FACE TO FACE VS ONLINE LEARNING 1

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION (EDFS 2203), SEMESTER 1 2020/2021

WORKING PAPER: FINAL PRESENTATION,

FACE TO FACE LEARNING VS. ONLINE LEARNING DURING PANDEMIC :

PREFERENCE AND CHALLENGES.

SECTION: 1

GROUP 11

NAME OF GROUP MEMBERS: MATRIC NUMBER

1. NORSHAFIKAH BINTI MOHAMED SHARKAWI 1811052

2. NOR FADHILAH BINTI AMERAN 1828712

3. HAMIRA SURIANI BINTI HAMDAN 1918578

4. NUR EIZZATTIE NADHIRAH BINTI HARISHAM 1813744

5. ISLAMUNAWAR BIN LAMRAN 1911941

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TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGES

1. ABSTRACT…...……………………………………………………………. 3

2. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………. 3-5

3. OBJECTIVES………………………………………………………………… 5

4. QUESTIONS…………………………………………………………………. 6-7

5. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………….. 8 - 11

6. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………… 12

7. RESULT/FINDINGS………………………………………………………… 13 - 28

8. LIMITATIONS/ CHALLENGES……………………………………………. 28

9. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………. 28 - 29

10. REFERENCES………………………………………………………………. 30 - 31

11. APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………… 32
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ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 virus epidemic that hit Malaysia had an impact on policies in changing the

system and education style from traditional learning to online learning, adaptive and innovative

teaching and learning processes. In preventing the spread of the covid-19 virus, the Malaysia

government closed all schools and universities for a while in order to shut down all human

interaction activity, such as social gathering including educational activities. New ways such as

online learning need to be adapted by various parties especially teachers and students in adopting

new norms. The purpose of this research is to get information about students’ perspective and

preferences towards online learning vs face to face learning. This paper also aims to collect

information about the obstacles and problems faced by students when conducting the online

learning process and how they tackle those problems. This study uses quantitative data obtained

by conducting a survey of students from various universities all over Malaysia.

1.0. INTRODUCTION

The world has been shocked by an outbreak of infectious disease that was just discovered

in China in 2019 (Lee,2020). In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a

pandemic situation due to the transmission of a new type of Coronavirus that caused the

COVID19 epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes the COVID-19

transmission situation as a pandemic because it is a contagious disease that spreads through the

human population and crosses vast areas across national and continental boundaries, and even

around the world (World Health Organization, 2020). Therefore, the COVID-19 Pandemic has a

very big and profound impact on the whole world, especially in various sectors such as health,
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economy, finance, industry and others. In fact, education is no exception and is also affected by

this pandemic both at the primary and higher levels in Institutions of Higher Learning. This is

because, in line with the declaration of this epidemic, most countries have ordered the temporary

closure of educational institutions as part of measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19

pandemic from continuing to spread, including Malaysia itself (Prof Madya Dr Abdul Halim

Abdullah, 2020). Therefore, the issue of education has faced various challenges in the country

over the past few months, namely when the government began to implement the Movement

Control Order (MCO). The move to close the education sector has resulted in all schools and

institutions of higher learning being closed to ensure that the chain of transmission of this

dangerous epidemic can be successfully resolved. As a result, indirectly the process of

face-to-face teaching and learning that has been practiced since time immemorial had to be

discontinued within a certain period and was replaced with online learning or remote learning

(Sun et al, 2020). This is also one of the government's efforts to ensure that all students do not

miss out on the learning process. Covid pandemic has changed the way we learn and made us

rely heavily on technology and the importance of the internet.

However, various annoyances arise when implementing this online learning method. This

change in learning methods indirectly has a huge impact on all educators and students where

they have to get used to doing activities that are beyond their normal norms and require them in

the maximum use of technology (Kusuma & Hamidah, 2020). Simamora (2020) stated various

challenges experienced by students and educators in applying online learning methods include

students who do not have gadgets or personal smartphones, some do not have enough internet

data and some do not have direct internet access. For educators, there is doubt as to which
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platform is suitable for conducting online learning so that the delivery of knowledge can be

conveyed effectively to all students. Therefore, various suitable digital applications or platforms

have usually been used such as Whatsapp, Google Classroom, Zoom, Webex, YouTube and so on

to continue learning activities even during the government-controlled Movement (MCO) period

(FutureLearn, 2020). Since then, it can be seen that during this pandemic in our country, it has a

very different impact on students from various aspects such as finance, time management,

learning, and health aspects. Hence, this study was conducted to identify what are the challenges

and problems faced by students during the Covid-19 pandemic and how they are able to

overcome all these challenges effectively.

2.0. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this research are:

● To discover what kind of difficulties or challenges that were faced by students during

online learning.

● To explore which kind of learning that students prefer. (online or face to face learning)

● To identify the advantages and disadvantages of face to face learning from a student's

opinion.

● To seek strategies for coping skills to deal with difficulties that were faced by the students

in online learning.

● To evaluate students’ perspectives on online learning vs face to face learning

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3.0 QUESTIONS.

Based on the research objective, we have come out with some survey questions that will

be needed for us to identify what our research is all about and for us to learn and understand

more on our objective of this project. Our research questions are inline with our 18 survey

questions provided which are:

Research Question Survey Questions

What are the learning preferences and Question 1: Are you now having any online
challenges faced by the students during classes due to covid-19 ?
Pandemic Covid-19 ?
Question 2: Where are you doing the online
class?

Question 3: Is online learning as good as face

to face learning?

Question 4: What are your most common

challenges during online learning?

Question 5: Do you have a good data

connection at home?

Question 6: Check the top 3 barriers that you

faced during the online classes

Question 7: Communication with lecturers

and groupmates is difficult with online
learning compared to face to face learning.

Question 8: How well could you manage time

while online learning?

Question 9: Which methods of learning that

you prefer (online/face to face/hybrid)? State
your reasons.

Question 10: What is the most effective

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platform for you to perform your online

classes?

Question 11: Based on your opinion, what is

the difference between online learning and
face to face learning?

Question 12: Does a sudden change of

method of learning affect you as students?

Question13: What are the advantages of face

to face learning?

Question 14: If during a pandemic, do you

still insist for institutions to do face to face
learning?

Question 15: What are your best suggestions

to cope/ improve to break through the
challenges of online learning towards better
learning?

Question 16: Which environment is better to

focus?

Question 17: How committed are you in

online learning?

Question 18: Do you feel motivated during

online learning rather than face to face
learning? State your reasons for your answer.
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4.0. LITERATURE REVIEW

Online Learning: The Challenges and Effectiveness

Focus on: Challenges of online learning and finding out whether online learning is as good

as face to face based on other articles

An article titled “Covid-19 Pandemic and Online Learning: The challenges and

Opportunities” written by O.B. Adedoyin and E. Soykan discuss the challenges and its

opportunities of online learning. The pandemic is indeed shutting down all human interaction

activity drastically, such as social gathering including educational activities which resulted in

changing from traditional learning to online learning. However, it is said that online learning is

not something that is new, in fact the use of online learning is already introduced far back in the

1980s, 1990 and especially in the 2000s which was seen as the optimal time for online education.

Before this, online education is seen as something as a good alternative but not as something that

is a serious model which as an instructional activity (Riberio,2020) After the news of the virus

spreading and affecting the world, the world is in a dire need of closing any physical contact and

interactions therefore, all the physical closure also affecting greatly on educational institutions to

adapt with digital transformation. ([Link] & [Link],2020) It is due to a pandemic that

forced schools, universities and educational institutions to utilize and make full use of online

learning to its full power. This drastic transformation of teaching methods is to ensure that

students, teachers and staff are able to maintain the social distancing in hope that by maintaining

it can curb the spread of the virus. This sudden change of learning from traditional learning to

online learning came with several challenges, which the major issue has caused the need to
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modify the attitude of learners, teachers and education administrators to be able to adapt with the

online learning ([Link] & [Link],2020).

Unfortunately, this sudden transformation of learning, not a lot of people can adapt to it

right away. Most of them, whether lecturers or students, both find it hard to adapt to it and are

expected to be tech-savvy right away. It’s not as easy as that! There are a number of people who

still do not have the skills to use digital methods of teaching and learning, even if we are already

living in the 21st century. There are still school, university or educational institutions who are yet

to attain the full stage of online learning and teaching. It takes time and effort to really be good at

it. ([Link] & [Link],2020) We have to understand that online learning relies entirely

on technological devices and the most important one is the internet. Even though students did

have technological devices such as a laptop or phone, it does not entirely determine that students

can attend the class. They may have encountered problems such as bad internet connection or at

their home does not have a good internet line. Having technological devices is pointless if

students do not have a good internet connection ([Link] & [Link],2020). Furthermore,

students or instructors also will find it hard for them to meet the criteria or requirement of online

learning and catch up with it if their technological devices are outdated. Some students cannot

download the apps that were suggested by the lecturers due to the outdated devices and it is not

compatible with their devices. Hence, they may find it hard to catch up or follow the instructions

of the lecturer. Moreover, we also cannot ignore the difficulties that were faced by students with

low socioeconomic background. With these sudden changes, they were more affected during this

pandemic and we have to expect that they cannot adapt to it easily. They are the most vulnerable

to fall behind in online learning where before the pandemic at least they can depend on school or

university free internet. But when a pandemic strikes, they can no longer go to school or
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university to access the free internet ([Link] & [Link],2020). In fact, for students who

use internet data, it is more costly for them to pay every month, so that they can make sure they

have the internet access to attend online learning. Not only that, students may encounter

challenges like interruption from family members or pets. Not to forget, the noisy environment

also might be a challenge for the students. This kind of interruption may affect student’s attention

during online learning and teaching processes ([Link] & [Link],2020).

Furthermore, an article titled “Challenges of Home Learning during A Pandemic through

The Eyes of A Student.” written by Rarkryan [Link] (2020), stated that when schools were

enforced to do online learning, many schools were not ready to transform to home learning

programs yet as online was confusing to adjust and adapt to. It is as reported that online learning

is more stressful than face to face learning. The common reason for that is having social

interaction with friends makes it less stressful. Moreover, students reported that the online

learning workload is much larger than regular class. It can be justified by [Link] (2020)

reference stated that he received complaints from students receiving more emails from the

university. According to [Link] & [Link] (2020),these loads of emails have added to

the stress of students and faculty and probably may result in mental health problems for them due

to stress. Next challenge goes to students who have no access to a device or internet connection

are the ones who are in a tough spot to make sure they can access their education. Therefore, the

government should make extra effort to make sure all students' education will not be left behind

([Link],2020). Researchers discovered that online classes aren’t as effective as face

to face classes. Only a little research conducted by Jessica Heppen and colleagues (2020), which

aims to find out the effectiveness of online learning for elementary and high school students and

used the “gold standard” method of comparing the students' results who were assigned into 2
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different categories, randomly to online and in-person courses. From the research, they found out

that students score lower in online settings and the students also rated that online class is more

difficult than face to face class. It is not a surprise to say that face to face classes are much more

effective than online classes. For instance, being closer with teachers and other students develop

social pressures that can help to motivate students to engage in class (Susanna Loeb, 2020) well

it is not to say that all of the students are performing badly in online class, there are some

students who really excel in online class. However, on average most students do worse in online

classes especially those who have weak academic backgrounds. According to a study of college

students, it is said that students who struggle most in face to face class are most likely to struggle

even more in online platforms (Susanna Loeb, 2020). In general, even though online classes are

not as effective as in-person classes, it is much better than having no class at all. We may find a

lot of difficulties and hardships in online class, perhaps it is already time to embrace the

challenges and improve it.

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5.0. METHODOLOGY

For our research, the data collection for our research is collected by conducting an online

survey. The survey consisted of 18 questions which are, five questions of open-ended structured

and thirteen questions of closed-ended structured. The survey has been spread via WhatsApp,

and we have targeted to receive about 120 respondents to answer our survey, however we

manage to get more respondents from what we targeted which is 129 respondents. Essentially,

17.83% of our respondents are males while 82.17% are females. Furthemore, 96 (74.42%) of the

respondents are IIUM students while 33 (25.6%) of them are from other local universities. The

respondents came from different faculties and have different specializations. 26.16% (26) of

them are level 1 students, 62.02% (80) are in level 2, 17.83% (23) are in level 3 while there are

no respondents who are in level 4. After the targeted number of respondents achieved, we did not

accept any responses and start the data analysis from the information and collected data. The data

was analyzed and further interpreted in a form of a pie chart and bar graph according to the

questions.
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6.0. RESULTS/FINDINGS

Question 1: Are you now having any online classes due to covid-19?

● Majority of the respondents are having online classes due to covid-19 which are 126 in

numbers (97.7%) while 3 (2.3%) of them are not having online classes during the

pandemic.

Question 2: Where are you doing the online class?

● Majority of the respondents are having their online classes at home with 103 in numbers

(79.8%) while 26 (20.2%) of them are doing online classes at their university.
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Question 3: Is online learning as good as face to face learning?

● Many of the respondents stated that online learning is not good as face to face learning

with 109 responses and 20 responses otherwise.

Question 4: What are your most common challenges during online learning?

● The figure above depicted, there are 9 categories of responses by the respondents.

Majority of the respondents which are 34.1% agree that the most common challenges

during online learning are self-motivation.

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● Meanwhile, 24.8% of the respondents argue that wifi, data and connection give the most

challenges to them during online classes. Meanwhile,14.7% of them agree on

environmental challenges. Another 11.6% of the respondents state time management as

their most common challenge while another 14.8% of respondents are uncertain of this

question.

Question 5: Do you have a good data connection at home?

● From the graph above, it is clearly shown 47.3% of the respondents have an average data

connection at home. It is followed by very good data connection responses with 22.5%

of the respondents while 18.7% of the respondents are in fair data connection at home.

● Meanwhile, only 7.8% of the respondents have an excellent data connection at home

while the other stated 3.8% poor.

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Question 6: Check the top 3 barriers that you faced during the online classes.

● It clearly analyzes that both poor Wifi speed and poor coverage records the highest

voted from respondents on the barriers that they faced during the online classes which

are 72 respondents voting on it equals to 55% respectively.

● Meanwhile, the second highest is on the limited or no access to Wifi which is 55

respondents (42.6%) and third highest is on limited or no access to Wifi which records

28 respondents (21.7%) as their top three barriers during online classes. While another

34.3% of respondents are uncertain of the answers.

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Questions 7: Communication with lecturers and groupmates is difficult with online learning

compared to face to face learning.

● The graph shows the majority of the respondents with 58.1% (75) believe that it was

moderate to have communication with lectures and group mates in online learning

compared to face to face learning while only 38.8% (50) of them believe it was

difficult.

● 42% (4) stated communication with lectures and groupmates is easy with online

learning compared to face to face learning.

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Question 8: How well could you manage time while online learning?

● Majority of the respondents moderately well manage time while online learning with 57 in

numbers (44.2%) while 43 (33.3%) of them are slightly well regarding managing time.

Besides, 20 (15.5%) of them fail in managing time while online learning.

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Question 9:Which methods of learning that you prefer (online/face to face/hybrid)? State your

reasons.

● Most of the respondents prefer face to face methods of learning because it is easier to

interact with lecturers or asking questions to classmates if there are things that are

confused about. They love being in class rather than sitting in front of their laptops. They

also stated that face to face learning more effective methods as there is no barrier like

wifi or connection problems.

● Some of them prefer hybrid methods because online learning can make the students make

benefit from the technology and face to face is able to the students and lecturer interact

directly without any barrier. They also stated that it was a more suitable method as we

faced the pandemic.

● Only a few of them choose online learning as they can stay at home with their family and

slowly can adapt to the new norm of learning.

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Question 10: What is the most effective platform for you to perform your online classes?

● The figure above states 55% of the respondents agree on Google meet as the most

effective platform for online classes. While 23.3% of them agree on Google classroom as

an effective platform and 12.4% of respondents are voting on Microsoft team as their best

platform for online classes.

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Question 11: Based on your opinion, what is the difference between online learning and face

to face learning?

● Based on the analysis of the responses, most of the respondents share the same opinion

that through online learning they can understand more and focus on the lecture as they

can ask questions directly to the lecturers once they are not clear in certain things. Most

of them also mentioned that online learning makes it easier for them to have physical

interactions with their lecturers and classmates in class as they can communicate directly

without any boundaries.

● Meanwhile, for online learning, the majority of the respondents share the same negative

side on it which most of them are not favourable on online learning because of no
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physical contact and interactions with their lecturers and classmates. Therefore, it makes

them difficult to understand what they are learning because of no direct interactions.

● Only a few of the respondents are sharing the idea of online learning to make them have

more freedom as they do not have to worry to move from one venue of class to another

venue, they do not have to worry to be late to class and flexible for them to do anything

they want to besides the class sessions.

Question 12: Does the sudden change of method of learning affect you as students?

● It is clearly stated that 79.1% (102) of the respondents think the sudden change method of

learning is affecting their life as a student, however, 20.9% (27) think that there is no

effect on them in this issue.

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Question 13: What are the advantages of face to face learning?

● They mentioned that face to face learning provides immediate interactions between

students and lecturers as well as among students, which lead to direct communication.

● The other advantages of face to face learning is that it can reduce health problems,

especially eye problems as students do not tend to face the laptop 24 hours.

● Besides, they can easily understand the topic had been discussed because there was dual

interaction and body language also included that helps in expressing about the topic.

● They also can avoid misunderstanding that may occur due to misinterpretation either

because of the language itself or the way someone read the message with a different

intonation.
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Question 14: If during a pandemic, do you still insist for institutions to do face to face

learning?

● The graph shows the majority of the respondents with 70.5% (91) stated that during a

pandemic they do not insist for institutions to do face to face learning while 29.5% (38)

still insist for during a pandemic.

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Question 15: What are your best suggestions to cope/ improve to break through the challenges

of online learning towards better learning?

● Most of the respondents suggest managing time well as it can make yourself schedule to

study and do assignments because at home we have more tasks to do. Then, try to

communicate with the lecturer if not being able to follow the learning and get the buddies

or make a motivated group for studies.

● They also suggest improving the technology and network coverage as many of them face

that problem while in online learning. Government should do more on expansionary

fiscal policy in order to upgrade the coverage of the internet.

● Other than that, they also suggest doing some exercise to release stress. Exercise in

almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost our feel-good

endorphins and distract from daily worries.

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Question 16: Which environment is better to focus?

● The graph shows that the majority of the respondents choose an actual class( face to face)

is a better environment to focus during class. There are 88.4%( 114) from 129 responses

that choose actual class( face to face) as a better environment to focus in class. The rest

which is 11.6% ( 15) choose online learning as a better environment to focus during class.
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Question 17 : How committed are you in online learning ?

● The graph shows that most of the respondents choose average as their committed level in

online learning. There are 57.4% (74) from 129 respondents choose average as their

commitment in online learning. Other than that, the respondents who choose Very Good

and Fair as their commitment level shows the same percentage which is 15.5% (20).

Lastly, respondents who choose Excellent as their commitment level in online learning

shows the least

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Question 18: Do you feel motivated during online learning rather than face to face learning?

State your reasons for your answer.

● Most of the respondents were not motivated during online learning rather than face to

face learning. Regarding the respondents, the very popular reasons for answering no

motivation during online learning rather than face to face learning is unable to focus in

class during the online learning. It is because there are many challenges during the

classes such as connection problems and family matters.

● Other than that, some of them also did not feel motivated because they couldn't meet their

friends during the class. They don't have friends at home to study along with.

Furthermore, some of them also cannot feel the vibe of learning if compared to the face

to face learning. Meanwhile, there are also some respondents who feel motivated during

the online learning rather than face to face learning. Regarding the respondents, they feel
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motivated because they like to do work alone and quietly. Other than that, some of them

are also motivated because of the support from their parents and family members.

7.0. LIMITATION/CHALLENGES

During our time to complete this group project, our group has faced many challenges.

The biggest challenge that we faced is the difficulty in communicating with each other. Our

group members consist of students from the same kulliyyah and course, but some of our class

time hours are different from each other because we are taking different university requirement

courses. WhatsApp is the only main platform for us to communicate and to discuss the project.

Furthermore, since we can’t discuss the project face to face during this pandemic and have to

conduct a discussion at home, our main difficulties are when we have to totally depend on

discussion through an online platform. Due to this, issues of misunderstandings and not clear

about the assessment guidelines exist among us group members.

8.0. CONCLUSION

Overall, we managed to collect 129 responses from university students. We did not

restrict our survey to only IIUM students, in fact we spread it out to other universities as well in

order to get their opinions about ‘Face to Face Learning vs Online Learning during Pandemic:

Preference and Challenges’ which this survey was conducted by our group members. In a

nutshell, we can conclude that the digital transformation of instructional activities during the

period of the Covid-19 pandemic has posed many challenges to the students. One of the biggest

challenges both for institutions or teachers and students is the total dependency of online learning

on technological equipment and the provision of the equipment, like instructors and students
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with bad internet connections and without appropriate technological devices are not able to

access and participate in online [Link] is important to remember, on the other hand, that this

online style of teaching and learning also has its benefits, such as accessibility, interactivity,

self-pacing, and multiple opportunities for self-improvement and creativity. The longer the

pandemic lasts, the more likely it is that online learning will become a socially acceptable

method of teaching and learning across the globe. Of course, face-to-face teaching in classrooms

and live social contact between teacups can never be replaced.

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9.0. REFERENCES

FutureLeaarn. (March 19, (2020)). COVID-19: The best resources for online teaching during

coronavirus. Retrieved from

[Link]

ching%20During%20Coronavirus%20-%20Blog%20-%[Link]

How Effective Is Online Learning? What the Research Does and Doesn't

Tell Us (Opinion). (2020). Retrieved 17 December 2020, from

[Link]

[Link]#:~:text=Online%20teachers%20will%20need%20to,have%20not%20in%20the%2

0past.&text=Online%20courses%20are%20generally%20not,certainly%20better%20than

%20no%20classes.

Kusuma, J. W., & Hamidah, H. (2020). Perbandingan hasil belajar matematika dengan

penggunaan platform Whatsapp Group dan webinar Zoom dalam pembelajaran jarak jauh

pada masa

Lee, A. (2020). Wuhan novel coronavirus (COVID-19): why global control is challenging?

Public Health, 179, A1–A2. Retrieved from [Link]

O.B. Adedoyin & E. Soykan (2020). Covid-19 Pandemic and Online Learning: The

challenges and Opportunities. Retrieved 17 December 2020, from

[Link]
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Post, T. (2020). Challenges of home learning during a pandemic through

the eyes of a student. Retrieved 17 December 2020, from

[Link]

[Link]

Prof Madya Dr Abdul Halim Abdullah. (2020, March 28). COVID-19 buka mata warga

pendidik, pelajar. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from

[Link]

rga-pendidik-pelajar

Simamora, R. M. (2020). The Challenges of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic:

An Essay Analysis of Performing Arts Education Students. Studies in Learning and

Teaching, 1(2), 86-103. doi:10.46627/silet.v1i2.38

Sun, L., Tang, Y., & Zuo, W. (2020). Coronavirus pushes education online. Nature Materials,

19(6), 687–687. Retrieved from [Link]

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports.

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10. APPENDICES