Adapting to Changing Expectations: Accounting Students in the Digital Learning Environment

Abstract

As a developing nation, Malaysia is looking forward to transforming its direction towards the Industrial Revolution 5.0. Aligned with the transformation process that is mainly driven by the rapid modern industrial transformation, Malaysian education system is faced with a variety of challenges especially in equipping young adults with innovative, digitally literate, and high critical thinking skills to make them future-ready. Additionally, the growing digital world economy has resulted in the loss and transformation of jobs which necessitates the transformation of Malaysian education for future employability. Moreover, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of the education sector. Hence, this study aims to explore, analyze, and evaluate first-year Bachelor in Accountancy students’ perspectives with regard to their online learning experiences in digitalized classrooms by looking at six dimensions: 1) Self-Directed Learning, 2) Learner Readiness toward Online Learning, 3) Learner Control, 4) Online Communication, 5) Computer/Internet Self-Efficacy, and 6) Motivation for Learning. Using a qualitative research design, online interviews via Google Meet involving 43 first-year students were conducted. The recorded interviews were then transcribed and analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8. The results of the study suggest that online learning has its advantages and disadvantages based on the respondents’ perspectives and experiences. A majority of the respondents reported that they enjoyed online learning and were well prepared for it while some of them perceived online learning as a complicated approach due to some factors. It can be concluded that these students were ready for online learning.