Users' Experiences of Using a Metacognition-Based Digital Automotive Fault Diagnosis Worksheet: a Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Metacognition concept could help students for learning how to learn during their learning activities. An automotive fault diagnosis activity, as an activity in automotive vocational education, requires students to use their higher-order thinking to find the vehicle fault and repair it without having trial-and-error steps. A metacognition-based digital automotive fault diagnosis worksheet could help students scientifically with a metacognition concept by knowing their self-cognition and regulating it. This study aims to gain students' perspectives after using the digital worksheet based on a metacognition concept for automotive fault diagnosis. Those perspectives are based on the worksheet's strengths and weaknesses, so that several items that need to be revised could be determined afterward. A sequential model QUAN-QUAL of mixed methods was used in this study. A questionnaire for exploring the usability, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction of the students was used in this quantitative study. A qualitative study would follow this to clarify the findings from the previous one about the strengths, the weaknesses, and the items that need to be revised by having a focus group interview. The data analysis technique for the quantitative study was descriptive quantitative; meanwhile, in the qualitative one, the thematic analysis was used to analyze the data from the focus group interview. The findings of this study stated that the levels of usability, ease of use, ease of learning, and students' satisfaction with using the digital worksheet are at high levels. Students said that the strengths of the worksheet are: 1) coherent, 2) easy to understand, 3) easy to conclude, 4) easy to access whenever and wherever, 5) easy to learn, 6) detailed steps, 7) simple view, 8) interesting view, and 9) eye-catching. Then, the weaknesses are: 1) several instructional words are hard to be understood, 2) several instructions need to be clear about what students need to do, and 3) the taskbar color needs to be adjusted. Based on those weaknesses, several texts of the instructions need to be revised to make them easier to understand by students. Also, the taskbar color must be adjusted to make a comfortable view.