The Readiness of Online Distance Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic among Students

Abstract

Recently, the whole world has been struck with an infectious disease called Coronavirus (COVID-19) that gave major impact to every sector as well as education sector. Most of the education systems in the world shifted to a fully online learning method, either conducted in a synchronous or asynchronous method including Malaysian education system. In reality, the academic session in the Higher Learning Institution continued with the new norm and online learning has been implemented to ensure smooth process of teaching and learning throughout the pandemic. This paper is conducted to examine the readiness of students for emergency online distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected from 2,917 students showed that generally the level of computer and internet literacy, self-dependent learning and motivation towards online distance learning is at a high level. Moreover, these three dimensions are significantly influenced with respect to their readiness of online distance learning in terms of computer and internet literacy, self-dependent learning and motivation. Findings indicated that students were moderate to strongly ready for their distance online learning. This study highly contributes to future research by looking at the needs and demands for the upcoming year for the whole world to shift to another phase of society development by implementing technology in daily life in facing a new norm.