MATHEMA JOURNAL E- ISSN 2686-5823
Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
Students’ Perceptions of E-learning During Covid-19
Pandemic
Angga Hidayat
Universitas Pamulang
[email protected]
Abstract
The objectives of the study are (1) to investigate students’ perceptions of the use of e-learning
during covid-19 quarantine in accounting department at Pamulang University, (2) to investigate
e-learning motivation during covid-19 quarantine in accounting department at Pamulang
University. The research is an ex-post facto study conducted in accounting deparment at
Pamulang University. Variables in the study consist of independent variable and dependent
variable respectively namely students’ perceptions of the use of e-learning during covid-19
quarantine and e-learning motivation during covid-19 quarantine. Data obtained from
questionnaire about students’ perceptions and e-learning motivation during covid-19 quarantine
are analyzed quantitatively. Students’ perceptions of the use of e-learning during covid-19
quarantine in accounting department at Pamulang University is in medium category. E-learning
interest during covid-19 quarantine in accounting department at Pamulang University is in
medium category.
Keywords: Distance Learning Motivation, E-learning, Perception.
Introduction
E-learning is a technology commonly used in many universities. Universities that
have implemented e-learning include University of Indonesia, the Open University,
Pamulang University, and many others. The application of e-learning in higher education
is inevitable because of very rapid development that affects all fields, including in the
field of education (Hidayat, 2019). As a result, to provide students with provisions to be
accepted in their future job is by implementing technology in the learning process. E-
learning can be used to improve skill of technology.
E-learning has many benefits that can be obtained both by students and by
lecturers. One of the benefits is that e-learning can provide opportunities for students to
be more active in the learning process. This can be contributed to the fact that students
can open wider resources during learning process. Therefore, students can be more
independent in learning. Students know what to look for to compare information they
receive from lecturers. Students also take the initiative to look for answers to questions
they obtain during the learning process. More important than those all above, students are
taught to maximaze the use of technology to achieve learning objectives. That being
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Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
said, this is expected to have an impact on students' skills in solving problems in the
future.
However, with the rapid development of technology, not all students are ready to
utilize technology in the learning process, especially in distance learning. Distance
learning must be conducted in a special condition such as in the Covid-19 pandemic
quarantine. This pandemic forced all people in various parts of the world to carry out
activities at home, including learning. Consequently, all students must study at home.
Specifically, another effect is that Commission For The Protection of Children Indonesia
received 213 complaints about distance learning implemented by the government.
Complaints include tasks that are too heavy and tedious (Adiyudha, 2020). In other
words, both students and teachers are not ready to apply distance learning. One of the
reasons is that teachers have unappropriate perception (Nikolopoulou & Gialamas, 2015).
In a circular of Minister of Education and Culture No. 14 of 2020 concerning
Implementation of Educational Policy in the Emergency Period Spreading Coronavirus
Disease (covid-2019) states that 1. Learning from home through online / distance
learning is carried out to provide meaningful learning experiences for students, without
being burdened with the demands of completing the entire curriculum achievements for
grade promotion and graduation. 2. Learning from home can be focused on life skills
education including the Covid-19 pandemic. 3. Learning activities and assignments
Learning from home can vary among students. This can be contributed to the fact that not
all students have a complete facility for distance learning. Evidence or products of
Learning Activities from Home are given qualitative and useful feedback from the
teacher, without being required to give quantitative scores.
Based on the circular above, there are differences in teacher perceptions in
implementing distance learning. Many teachers do not have the skills to maximize
technology, especially teachers in remote areas (Hidayat & Sadewa, 2020). Teachers
only give assignments without paying attention to meaningful learning experiences for
students. In addition, not a few teachers who do not pay attention to learning vary based
on students' interest in learning. As a result, students also consider that distance learning
is boring and burdensome (Pavlovic, Vugdelija & Kojic, 2015). This perception is not
only experienced by elementary school students through high school, but also by college
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Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
students (Jury, et. l, 2017). On the other hand, a teacher should have a role to develop the
thinking ability of their students (Puspaningtyas, 2019).
Especially for exact sciences, e-learning is still considered inappropriate if applied
in subjects hat require high computational abilities such as mathematics and statistics.
This is consistent with the results of research conducted by Yaniawati, Kariadinata, Sari,
Pramiarsih, & Mariani (2020) which states that e-learning is difficult to apply to
mathematics courses. In addition, the perception of e-learning is also an obstacle in the
use of distance learning technology if applied widely in universities. Many students and
even lecturers consider that e-learning is not better than learning that is conducted in the
class immediately.
To change the perception that e-learning is difficult to apply in universities, e-
learning motivation must be enhanced (Mustarin & Wiharto, 2019). Motivation can be
triggered by using a variety of interesting features in e-learning. Maximizing these
features needs to be used because generally lecturers only use modest features such as
discussion forum. There is no doubt that many trainings should be practiced by lecturers.
This can affect to interactive e-learning. Moreover, the media used in e-learning are not
only from laptops. However, students can also use smartphones to be used in the active
learning process. Consequently, it can enhance e-learning motivation.
The development of perception and motivation towards e-learning has been
conducted in Pamulang University. Pamulang University is a University located in South
Tangerang and has been implementing e-learning since 2016. All departments and all
courses have applied blended learning. Therefore, research related to e-learning need to
be conducted in Pamulang University because the University has been practicing
distance learning for almost 5 years.
Based on the description above, researcher should conduct a study regarding the
perception of the use of e-learning as an effort to increase the e-learning interest of
students in accounting department at Pamulang University. Objective of this study is to
investigate student’ perceptions of the use of e-learning in accounting department at
Pamulang University. Another objective is to investigate e-learning interest in accounting
department at Pamulang University.
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Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
Research Method
This research is ex post facto research. The use of this type of research is because
the symptoms that arise from the research variables already exist on the respondent
without treatment. Actions taken to enhance student interest through the application of e-
learning program. This research is conducted at accounting department in Pamulang
University.
Variables of the study consist of independent and dependent variable respectively
namely students' perceptions of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine and
student interest in e-learning during covid-19 quarantine. The data collection techniques
conducted in this study are as following: 1) Data about students' perceptions of E-
learning during Covid-19 Quarantine is taken using Likert scale. 2) Data about student
interests in E-learning is taken using a Likert scale.
Research instruments used by researcher in this study as follows: 1) Questionnaire
about students’ perceptions of the use of E-learning during Covid-19 quarantine is used
to obtain data about students' perceptions about e-learning during covid-19 quarantine.
Questionnaire indicators of students' perceptions includes perception of easiness,
perception of usefulness, and perception of acceptance. 2) Questionnaire about student
interest in e-learning. Questionnaire indicators of student interest in e-learning include
passionate about learning, interested in learning, interested to teacher, initiative to learn,
freshness in learning, concentration in learning, thorough in learning, willness in
learning, and resilient in learning. Those two questionnaires are given during covid-19
quarantine.
Data obtained from the questionnaire of students’ perception and interest of e-
learning during covid-19 quarantine is analyzed quantitatively by percentage.
Questionnaire analysis of students’ perception and interest is conducted with Likert scale
model that has gradations from 1 to 5. Specifically, 5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3 =
neutral, 2 = disagree, and 1 = strongly disagree. Students’ response to the instruments is
calculated accordingly the score of the answer given. Afterward, researchers calculate the
percentage of the answer.
To provide a clear description of the category of each variable, then the results of
students’ perception analysis of e-learning learning are converted into categories: very
high, high, medium, low, and very low. Moreover, student interest in e-learning is
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Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
divided into 5 categories, namely very not interested, not interested, quite interested,
interested, and very interested. These criteria are described in table 1, table 2, and table 3.
Table 1. Data conversion to a scale of five
Score Interval Category
Lowest score < score < µ - 1,5α Very Low
µ - 1,5α < score < µ - 0,5α Low
µ - 0,5α < score < µ + 0,5α Medium
µ + 0,5α < score < µ + 1,5α High
µ + 1,5α < score < highest score Very High
Table 1 above divides score into 5 categories. However, table that divides student’s
perception of e-learning can be seen on table 2 below
Table 2. Category of students’ perception of e-learning
Interval Category
3–6 Very low
7–8 Low
9 – 10 Medium
11 High
12 – 15 Very high
Table 3. Category of e-learning interest
Interval Category
9 – 18 Very not interested
19 – 24 Not interested
25 – 30 Quite interested
31 – 36 Interested
37 – 45 Very interested
Result and Discussion
Description of the results of the questionnaire of students' perceptions of the use of
e-learning during covid-19 quarantine show that tendency of respondents in filling out
questionnaires for each item. To make it easier in analyzing data, description is written
for each indicator in independent variable. However, description is written at once. The
results of the questionnaire are described as follows:
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Volume 2 (2), Juli 2020
Table 4. Categorizing students' perceptions of e-learning in the easiness indicator
Score Category Frequency Percentage
Strongly
1 45 5,9%
disagree
2 Disagree 66 8,7%
3 Neutral 185 24,3%
4 Agree 259 34%
5 Strongly agree 206 27,1%
Figure 1. Percentage of students’ perceptions in easiness indicator
From table 4 and figure 1, it can be seen that there are 45 respondents (5,9%)
choose strongly disagree, 66 respondents (8,7%) choose disagree, 185 respondents
(24,3%) choose neutral, 259 respondents (34%) choose agree, and 206 respondents
(27,1%). As a result, it can be concluded that most students agree that Pamulang
University e-learning website is easy to use.
Table 5. Categorizing students' perceptions of e-learning in the usefulness indicator
Score Category Frequency Percentage
Strongly
1 98 12,9%
disagree
2 Disagree 138 18,1%
3 Neutral 247 32,5%
4 Agree 169 22,2%
5 Strongly agree 109 14,3%
Figure 2. Percentage of students’ perceptions in usefulness indicator
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From table 5 and figure 2, it can be seen that there are 98 respondents (12,9%)
choose strongly disagree, 138 respondents (18,1%) choose disagree, 247 respondents
(32,5%) choose neutral, 169 respondents (22,2%) choose agree, and 109 respondents
(14,3%). As a result, it can be concluded that most students neither agree or disagree that
e-learning during covid-19 quarantine is useful in the learning process at Pamulang
University.
Table 6. Categorizing students' perceptions of e-learning in the acceptance indicator
Score Category Frequency Percentage
Strongly
1 151 19,8%
disagree
2 Disagree 208 27,3%
3 Neutral 244 32,1%
4 Agree 144 15%
5 Strongly agree 44 5,8%
Figure 3. Percentage of students’ perceptions in acceptance indicator
From table 6 and figure 3, it can be seen that there are 151 respondents (19,8%)
choose strongly disagree, 208 respondents (27,3%) choose disagree, 244 respondents
(32,1%) choose neutral, 144 respondents (15%) choose agree, and 44 respondents
(5,8%). As a result, it can be concluded that most students neither agree or disagree that
students understand topic that explained by lecturers by using e-learning.
Table 7. Descriptive statistics of students’ perceptions
Descriptive Statistics
N Min Max Mean Std. Dev
Perception 761 3 15 9,34 3,02
Valid N 761
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Data of students’ perceptions can be seen on table 7 above. Analysis results of
students’ perception obtain minimal score is 3, maximal score is 15, mean score is 9,34
and standard deviaton is 3,02.
Table 8. Categorizing students' perceptions of e-learning in all indicators
Interval Frequency Percentage Category
3–6 135 17,74% Very low
7–8 155 20,37% Low
9 – 10 199 26,15% Medium
11 82 10,78% High
12 – 15 190 24,97% Very high
Figure 4. Bar of students’ perceptions of e-learning in all indicators
From table 8, it can be seen that there are 135 respondents (17,74%) who have a
very low perception of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine, 155 respondents
(20,37%) who have a low perception of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine,
199 respondents (26,15%) who have a medium perception of the use of e-learning during
covid-19 quarantine, 82 respondents (10,78%) who have a high perception of the use of
e-learning during covid-19 quarantine, 190 respondents (24,97%) who have a very high
perception of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine.
Table 9. Descriptive statistics of e-learning interest
Descriptive Statistics
N Min Max Mean Std. Dev
Perception 761 9 45 27,01 8,76
Valid N 761
Data of e-learning interest can be seen on table 9 above. Analysis results of e-
learning interest obtain minimal score is 9, maximal score is 45, mean score is 27,01 and
standard deviaton is 8,76.
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Table 10. Categorizing e-learning interest of e-learning in all indicators
Interval Frequency Percentage Category
Very not
9 – 18 126 16,56%
interested
Not
19 – 24 173 22,73%
interested
Quite
25 – 30 195 25,62%
interested
31 – 36 157 20,63% Interested
Very
37 – 45 110 14,45%
interested
Figure 5. E-learning interest
From table 10, it can be seen that there are 126 respondents (16,56%) who are not
very interested toward e-learning during covid-19 quarantine, 173 respondents (22,73%)
who are not interested toward e-learning during covid-19 quarantine, 195 respondents
(25,62%) who are quite interested toward e-learning during covid-19 quarantine, 157
respondents (20,63%) who are interested toward e-learning during covid-19 quarantine,
110 respondents (14,45%) who are very interested toward e-learning during covid-19
quarantine.
The objective of the study is to investigate students' perceptions of the use of e-
learning during covid-19 quarantine. Based on the result of questionnaire shows that
students' perceptions of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine is medium. This
shows that implementation of e-learning conducted in accounting department at
Pamulang University is not implemented maximally yet. This can be contributed to study
result conducted by Al-Juda (2017) stating that it is necessary for lecturers should
properly plan, design and implement e-learning in order to conduct good e-learning.
In fact, Pamulang University has conducted e-learning since 2016. In other words,
Pamulang University has enough experience to conduct e-learning. However, students'
perceptions still prefer learn in the classrooms immediately to learn with online classes.
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Student’ perception of easiness aspect is dominated by students who decide agree
with item of the indicator. This result indicates that e-learning website that have been
used in Pamulang University is easy to use. Moreover, students can access e-learning
easily. E-learning conducted at Pamulang University can be accessed through a PC,
laptop, or smartphone. students can discuss easily with lecturers and peers about teaching
material. This is in accordance with research conducted by Mustarin & Wiharto (2019)
who state that e-learning can be easily conducted by students.
Student’ perception of usefulness aspect is dominated by students who decide
neutral with item of the indicator. This result indicates that most students neutral when
they are asked usefulness of e-learning in the learning process at Pamulang University.
Furthermore, because this research is conducted at accounting department then students
generally doubt whether e-learning can help in understanding calculation in the course
being taught. This is in accordance with research conducted by Yaniawati, Kariadinata,
Sari, Pramiarsih, & Mariani (2020) who state that e-learning applied to exact sciences is
more challenging to implement.
Student’ perception of acceptance aspect is dominated by students who decide
neutral with item of the indicator. This result indicates that most students neutral when
they are asked about understanding topics explained by lecturers via e-learning.
Furthermore, students can access e-learning easily. E-learning conducted at Pamulang
University can be accessed through a PC, laptop, or smartphone. students can discuss
easily with lecturers and peers about teaching material. This is in accordance with
research conducted by Islam, Beer & Slack (2015) who state that students understand
more material taught directly in the classroom than online learning.
Another objective of the study is to investigate e-learning interest during covid-19
quarantine. Based on the result of questionnaire shows that e-learning interest during
covid-19 quarantine is quite interested. This shows that the application of e-learning
conducted in accounting department at Pamulang University is not implemented
interestingly yet. This can be contributed to study result conducted by Pavlovic,
Vugdelija & Kojic (2015) stating that lecturers should use social media tools such as
wikis, blogs, video sharing, image, video meetings and video conferences as a powerful
tools that can be used to enhace e-learning interest instead of classic e-learning platform.
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Conclusion
Based on the research and analysis that have been conducted, it can be concluded
that
1. Students’ perceptions of the use of e-learning during covid-19 quarantine in
accounting department at Pamulang University is in medium category.
2. E-learning interest during covid-19 quarantine in accounting department at
Pamulang University is in medium category.
Based on the research conclusions, the researchers suggest that lecturers at Pamulang
University maximize all the features that have been provided on the Pamulang University
e-learning website to improve the perceptions and interest of e-learning students in
accounting department at Pamulang University. Furthermore, other researchers should
conduct related to distance learning to improve learning outcomes especially after Covid-
19 outbreak. Nowadays, educators around the world implement distance learning to teach
their students.
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