The Use of TikTok to Enhance Student Participation in Computer Applications Class

Abstrak

TikTok is one of the social media platforms that is currently gaining popularity among youngsters, especially Gen Z. Despite its negative reputation, TikTok can still be beneficial if properly used, including for teaching and learning purposes. In this article, we present our experience in conducting action research to solve a problem regarding the lack of student participation during online classes. We mainly use TikTok as the medium of intervention. This action research was triggered as we observed that our students have a low level of participation and sometimes there was no response during online class sessions. Taking the Computer Applications course as the subject, this study was participated by 28 foundation students at Universiti Utara Malaysia. Furthermore, based on the concurrent mixed-method approach, the study has been conducted in three cycles, following the Action Research Model by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988). Each cycle involved the data collection in three modes: survey, observations and researchers’ reflection. At the end of the cycle, the decision was made to draw suggestions for improvement in the next cycle. After three intervention cycles, we found that TikTok could improve students’ participation and their performance in the Computer Applications course. Most of the respondents also preferred this innovative method for a better online learning experience. In conclusion, we strongly believed that TikTok could be an educator’s valuable new tool to enhance the teaching and learning process if used for practical purposes.