Students’ Acceptance of Discord as an Alternative Online Learning Media

Abstract

Since the public release of Discord in May 2015, gamers have widely used it as an additional team speak application to communicate with their teammates while playing games. However, with substantial features, this application is also used as an alternative media of communication in teaching and learning activities. Therefore, this study aims to determine students’ acceptance of Discord as alternative teaching and learning media. Data were obtained using a simple questionnaire. Furthermore, their experience and acceptance towards this application are explored using the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework. The result showed that most participants confirmed that Discord is a favorable alternative media due to the attractive user interface, completeness of features, and its ease of use. Therefore, this application, which was originally intended for the gaming team-speak and team-chat experiences, can surprisingly be used as an alternative online learning media, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is well accepted by most students.