Covid 19: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Online Learning in

Tertiary Education.
By: Wong Ye Wern, Beatrice Law Jie En & Goh Chuan Hua

Data Analytics and Computer Science

Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia

1.0 Introduction

Technology is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of

technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon

such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science”

(“Technology,” n.d.). In the world we currently live in and for years to come, technology is

essential. Access to learning opportunities presently is unprecedented in scope owing to the

application of technology and its advances. Especially in present times with the Covid-19

pandemic situation going on, the importance of technology is increasingly growing in the

education sector as learning and receiving the right cultivation should not be compromised.

The rise of online learning utilising electronic means is growing tremendously throughout the

earth. With many factors and benefits technology has given, online education has clearly

become one of the most prominent tertiary education alternatives. Universities have carried

classes online to help minimise the spread of the virus infection. This paper aims to show

online learning as a great substitute for on-campus learning because it trains students to be

self-disciplined, improves the quality of learning and brings convenience to students.

2.0 Develop Self-discipline

First of all, online learning gives students an opportunity to develop stronger self-discipline

skills.
 2.1 Time management

Online learning helps students to develop better self-discipline with regard to time,

time management. Time management is prominent for students to succeed in online

programs where there is a lack of face-to-face interaction, which means no one is

physically reminding students deadlines of assessments and motivating students to

complete work. Erisman (as cited in Dragicevic, 2017) asserted that students should

schedule their time and set their learning goals by plotting tasks and deadlines in the

calendar. Once an organised calendar is built, students are able to have a clear view

of upcoming tasks, deadlines as well as help students to prioritize academic tasks

accurately. Students should refer to the academic calendar to prioritize study tasks

by ranking tasks according to notably or urgency so students know what has to be

done immediately and what can wait (Walden University, n.d.). Besides, time

management is also significant for students to maintain study-life balance. Cheng

(n.d.) mentioned that students taking online courses are studying and living in the

same environment and this often strains student’s ability to balance and determine

learning time and personal life time which can lead to an imbalanced life. Study-life

imbalance can increase the risk of various health hazards and add to the level of

stress which is crucial to the continuation of good health. So, students should

manage their time effectively to ensure that they have balance between study and

other obligations. Indeed, excellent time management skills not only help students in

online learning but also increase the productivity of student’s lives. 

2.2 Self-motivated learner

Next, self-motivation is one of the salient elements required in online learning. An

online instruction expert Allen, (as cited in Charter college, n.d.) mentioned that

students taking online courses have to be very self-motivated. Students with a strong
sense of self-motivation are galvanised to continue learning new things. For example,

a self-motivated learner will read and view all the essential learning material such as

pre-class learning material on their own. Besides that, a self-motivated learner

participates fully in the classroom by responding and asking questions (Purdue

University Global, 2018). Some students tend to have a mindset that asking

questions in class is embarrassing, which is clearly not true. Students should feel

free to ask questions and communicate with lecturers not only in virtual classrooms

but also chat rooms with lecturers, emails, discussion boards and etcetera. Asking

questions allows students to have a better understanding of a particular topic and

allows them to make an in-depth study. Therefore, self-motivation is needed by

students who are taking online courses as it promotes self-studying awareness and

highly augments the efficiency of learning.

2.3 Do not procrastination

Lastly, online courses provide students with a plethora of freedom, which can make

procrastinating come with ease. Online learning has its benefits such as a flexible

schedule, students are in charge of their own learning pace, but some students might

take this advantage to engage in other activities outside of class and postpone

important study tasks. Timothy (2011) asserted that an online learner must break the

habit of procrastination because procrastination engenders failure. This can be

explained when students procrastinate, they have insufficient time to produce quality

work and complete the task before the deadline. Students taking online courses must

be dedicated to learning by prioritising their studies after social media, TV, texting

and any other distractions in order to beat procrastination. For instance, students

should work on all the online quizzes and assignments first before they engage with

other activities outside of studies. This can ensure that all tasks will be completed

within the time limit, frees up extra time for relaxing as well as prevents stress and

anxiety caused by tremendous amounts of work. Hence, students should always

 remind themselves the reason they started the course and galvanize themselves to

overcome the habit of procrastination.

To sum up, online learning is able to produce students with a high degree of self-discipline

which acts as a key to success. 

3.0 Improve Quality of Learning

Students will get to experience a better environment for their studies which can improve the

quality of their learnings drastically.

3.1 Less Distractions

First of all, one of the biggest problems students face when studying is that there are

many distractions almost everywhere, and this where online learning can help

counter this problem, it reduces the disturbance that students have to face because it

allows students to study in a place of choice where there are less distractions. There

can be distractions from friends or even strangers sitting around the student who is

trying hard to focus, this is why many students fail to give their full attention when

they are in the class. According to Werell (2019), one of the best benefits of studying

learning online is that there will be fewer distractions. Since the students will be

studying at home, there will be less bad student behaviors that teachers don’t

condone, such as bullying, talking when the teacher is talking and many more. Reuell

(2013) has also stated that regular tests halved student distraction and tripled

students note-taking. Assessment is very frequent and is an ongoing process for the

students studying online due to the convenience of it because all the student needs

is a device to go online, they do not need to waste time getting seated in a hall to

take the assessment, this will make students much more likely to set everything

aside and absorb the material better since they know there will be a test upcoming
 soon. In general, students will face lesser distractions with online learning due to not

having that much of interference to worry about.

3.2 Different Study Environment  

Students are able to experience having a different study environment if they study

online as opposed to the classroom full of people on the school campus. Online

learning allows students to personalize or choose their own room settings to satisfy

their own needs to focus better, which is one of the major factors that affects a

student academically. Firstly, Liftoff (2016) has said that online learning offers an

environment which can effectively encourage a student to achieve better academic

performance, this is because when students study in the environment that they

prefer, they tend to focus more and not complain about the things happening in the

classroom. Next, an article by Bleske (2018), has stated that the problem isn’t the

students, it is the classroom. This is likely due to the classroom having desks and

chairs that are in bad shape or students facing a lack of visibility or audibility to the

front, which can pull a student’s attention away from the class. Finally, Warfield

(2016) supported this claim by stating that the physical environment can affect a

student’s academic progression by as much as 25%. This is because cleanliness,

brightness and color of the light can all change each student’s learning experience

differently. Moreover, a disorganized classroom in school will take a student’s focus

away from learning, as it can be distractingly uncomfortable for students. In

conclusion, online learning provides students to study in an environment of their own

preference to help improve their learning capabilities.

3.3 Teacher- Student Time

 Online learning allows teachers to give out personalized attention to each student

specifically as it can be done quickly and easily. With online learning students are

able to contact the teacher easily and seek help from them, the teachers will also

have a lot more spare time due to having a more flexible schedule from online

learning. This can drastically improve a student academic-wise as they are able to

clarify the questions they had in mind. According to Community college of AURORA

(n.d.), personal talk time and online guided discussions are the trademark for online

learning. Students can easily get to talk to the teachers online without needing to go

to the office to find them like before. The teacher can also discuss the solutions to the

whole classroom easily with online group discussions. This greatly helps a student to

improve academically as their uncertainties can be solved quickly. Online class

increases the chances of students performing better due to the time that their

teachers are able to give them because of online learning.

In short, online learning can greatly benefit the students and the school by improving

students' learning quality and experience.

4.0 Bring Convenience

Online learning has greatly benefit students by bringing convenience of learning in online

courses. 

4.1 Increase Student Satisfaction

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in tertiary education

prompts the increase in students’ satisfaction towards online learning. The well-

structured and user-oriented features of online courses influence student’s

satisfaction which results in greater enjoyment while lowering the level of frustration

and boredom of students (Ghaderizefreh & Hoover, 2018). The findings of Strong et

al. (2012) reported that students are satisfied with e-learning courses and that many
students prefer distance learning as it is more stimulating and exciting. It is true that

students will strive for progressive improvement in their studies when students are

satisfied with their learning. Thus, leading to greater understandability and

achievement regardless of students’ academic excellence, subsequently influencing

their future lives.

4.2 Flexible Schedule

The flexibility of online learning is helping in its gain to widespread popularity. Having

a flexible learning schedule is an appealing factor that encourages students to

choose online learning over a more conventional education. The efficiency of online

learning is described as not having to attend campus classes by a set schedule and

therefore allowing for more efficient use of time. Students get to decide when and

where to study according to their own will and needs. To illustrate, students can

avoid traffic and no longer need to worry about traffic range, time wastage, and the

prospect of being late as there are no car rides needed to attend class (Daymont et

al., 2011). The time saved in travelling and attending on campus classes can be used

for study and other commitments. With a flexible schedule, students taking up part-

time jobs do not have to worry about missing classes or even lag behind in their

studies (Daymont et al., 2011). This will further improve a student’s productivity as

students will be more motivated and be in the right frame of mind to study in order to

achieve learning objectives. Convenience is achieved when students can access the

learning activities at convenient times.

4.3 Personalised Learning

Personalized learning refers to instruction in which the pace of learning and approach

are optimized for the needs of each learner. According to the findings of O’Donnell et

al. (2012), 60% of respondents in an experiment carried out felt that there is a need

to personalise e-learning to suit individual student’s learning requirements. Students

 have the right to create and maintain their personal learning plans (McLoughlin and

Lee, 2010). Getting the chance to control one's own learning progress and focus on

weaker areas motivates students to further explore their area of interest. 

Overall, online learning fascinates higher education students by bringing convenience while

maintaining the level of education they will receive.

5.0 Lack of face-to-face interaction

Nonetheless, there are some parties that hold the belief that the lack of face-to-face

interaction in online learning can jeopardize the success of the learning. Jaggars and Bailey

(2013) assert  that students taking online courses have a higher rate of failing and

withdrawing from online courses than traditional learning. The lack of support from their

lecturers and communication between students and lecturers in online learning causing the

learning progress might not be as effective as traditional learning where a lot of discussions

and live interactions take place. Besides, when students face difficulties in studies, it can be

tough for students to seek help from lecturers and causes them to give up on their studies. 

However, high quality asynchronous communication between lecturer and students can still

be carried out even though there is lack of face to face interaction in online learning.

Needless to say, asynchronous communication such as texting, emailing, discussion board

and etcetera which do not require face-to-face interaction has become common to all of us.

According to Russell (2014), studies have been conducted to substantiate that

asynchronous communications are advantageous in forming strong and meaningful learning

communities through using several online communication tools. With these tools,

communication and discussion can be carried out with ease. For instance, online

communication tools such as Microsoft teams, Padlet, Zoom and etcetera have increased

the interactions between lectures and students effectively. Russell (2014) adds that online

learners feel more comfortable to engage in virtual classroom and interactive with lectures in

online learning. On the contrary, traditional learning for tertiary education is mostly carried
out in a large lecture hall filled with hundreds of students where interactions are usually quick

and simple. This shows that communications in online learning is way more effective than in

traditional learning. The better the communication in class it is, the better the learning and

teaching progress will be. Therefore, online learning has become the choice for many

students. 

6.0 Conclusion 

This study has analyzed the good, the bad and the ugly of online learning that is being

implemented for students in tertiary education, and it has been proven that online learning is

a great substitute for on-campus learning because it trains students to be self-disciplined,

improves the quality of learning and brings convenience to students. Online learning has

undeniably improved the learning and teaching experience for both students and teachers,

more schools will start to switch to online learning in the future due to all the benefits that it

gives. Through online learning, the students benefit in many ways academically by

developing better self-discipline, improving their quality of learning while also still able to

study conveniently. Even though there are still some drawbacks of online learning, however

those are minimal and can be easily solved with the right method. Online learning is a really

good substitute for the traditional on-campus learning as it has brought a positive impact in

the lives of many students and teachers, especially when the world is facing a pandemic

where many things are unable to function properly.

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