First Year Undergraduates’ Emotional Stability, Motivation, and Online Learning Skills during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This main objective of the study was to examine the relationships between emotional stability, motivation, and online study skills among first-year undergraduate students who were engaged in online learning from their respective homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 159 students who were studying online from their respective homes from one public university in the east coast of Malaysia were selected in the study. They were selected through purposive sampling method and need to answer two sets of instruments, i) the Learner Personality Profile and ii) Online Learning Skill through an online survey. Both instruments consisted of 60 items and 30 items respectively and were measured based on a five-point Likert scales. The Learner Personality Profile scale was (1) Never, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Very Often, and (5) Always responses, while the Online Learning Skill scale consisted of (1) Strongly Disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neither Agree nor Disagree, (4) agree, and (5) Strongly Agree responses. The findings of the study showed that both male and female students reported low levels of emotional stability scores (mean=2.20 and mean=2.19 respectively). However, female students reported higher level of motivation scores (mean=3.90) than male students’ scores (mean=3.61) based on a three-level range of mean scores (low=1.00 to 2.33, average=2.34 to 3.67, and high=3.68 to 5.00). Female students also reported higher level of online study skills scores (mean=3.90) than male students’ scores (mean=3.61). The correlation analyses showed significant relationships between online study skills and emotional stability, and between motivation and emotional stability. Interestingly, the study reported that the motivation variable did not act as a mediating factor in the relationship between online study skills and emotional stability based on the multiple-regression analysis.