flowchart LR A(Opportunities) A --> B(Teacher positive perception) B --> C[<span style='background-color:yellow; font-weight: bold'>I was very interested to try that in my class</span>] B --> D[<span style='background-color:yellow; font-weight: bold'>I understand that my students will be more motivated if I use technology</span>] A --> E(Professional development opportunity) E --> F[<span style='background-color:Lime; font-weight: bold'>professional development is offered more frequently in cities</span>] E --> G[<span style='background-color:Lime; font-weight: bold'>there was a very important two-week training on using technology in teaching English in one of the schools around my area</span>] A --> H(Independent learning) H --> I[<span style='background-color:Goldenrod; font-weight: bold'>I tried to learn how to use technology such as Quizizz from YouTube videos</span>]
What is coding
Text data such as interview transcrips and research papers consist of a bunch of statements. Coding is a process of assigning themes to parts of these texts to be able to make sense of them and summarize them into a manageable representation. Consider the following part of interview transcript, with the relevant parts that I have highlighted. In this case, let’s find out “what are the opportunities and challenges experienced by senior teachers in using technology for teaching.”
Teacher A:
I found it difficult to improve my teaching skills because professional development is offered more frequently in cities, and we do not have access to funding to participate in this program because we teach in a rural school. Our school is very very far from cities. Sometimes, I tried to learn how to use technology such as Quizizz from YouTube videos. I was very interested to try that in my class, but there is no projector in my school, and students are not allowed to bring their own smartphone because the school does not want students to play games or access prohibited websites in schools. Some of the students even do not have any smartphone. Even if we are able ask some students to bring their smartphone to be used under strict supervision, the internet connection is not always fast enough.
Teacher B:
For me, I like to do everything perfect, which according to my fellow teachers makes me too busy everyday. I agree with them and in fact I do not have time to participate in any professional development. There was a very important two-week training on using technology in teaching English in one of the schools around my area. I heard this training was administered by lecturers from Universitas Syiah Kuala as a part of their community services responsibility. But, I was so busy marking my students’ exam very very carefully that I did not have time to participate in this training. As you may guess, I very rarely use technology in teaching because it makes everything so complicated. I would have to prepare the materials based on this technology, I have to ensure that students have devices to use this technology, the electricity is sometimes off, the internet connection is too slow, and many more challenges. I understand that my students will be more motivated if I use technology, as what other teachers have shared.
The following diagram shows how the highlighted parts of the interview transcript are coded into themes. In the diagram, I use the same text background as in the transcript to make it easier to inspect. If you are not yet familiar with qualitative data coding, take sometime to read the transcript and study how they are coded and grouped into themes for each component of research question (i.e., opportunities and challenges).
flowchart LR A(Challenges) A --> B(Lack of professional development) B --> C(Distance) C --> D[<span style='background-color:orange; font-weight: bold'>Our school is very very far from cities</span>] B --> E(Lack of time) E --> F[<span style='background-color:orange; font-weight: bold'>I did not have time to participate in this training</span>] A --> G(Lack of technology devices) G --> H[<span style='background-color:pink; font-weight: bold'>there is no projector in my school</span>] G --> I[<span style='background-color:pink; font-weight: bold'>students are not allowed to bring their own smartphone</span>] G --> J[<span style='background-color:pink; font-weight: bold'>Some of the students even do not have any smartphone</span>] A --> K(Teacher negative perception) K --> L[<span style='background-color:plum; font-weight: bold'>it makes everything so complicated</span>] A --> M(Electricity problem) M --> N[<span style='background-color:LightCoral; font-weight: bold'>the electricity is sometimes off</span>] A --> O(Unreliable internet) O --> P[<span style='background-color:Turquoise; font-weight: bold'>the internet connection is too slow</span>] O --> Q[<span style='background-color:Turquoise; font-weight: bold'>the internet connection is not always fast enough</span>]
After the transcripts are coded, they can be systematically summarized by looking at the diagram. The sample of report is presented below.
Based on the result of data analysis, we found that there are more challenges of technology application in teaching than its opportinities. The opportunites include teacher’s positive perception of technology application, availability of professional development, and teacher’s willingness to independently learn how to use technology. Meanwhile, the challenges cover lack of professional development. Eventhough professional development programs have been offered, these teachers could not attend them due to distance and lack of time. Other challenges include lack of technology devices, electricity problems, and unreliable internet connection. In addition, one of the teachers perceived the use of technology negatively.
In coding process, the boxes in the first two columns from the left are often referred to as codebooks. We will learn more about developing codebooks in the later chapter. The following diagram is the codebook that we have developed.
flowchart LR A(Opportunities) A --> B(Teacher positive perception) A --> C(Professional development opportunity) A --> D(Independent learning) E(Challenges) E --> F(Lack of professional development) F --> G(Distance) F --> H(Lack of time) E --> I(Lack of technology devices) E --> J(Teacher negative perception) E --> K(Electricity problem) E --> L(Unreable internet)