Benefits and Challenges of Adopting Google Classroom in Malaysian University: Educators' Perspectives

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic has led us to use Google classroom in the teaching and learning process worldwide since it is easily accessible at any time to an unlimited number of learners. Despite many benefits claimed, previous literature also cautioned on challenges associated with this web-based platform, especially from the learners' point of view. Intrigued by these issues, the objective of this study is to explore the benefits and challenges in the adoption of Google classroom from the educators' perspective by referring to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Thus, a phenomenography study had been employed, involving forty accounting lecturers from one of the universities in Malaysia. Data were gathered through an open-ended questionnaire and analysed qualitatively using NVivo 14. The results indicated that five emergent themes derived from the benefits namely outcome and process satisfaction, ease of use, paperless and usefulness. Meanwhile, four themes were elicited for challenges; attitude, student engagement, effort expectancy and facilitating condition. The benefits indicate the vast potential of online learning, while the challenges provide insight into what needs to be done. Hence, the optimum use of this web-based platform will enhance quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for both educators and learners.