IAFOR Journal of Education: Studies in Education

Volume 9 – Issue 6 – 2021

Online Higher Education: The Importance of Students’ Epistemological
Beliefs, Well-Being, and Fun
Sujarwanto
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
Kieron Sheehy
The Open University, United Kingdom
Khofidotur Rofiah
Pedagogical University of Krakow, Krakow, Poland
Budiyanto
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

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Abstract
The global pandemic has accelerated the ‘move online’ of higher education in Indonesia. This
study aimed to examine the relationship between Indonesian students’ experiences of studying
online, their epistemological beliefs and their beliefs about fun in learning. A mixed method
approach was used to examine this relationship in a sample of 774 students. A Principal
component analysis (PCA) of questionnaire responses identified associations between social
constructivist beliefs about learning and the centrality of fun in learning. The PCA wasconsidered together with a thematic analysis of an open question ‘Has the COVID-19 situation
changed your feelings about online study?’ This revealed the significance of the epistemic
mismatch between many students’ beliefs and the transmissive online pedagogy that theydescribed. This mismatch is implicated as a factor in understanding the students largely
negative experiences of online study and the impact on their well-being, albeit within thecontext of a pandemic. This is the first time that this link has been proposed. The research
indicates that examining students’ epistemological beliefs can offer insights that are helpful inunderstanding students’ educational engagement and well-being when studying online.
Keywords: epistemological beliefs, fun, Indonesia, online higher education, well-being

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Whilst many universities have previously sought to develop their online teaching provision,
the global pandemic has accelerated this process with some choosing, and others being
instructed by governments, to ‘go online’ (Havergal, 2020; Mishra, Gupta, & Shree, 2020). In
the Republic of Indonesia, The Ministry of Education and Culture asked tertiary educators toprovide ‘meaningful’ online learning experiences for their students (Hidayati & Saputra, 2020).
This has been attempted in 80% of institutions, where the majority of students have left campus
and returned to their home locations (Nugroho, 2020). These students are drawn from a
population of over 270 million across Indonesia’s unique geographical and cultural context.
Indonesia is the ‘most diverse multi-ethnic state in the world… [and] the world’s largest
archipelagic country of more than 17,524 islands” (Direktorat Pembinaan Sekoloah 2008).
Given this scale and locational diversity it is not unexpected that one can find situations where
Higher Education (H.E.) learning systems and infrastructures can be lacking or inadequate(Hidayati & Saputra, 2020). It is against this backdrop that many of Indonesia’s eight million
H.E. students (Harun, Wardhaningtyas, Khan, An, & Masdar, 2020) are experiencing distanceeducation for the first time (Churiyah, Sholikhan, Filianti, & Sakdiyyah, 2020).
The pandemic notwithstanding, any students who receive their education online at distance areat greatly increased risk of drop out and disengagement from their studies (Meneses & Marlon,2020) and this creates a significant issue for educators (Aydin, Öztürk, Büyükköse, Er, &Sönmez, 2019). Therefore, as more students are placed, perhaps unexpectedly, in online
learning situations it is increasingly important for educators to understand the factors that
influence their students’ likelihood of success. Previous research has identified two key factorsthat are relatively underexplored in distance education: students’ epistemological beliefs andtheir beliefs about fun in learning (Okada & Sheehy, 2020a).
Students’ Epistemological Beliefs
Students epistemological beliefs reflect their conceptions of knowledge and how it is acquired(Marlene Schommer-Aikins, Unruh, & Morphew, 2015). These beliefs might include theextent to which learning occurs through information transmission (OECD, 2009) or issues suchas notions of ability, the extent to which it is innate or develops through education (SchommerAikins & Hutter, 2002). One way of framing epistemological beliefs is to draw distinctions
that reflect models of pedagogy and learning, for example traditional or constructivist beliefs(OECD, 2009), or social constructivist beliefs (Sheehy, Budiyanto, Kaye, & Rofiah, 2019). In
this framing, students who hold traditional beliefs view the process of learning primarily as asimple transfer of knowledge from the teacher (Otting, Zwaal, Tempelaar, & Gijselaers, 2010).
This contrasts with a constructivist perspective that foregrounds the importance of autonomous
activities facilitated by a teacher (Markic & Eilks, 2013). The social constructivist perspective,
drawing on the work of Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1967), frames learning as an interactive social
process mediated by language and other cultural tools ( Okada & Sheehy, 2020a)
The importance of epistemological beliefs in higher education students’ experience has been
researched for over 50 years, and evidence indicates a significant association between the
beliefs students hold and their subsequent academic performance (Richardson, 2013a;
Rodriguez & Cano, 2007). For example students who hold beliefs that they can develop theirabilities and actively construct knowledge appear to adopt more effective study strategies (Hao,Barnes, Branch, & Wright, 2017), with consequently better outcomes (Çevik, 2015). However,there is an absence of such work in the context of distance education (Richardson 2013), an
absence which has become more noticeable given a global turn towards online provision.

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Within Indonesian ‘traditional’ Higher Education there is a growing body of research regarding
teachers and student teachers epistemological beliefs (Sheehy, Budiyanto, Kaye, & Rofiah,2017), and research with college students (Aditomo, 2018) that indicates the impact of these
beliefs on outcomes in different study areas. There is also some acknowledgement of its
importance within English as a Foreign Language [EFL] education (Wulandari Tasik, 2020),
on determining their online learning strategies (Rahmiati, 2019). However, overall, there isnotable lack of research in Indonesian higher education regarding epistemological beliefs andonline education.
The Notion of Fun in Learning in Higher Education
It has been argued that, in order to facilitate students’ success, it is important to examine factorsthat influence students’ engagement with their studies (Sharp, Zhu, Matos, & Sharp, 2021).
Perhaps not unexpectedly, there is evidence of a significant correlation between the level ofsatisfaction that students report with their online learning experiences and their engagementwith and completion of studies (Martin & Bolliger, 2018). Enjoyment positively influences
student engagement (Bond, Buntins, Bedenlier, Zawacki-Richter, & Kerres, 2020; Groccia,
2018) and therefore it is logical to see the understanding and facilitation of enjoyment as a wayof improving engagement and student success. One effect of enjoyment is an increased intrinsic
motivation to study (Sharma, 2021), and an experience of having fun in learning promotes
greater engagement and ability to cope with study demands (Reeve, Cheon, & Jang, 2020).
However, the notion of “fun” in higher education pedagogy is controversial. This is partly
because whilst it can be defined as an emotion in relation to motivation and engagement (Reeve
et al., 2020), its exact nature and meaning is unclear (Tisza & Markopoulos, 2021).
Consequently, there is no consensus about its value for learning within higher education andthere exists…an ongoing debate about whether it [fun] is appropriate in relation to adultlearning, and many believe that it is unsuitable in the “serious” business ofHigher Education. (Whitton & Langan, 2019, p. 3)
This perception of “unsuitability” may contribute to the lack of research into the value of fun
within online H.E. education (Okada & Sheehy, 2020a). This debate can be discerned within
the handful of relevant Indonesian studies that exist. For example whilst one study concluded
that a positive or good mood would interfere with H.E. students’ learning and motivation(Febrilia & Warokka, 2011), another concluded that fun helped to ensure academic motivation(Triyanto, 2019). In the context of EFL, fun was associated with positive learning experiences,and it was recommended that educators designed fun into their teaching (Tunnisa, Mahmud, &Salija, 2019). However, none of these studies considered the epistemological beliefs of thestudents, or the relationship between these beliefs and beliefs about fun in learning (Okada &Sheehy, 2020a). This study seeks to address this gap within H.E. research.
Research Context
The context for this research was the Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA), East Java
Indonesia. UNESA has approximately 39, 000 students, across seven undergraduate faculties
and graduate school. Starting in 2016 UNESA began to develop its own online learning
platform, Vi-learn UNESA, to support a blended learning model (Kristanto, Mustaji, &Mariono, 2017). Initially this form of provision was available for education and psychology
courses, and by 2019 it had expanded to 100 courses across varied disciplines for around 5000
students. Alongside this, Kemenristekdikti (Ministry of Research Technology and Higher

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Education) supports a national online education initiative SPADA (Sistem Pembelajaran
Daring-Online Learning System), and individual lecturers may adopt these or other learning
management systems (Wintarti, Masriyah, Ekawati, & Fiangga, 2019). In response to theinternational pandemic the Rector of UNESA enacted a regulation that all learning activities
should move online (Sabtiawan et al., 2020). Consequently, the number of courses available in
Vi-learn UNESA increased to approximately 150 courses undertaken by 7000 students.
This study sought to explore the relationship between epistemological beliefs and fun inlearning for students studying at UNESA, in the context of the move online necessitated by the
global pandemic.
MethodThe use of questionnaires to collect data is an established approach within epistemologicalbeliefs research (Schommer & Walker, 1995). A questionnaire was developed drawing on
Indonesian epistemological research (Sheehy et al., 2017) that had been developed for use
within an international H.E. context (Okada and Sheehy 2020a). The items are given in
Appendix 1.
Items 1-4 collect demographic data: occupation, year and level of study, province.
Item 5 asks if the student is registered as disabled. This was added as the experience of disabledstudents within distance education has been highlighted as a significant issue (Spirina,
Grabowska, & Liakh, 2020). There are over 4500 higher education institutions across thenation, yet only approximately five universities explicitly support access and enrol disabledstudents (Dzulfikar, 2019). UNESA is one of these few and has a disability support service toenable this, the Centre for Disability Studies and Services (Pusat Studi dan Layanan
Disabilitas-PSLD).
Statements 6-9, 22-24 reflect models of learning (Social Constructivist, and Banking) and aretaken from Okada and Sheehy (2020).
Statements 14-18, 10–12 relate to Constructivist and Traditional views of learning, from theOECD international survey (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2010,2013).
Statement 13 reflects the importance of beliefs concerning effort in learning in “non-western”
epistemological research (Lee, Zhang, Song, & Huang, 2013).
Statements 25- 29 elicit beliefs about fun and happiness that emerged as stable items from
Budiyanto et al.’s (2017) epistemological research.
Item 30 asks if the student enjoys studying online.
Item 31 asks if their feelings about online study have changed because of the COVID-19
pandemic. This item could be helpful in differentiating this cohort’s responses from subsequent
research (Unger & Meiran, 2020).
This questionnaire therefore contains items that assess students’ epistemological beliefs, theirnotion of fun, and their experiences of studying online.

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A preliminary discussion of the quantitative items and a tentative descriptive analysis occurredat the London School of Management Education international research conference 2021.
Ethics
Ethics review was conducted by the Human Research Ethics committees of the researchers’
universities and favourable opinions were obtained for proceeding. Study information was
posted on UNESA’s official Telegram community in an education space. Students could thenchoose to respond, or not, to the anonymous questionnaire hosted on Qualtrics ™.
Findings
Responses were obtained from 774 students from across Indonesia.
Participants’ locations and academic backgrounds. The locations of participants ranged
across the Javan provinces, Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and the lesser Sunda Islands (seeFigure 1).
Figure 1
Geographical Location of Participants [Map data ©2021 Google, INEGI]This illustrates the potential reach of online education across Indonesia. The majority ofparticipants (92.5%) came from an education and/or psychology discipline. Most (71%) werestudents in their 1st or 2nd year of study. All attended UNESA and 17 (2.2%) were registeredas disabled students. To put this latter figure in perspective, UK universities report on averagethat 6.6% of their students are categorised as disabled (Williams, Pollard, Takala, & Houghton,2019).
Response Analysis of Students’ Epistemological Beliefs
The data were reviewed with respect to carrying out a principal component analysis (PCA). A
Kaiser –Meyer–Olkin score of 0.911 was obtained, suggesting that factors could be extracted(Navarro Sada & Maldonado, 2007), and this was supported by Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p<0.001). A data scree plot suggested that 5 components could be extracted, and this was
confirmed by considering the total variance explained. These 5 components, all witheigenvalues greater than 1, explained 52.66% of the variance in responses giving a moderateamount of explanatory power (Navarro Sada & Maldonado, 2007) typical in social science
research (Taherdoost, Sahibuddin, & Jalaliyoon, 2014). The relative correlations between the14

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potential components were examined to select the type of data rotation (Dean, 2009) and a
direct Oblimin rotation was chosen, with a cut off at 0.35 (see Table 1).
Table 1
Pattern Matrix
Helping students
to talk to one
another
productively is agood way ofteaching.
Learning can be
defined as thesocial productionof knowledge
Meaningfullearning occurs
when students
are engaged insocial activities
with society
Students learn
best throughcollaborative
activities.
Teaching should
be built aroundproblems withclear, correct
answers.
Effective/goodteachers
demonstrate thecorrect way tosolve a problem
Students who
begin university
with “average”
ability remain“average”
throughout theirstudies
Students’
educational
potential is fixedat birth.
All students
should be taught
in homogenousclasses according
to theirintelligence.

1
.715

2

3

.703

.669

.634

.532

.449

.771

.725

.717

15

4

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IAFOR Journal of Education: Studies in Education

I believe there
should be asingle teaching
methodapplicable to alllearning
situations.
Learning should
involve fun
To learneffectively
students must be
happyStudents andteachers should
participate inlearning fromdiversity
togetherFun activities
can get in theway of student
learning

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.602

.892
.873

.680

.735

.438

Fun is part ofcuriosity anddiscovery
Students learn
best by finding
solutions toproblems on
their own.
I do not enjoy
studying online
Students shouldbe allowed tothink ofsolutions topractical
problems
themselves
before theteacher showsthem how they
are solved.

-.409
-.741

.800
.688

.570

The teacher’srole is tofacilitate
students’ own
inquiry.
Thinking andreasoning

-.514

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processes are
more important
than specificcurriculum
content.
Learning occurs
when students
reflect on theiraction in adiverse world
How much
students get fromtheir learning
depends mostly
on their effort.

-.470

-.449

Extraction method: Principal Component Analysis
Rotation method: Oblimin with Kaiser normalisation

Component 1. Social constructivist and traditional pedagogies together. This component wasformed from items related to social constructivist beliefs about teaching and learning. Thisview highlights the social production of knowledge, the importance of “talk”, and collaborative
learning. These associations have been identified in European research (Alexandra Okada &Sheehy, 2020b). However, in this Indonesian sample these beliefs are also associated with, andnot clearly differentiated from, teacher-led demonstrations of how to solve problems, and thevalue of having problems with clear correct answers, which have been seen as representing
traditional pedagogy (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED),
2013).
Component 2. Streamed by fixed abilities. This component contains beliefs that a person’s
abilities are innate and fixed, and that students should be taught in homogenous, that is,“streamed” groups always using a single teaching method.
Component 3. Inclusive, collaborative fun for happy learners. Here happiness and enjoyment
are believed to be pre-requisite for effective learning. This occurs through the collaborative
learning of teachers and students in the context of diversity, and should involve fun. However,this is tempered by a belief that not all fun activities can support learning.
Component 4. Discovery is not fun, and reflection is unnecessary. This component holds
beliefs that seem opposed to constructivist teaching approaches, in which teachers facilitate
students thinking about and solving problems. In line with this are beliefs that discovery
learning is not fun (in contrast to Component 3) and sees the learner as relatively passive.
Component 5. Online content delivery is not enjoyable teaching. Two items are grouped here,a belief that thinking and reasoning are more important than specific content, and not enjoying
studying online. The component title here is tentative, suggesting that this lack of enjoyment
is associated with online teaching that prioritizes content delivery-and that this has been theirexperience. As Figure 3 illustrates 46% of the sampled students did not enjoy studying online.

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Figure 2
Responses to Item “I Do Not Enjoy Studying Online”

This lack of enjoyment was reflected across different subject disciplines and the disabledstudent’s group.
The disabled students’ responses to the “enjoyment” question differed significantly from theirpeers (independent samples Mann Whitney U, p<0.001), with 14/17 (i.e. 82%) responding as
not enjoying, and 3 neither agreeing or disagreeing. In this respect they were more “extreme”
than their non-disabled peers.
Thematic Analysis of Students’ Experiences of Studying Online
Insights into students experience of studying online during the pandemic were suggested bytheir responses to the open question “Has the COVID-19 situation changed your feelings about
online study?”. Participants’ responses were analysed thematically with coding being carriedout by hand (i.e. no software package was used) derived from the steps proposed by Braun and
Clarke (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Odendaal, Hattingh, & Eybers, 2019). The responses wereinterrogated repeatedly to code and construct themes (Langdridge, 2004). This allowed theidentification of four themes that appeared as important in the data (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane,2006). Each is described in turn and illustrated with exemplar comments.
Online Study becomes Boring and Students Become DemotivatedEven students who initially enjoyed studying online could become bored. For example:
I used to feel that studying online was fun. However, learning is getting more andmore boring and unpleasant.
Yes, because learning becomes [our emphasis] very boring.
Several factors contributed to this situation. These were barriers that impeded social
interactions, reducing conversation with lecturers, and hindering social interactions withfriends. Learning became less fun.
Yes. Because online learning makes me feel bored and it is more difficult to discusstalking with and from the lecturer. It’s more fun if learning to rub [engage face toface] with friends.

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This change of experience appeared to be associated with students becoming “lazy” that is,demotivated or tired, which was repeatedly mentioned. This could be seen partly because of
the physical demands of increased screen-time.
Changes have also occurred in my enthusiasm level, I used to be offline, I wasvery enthusiastic when meeting friends and lecturers to study but now sometimes
I am lazy because I stare at my cellphone for a long time so it can cause sleepinessand hot eyes.
The thing that makes me feel uncomfortable is when I have to stare at the screenof my cellphone / laptop for a long time, it makes my eyes dry and I get tired
quickly.
Students who found themselves “not feeling like doing” and demotivated also cited the role oftechnological barriers, and the importance of accessing a stable network signal.
Yes, from those who used to be accustomed to face-to-face learning, they now
have to go online. where the main internet connection is most important for online
learning.
Yes, because sometimes feelings easily change [from happy to demotivated] whensuddenly there is an internet network disruption.
There are also costs of associated with accessing information, which has changed somestudents study experiences.
Initially I was excited about the online learning process because it can improveconcentration, but it has become increasingly uncomfortable with online learning
because it requires a lot of internet quota while finances have decreased since
COVID-19.
Learning online is wasteful in spending [money] to buy internet quotas.
The home situation itself [outside of cost and signal issues] could have a negative impact.
There is also a feeling of boredom with the atmosphere of studying at home whichcauses you to feel unfocused during lectures.
I lost enthusiasm and motivation to learn. Because the condition of the house is
not supportive.
What this theme suggests is that the “move online” has had a significant impact on somestudents’ study experience. The changes have resulted in many becoming bored anddemotivated with their studies, a situation that is exacerbated by technology related barriers
and home conditions. However, for a minority the changes were perceived positively.
A Qualified Success for SomeA few students explicitly reported that the move online had positive consequences for them.
Some valued the flexibility that the new approach offered.

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Online learning only started during COVID and I just enjoyed it because in someways it became more flexible and less rigid.
Yes, we can follow the learning flexibly
Others enjoyed being able to use technologies.
Yes, because I don’t think online learning is too boring and we take fulladvantage of technology.
The role of moving online in tackling the pandemic, and as part of supporting their community,
was also mentioned.
Yes, I feel more positive lately, I think it’s because through this pandemic we haveto be healthier, have more understanding of various things, respect each otherand also take care of each other.
More typically however, these indications of positive consequences were qualified, andjuxtaposed with the less positive factors.
Yes. I like to be able to study at home close to my family, but on the one hand I am
tired because I have to study extra in places where it is difficult.
A Decline in Mental Well-Being
The third theme highlights the impact that the move online was having on mental well-being.
This was sometimes linked to factors indicated in the previous themes but was pervasive
enough in the coding to emerge as a distinct theme.
Many students had experienced increased stress levels.
It’s not just that online learning is not as effective as face-to-face learning …
emotions tend to be unstable, increased stress levels, dizziness and tired eyes.
And feelings of anxiety:I became less confident and often felt [feel] anxious.
Yes, anxiety increases because of the difficulties that exist.
My feelings when studying online are sometimes anxious and angry when I can’t
join the zoom meeting because of the unsupportive signal.
The impact over time of these changes could be significant.
Yes, studying online is quite physically and psychologically draining.
Feel burnout at home, I can’t manage my rest time.
This change could impact on students’ general mood to differing degrees. For some this was atemporary dip.

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Yes, because studying online, sometimes there are network constraints that cancause a person’s mood to go down.
In other cases, a low mood had become associated with studying.
Studying online is boring so when studying I feel a little depressed and bored.
There is a change in mood for studying.
There were also more profound changes.
“It really changed me. [our emphasis] Even though the beginning of thepandemic, I really used it to read a lot and think about and find out things that
had not previously been crossed. However, over time all of this actually made me
depressed because I could not learn directly and rarely interacted with it,
reducing my sensitivity and critical power.
Absolutely because it makes me feel like uncomfortable, low esteem instead.
A Less Social Pedagogy Isolates Students
The move online had interfered with the social interactions that students valued within theirteaching.
… what has changed is the interaction with lecturers and friends, which is now
very limited, in the past it was very easy to ask questions that [I] did notunderstand and look for sources of information in the library, but now it is difficult
which changes the interaction between students and lecturers and between
students to be changed and less optimal.
Students reported that they had valued previous face-to-face opportunities to discuss issues
with lecturers and their peers. These had been replaced with a “new pedagogy”, which delivers
online lectures accompanied by increased assignments to be completed alone.
Lecturers rarely come down to explain the material and only give a lot of
assignments.
Less efficient learning and more assignments than explanations from lecturers.
In the new online context students felt less able to ask questions or contribute.
Because I feel less confident in expressing my opinion and facing the camera.
If there is a discussion forum we feel uncomfortable.
The “new pedagogy” required learners to be more independent but its lack of interaction
created issues.
Yes, because you are required to be more independent, and learning interactions
that do not meet directly make you confused because there are many
misunderstandings

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In short, what has changed is that we are required to understand various tasks
and follow the demands of the task quickly.
Alone and not sociable.
I am confused about the many tasks, and I find it unpleasant to study alone.
In the online context teaching materials and presentations can lack transparency.
The material explanation is not as clear as when lecturing offline.
Plus starting to enter the world of lectures, a new world that is of course a lot ofconfusion and more and more confusion due to this online system.
There were also resource issues for students who had relied on physical resources (e.g. books,
databases, teaching materials) and emotional reassurance and support through peer discussion.
Whilst these issues might be predicted-for some the impact could be profound.
It feels like you’re struggling alone.
Discussion
The findings of this research make an original contribution to the research literature concerning
the epistemological beliefs of Higher Education students and their relationship to the notion of
fun in learning. It is the first Indonesian study to explore this area. The qualitative analysis
offers original insights into the effects that the “move online” has had on the study experiencesof Indonesian students, and how this has impacted on their well-being. Considering thequalitative and quantitative analyses together allows insights to be developed about therelationship between students’ epistemological beliefs and the impact of the “new pedagogy”.
Consequently, this is the first study to show that epistemological beliefs are an important factor
in how students respond to and are affected by the move online necessitated by the global
pandemic.
The importance given to collaborative social interactions in learning is evident in the opencomments’ analysis. This is also seen in Component 1 and 3. Component 1 shows that student’s
see learning occurring both through social constructivist and via traditional teacher-led
approaches. The distinctions between social constructivist and traditional beliefs found inWestern Europe research (Allodi & Carstens, 2013) are not found here. This complements alack of a dichotomous differentiation identified in previous research in some Asian countries(OECD, 2009; Sheehy, Budiyanto, Kaye, & Rofiah, 2017).
Collaboration is seen as important in learning (Components 1 and 3) and Component 3
indicates that fun, within the context of collaboration is believed to be a prerequisite for
effective learning. Research into the nature of fun in online learning is nascent, however thefindings here suggest that this component is describing “Collaborative fun” (Okada & Sheehy,2020). A major impact of the move online on students has been on their opportunities forcollaborative learning. In this way a particular type of fun has been removed from their learning
experiences.

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Component 5 indicates the association between beliefs that thinking and reasoning are more
important in learning than specific content and a lack of enjoyment of online study. That somany students (46%) do no enjoy online study [and 45% neither agreed or disagreed] suggeststhat the “new pedagogy” is that of content delivery. This is confirmed in the qualitative themes
in which the model of online learning is perceived as transmission of information accompanied
by an increased number of individual assignments. The concept of epistemic match (O’Siochru& Norton, 2014) is helpful in understanding this situation. This refers to the match between a
student’s epistemological beliefs and the beliefs that, perhaps implicitly, underpin thepedagogy of their teachers. A student whose beliefs are a close match with those of thepedagogy will be better able to locate the knowledge they need. (O’Siochru & Norton, 2014).
In the current research a lack of epistemic match is evidence for some students. This lack ofepistemic match, occurring in the context of the other factors identified in the thematic analysis,contributes to student’s lack of satisfaction.
Previous research has suggested that a lack of epistemic match will have a negative impact on
students’ academic outcomes (Dai & Cromley, 2014; O’Siochru & Norton, 2014). Our researchoffers a different perspective in the context of online learning. For students who value social
interaction as an essential part of their learning, the impact of the epistemic mismatch appears
to have had a profound effect on their personal well-being. Students can feel that they are“struggling alone” and over time this can have a negative effect. A caveat to this argument isthat the students were studying within a pandemic in which many aspects of their lives will
have been negatively impacted. With this caveat acknowledged, it seems reasonable toconclude that for many there were well-being consequences of a pedagogy without
collaborative fun.
Recommendations
This research reveals how Indonesian students’ epistemological beliefs relate to notions of funin learning, in particular the association between collaborative learning and fun. For many,collaborative fun is seen as essential for learning and their engagement is reduced when thisdoes not exist. This is an issue of “epistemic match” (O’Siochru & Norton, 2014) and to address
this educators should directly analyse the pedagogic epistemologies that are being enacted
within their online teaching contexts. The findings also inform future comparative research. It
has been suggested that there are different conceptualisations of happiness and fun in different
cultures (Jaafar et al., 2012) and these findings suggests that in Indonesia learning is not seen
as separate from social emotional networks but is part of it (Budiyanto, Sheehy, Kaye, &Rofiah, 2017; Wulandari & de Jager, 2018). This emotional enmeshment of learning and fun
arises within social collaboration and so would appear difficult to create with an onlinetransmission pedagogy. The “move online” is likely to continue post-pandemic (Lemoine,
Waller, McCormack, Garretson, & ..., 2021). Therefore, eliciting and understanding thesefactors, which our research shows impact on students learning and well-being during online
study, will remain a key issue for educators. Consequently, students’ epistemological beliefs
and notions of fun should be part of this area of future research.
Conclusion
The research highlights students’ epistemological beliefs as an important factor in their
engagement with online study. It offers original insights that show that there is a relationshipbetween the nature of these epistemological beliefs and students’ beliefs about the relationshipbetween fun and learning. These students had begun their online studies as a consequence of23

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the COVID-19 pandemic. Many reported a dissatisfaction with their study experience and also
decline in their well-being. In exploring this situation, this research suggests that the epistemic
match between students and the online pedagogy is an important factor in this situation, which
has been previously overlooked.

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Corresponding author: Kieron Sheehy
Email: kieron.sheehy@open.ac.uk

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Appendix 1
The Questionnaire items.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

In which province do you live?
What is your current area of study?
What is the level of you current study.
Which university do you study at.
Are you considered by the university as a disabled student?

For the statements below please select a number. 1 is strongly agree, 2 is agree, 3 is neither
agree or disagree, 4 is disagree, 5 is strongly disagree
6. Students learn best through collaborative activities.
7. Helping students to talk to one another productively is a good way of teaching.
8. Meaningful learning occurs when students are engaged in social activities withsociety.
9. Learning can be defined as the social production of knowledge
10. The teacher’s role is to teach facts.
11. Teaching should be built around problems with clear, correct answers.
12. Effective/good teachers demonstrate the correct way to solve a problem.
13. How much students get from their learning depends mostly on their effort
14. Students should be allowed to think of solutions to practical problems themselves
before the teacher shows them how they are solved.
15. Students learn best by finding solutions to problems on their own.
16. The teacher’s role is to facilitate students’ own inquiry.
17. Thinking and reasoning processes are more important than specific curriculum
content.
18. Students’ educational potential is fixed at birth.
19. Students who begin university with ‘average’ ability remain ‘average’ throughout
their studies
20. All students should be taught in homogenous classes according to their intelligence.
21. I believe there should be a single teaching method applicable to all learning situations.
22. Learning occurs when students reflect on their action in a diverse world
23. Fun is part of curiosity and discovery
24. To learn effectively students must be happy
25. Learning should involve fun
26. To learn effectively, students must enjoy learning
27. Fun activities can get in the way of student learning
28. Has the Covid 19 situation changed your feelings about online study? If so, mention
briefly what has changed.

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