FOE OR FRIEND: ONLINE EDUCATION IN THE COVID-19 ERA?

Abstract

Transmissions of SARS-COV-2 are easy from humans who do not follow health protocols, including educators and students. The educational process cannot be done face-to-face and is replaced with online learning to prevent additional cases. This study aims to analyze online education in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Online questionnaires were distributed to respondents openly using a google form. All respondents of any age from various professions and fields of education were included in the study. Research approval on respondents less than 18 years of age were carried out by their parents. This study was conducted in May 2020. We obtained 751 respondents from ages 5-69 (28(12,6)) years old, and two-thirds are women. The respondent’s categories are consisted of university students 45.79%, lecturers 22.52%, parents 9.03%, pre-university students 7.55%, and teachers 3.96%. Basic sains of subjects consists of health 50.61%, non-health 26.85% and others. The respondents stated that the pandemic impacted education (88.24%) and felt a decline in the educational process (79.62%). The types of online education are online lectures, assignments at home (more than 70% each), and online exams (53.92%). The majority of respondents (79.5%) prefer to take education offline. Internet constraints, short duration, lack of concentration, and lack of opportunity to ask questions are obstacles to implementing online education. However, online education has many advantages, i.e. accessible from anywhere; free implementation time, followed by more participants with cost-effectiveness. More than two-thirds of the respondents said that online education could not replace offline education after the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a decline in the education process. Online education must be implemented even though there are various obstacles. However, there are also advantages to implementing online education.