Turned off by online classes

SEREMBAN: Slightly less than half the number of secondary school students interviewed in a nationwide survey by a group of researchers from a public university have said “no” to online classes.

The main reasons they did not enjoy studying online were not being able to have direct interaction with their teachers and friends and taking a longer time to complete assignments.

Poor Internet connectivity, having to put in long hours on the computer and needing to share digital devices with other family members were the other reasons for this.

A total of 3,584 students were surveyed by a group of researchers from the University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Seremban campus led by Assoc Prof Dr Angeline Ranjethamoney Vijayarajoo.

Other members of the group were Assoc Prof Dr Nur Azlina Abd Aziz, Dr Jamilah Mohd Muhyideen, Dr Rossidah Wan Abdul Aziz and Nur Hidayah Mohd Razali.

The findings, conducted over a 10-day period from May 15 and almost two months after schools were closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, were made available to Sunday Star.

“Our findings showed that 49.3% of the students did not enjoy online classes.

“Of the respondents, 50.2% were from the low income earners category or B40,33.4% from the medium income earners or M40 and 16.4% from the high income earners group or T20, ” they said.

They said the respondents, 67.7% were from the urban area, 27.02% (rural) and 5.28% (remote), were a fair representation of the population.

A total of 92.8% of the respondents stated that their schools conducted online learning while 7.2% said theirs did not.

The group said the slim majority who enjoyed online classes did so as they could experience a new learning environment and there was a flexible learning time and space.

“Other reasons included being able to repeat or go back to the lesson if necessary to get a better understanding, easy access to information, and the conducive learning environment.

“There was also no requirement for school presence and it was easier to ask their teacher questions without any embarrassment or fear, as they were not visible to the teacher or their peers, ” they said.

As for Internet accessibility, 63.6% reported they had moderate Internet speed, strong speed (27.2%) and slow connections (9.2%).

“The survey also showed that 12.1% of the respondents did not have access to the Internet, ” they said, adding that 85.3% of these students came from B40 families followed by 13.1% (M40) and 1.6% (T20).

The lecturers said another critical finding of the survey was that 44.5% of the correspondents said they were stressed when studying online.

“The main factor attributed to this was difficulties in understanding lessons, ” they said, adding that other factors included being overburdened with work, poor Internet connectivity and a non-conducive learning environment.

However, the survey also found that 71.6% of the students were ready to learn online as a new norm in the current times.

“Though 28.4% were not ready for online learning, this figure is still a significant number to be considered in order to have a successful and comprehensive learning and teaching online platform, ” they said.