EFFECTIVINESS OF USING COURSERA’S ONLINE RESOURCES AND OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) IN IMPROVING WORLD HISTORY LITERACY IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION STUDENTS

Abstract

This study is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of using online resources and Open Educational Resources (OER), specifically Coursera, in raising literacy in world history among students of social studies education at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. With the ongoing development of information technology, learning from the internet becomes increasingly popular and is viewed as one alternative means of improving learning experience. Coursera, being an online learning platform with university courses from around the world, provides students with flexible access to study world history more intensively. This research utilizes a quantitative approach where there is an experimental design with two student groups: the experimental group that studies world history through Coursera and the control group that studies through the traditional method. Questionnaires were employed to record data in relation to students' attitudes towards learning through Coursera, and on world history literacy tests to quantify their understanding. As per the results, students learning through Coursera registered a significant increase in world history literacy in comparison to the control group. The majority of the respondents expressed that Coursera facilitated ease of access to history content, offered an easy-to-use interface that was simple to understand, and offered flexibility in learning whereby they could learn world history according to their needs. Despite some technical problems, such as language and connectivity, the majority of the students were content with using Coursera as a learning tool for world history. Based on the foregoing, it is evident that utilization of Coursera is effective in enhancing world history literacy among social studies education students. This research indicates that online platforms such as Coursera ought to be incorporated more into history education to increase students' knowledge and quality of learning.