MALAY LITERATURE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING EXPERIENCES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Background and Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the landscape of human life all over the world, including the conventional face-to-face teaching method, which has been replaced with online classes. The drastic changes without a holistic planning makes online teaching prone to various shortcomings. Thus, this article aims to address two research objectives. The first objective is to determine Malay Literature students ‘online learning experiences, and the second objective is to analyse the demographic factors influencing students’ perceptions of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.   Methodology: This descriptive study employed a survey questionnaire to gather data. A sample consisting of 67 undergraduate students majoring in Malay Literature at a public university were recruited as respondents in the present study using a simple random sampling method.  After following 14 weeks of online lessons, a questionnaire form was distributed to the students. The research instrument is a questionnaire, which has been adapted and modified from a study by Baczek et al. (2020). The questionnaire form consists of two sections. Section A contains eight items related to respondents’ demographic background. Section B contains items related to students’ perceptions of online learning, in which six items are related to the benefits of online learning, five items are based on the disadvantages of online learning, and four items on students’ general perceptions of online learning. The responses from the questionnaire were analysed using Statistical Package for the Sosial Science 22.0 for descriptive analysis.   Findings: The study found that online learning is perceived by students as being more disadvantageous than beneficial. Respondents concluded that the advantage of online learning is that they could learn from their own homes according to the suitability of their time. They also acknowledged that they could access learning resources better in online classes. One of the factors influencing students’ perceptions of online learning is the speed of Internet connection.   Contributions: The study highlights the need for lecturers to be adequately prepared and to consider factors such as quality of Internet access, home location, students’ readiness and constraints faced by students.   Keywords: COVID-19, learning, literature, online learning, quality education.   Cite as: Veeramuthu, S. P., Ganapathy, M., Abdul Rahman, M. L., Harun, J., & Ramganesh, E. (2022). Malay literature students’ perceptions of online learning experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic at a public university. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(2), 44-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss2pp44-60