 language, this research is expected to give both scientific and practical benefits for students and teachers. Scientifically, this research will enrich the discussion on how social media is potential to enhance students’ learning and bring positive outcomes to the students. Particularly in the use of Edmodo, this research will provide an explanation of what types of engagement that are mostly supported by Edmodo in English classroom. Practically, the result of this research will benefit not only students to how optimally use Edmodo to support their autonomous learning, but it will also beneficial to teachers and school administrators to gain a broader ideas on how to maximize the utilization of Edmodo in order to enhance students engagement that will help them to enrich their learning experience in improving their learning outcome. School administrator will also gain benefits in a way that it can build Edmodo as a platform that can be used as a learning tool for school-wide online learning.