Abstract
Pandemic COVID 19 has changed the world’s communication medium into online communication to prevent the spread of pandemic since the end of 2019; this has also impacted students’ learning either at primary, secondary, college or university level. Since online communication was mandated as a medium to deliver learning, many researchers have started to determine the effectiveness of online learning for formal educational setting. However, research reported the effectiveness of students’ online learning in informal setting, such as online training program was very limited. Hence, this article aims to report the effectiveness of online training program among undergraduates in Malaysia using a quasi-experimental design. Three different training programs were conducted during December 2020 among undergraduates at University Kebangsaan Malaysia based on open registration; there were 52 participants in total. Participants were asked to answer a questionnaire before and after the completion of training program using google form to determine the achievement of training objectives. General Training Effectiveness Scale was adapted and modified accordingly to each training program’s objective to measure learning performance as perceived by participants; data were analysed using paired sample t-test and one-way ANOVA in SPSS software. Findings indicated a significant mean difference between scores as measured before and after training completion, and insignificant difference between all the three training programs indicating that online training among undergraduates is effective regardless different training objectives. In conclusion, it is verified that online learning is beneficial to replace traditional classroom for informal education during the pandemic, such as training program among undergraduates. Hence, it should be used for knowledge acquisition, such as organizing online training program to enhance undergraduates’ learning as additional value to increase students’ competencies. Research implications were further discussed.
Highlights
Pandemic COVID 19 is an infectious disease caused by a new novel virus named coronavirus that have been discovered from China and reported by WHO (World Health Organization) since December 2019 (Yuki, Fujiogi & Koutsogiannaki, 2020)
Research reporting online learning effectiveness for informal educational setting have not received much attention (Mogboh, 2021); for example, research reporting the effectiveness of online learning to replace traditional classroom setting for training program among undergraduates during the pandemic has been neglected
International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Findings and Discussion Findings indicated that the level of learning performance for each training program is high for majority of respondents
Summary
Pandemic COVID 19 is an infectious disease caused by a new novel virus named coronavirus that have been discovered from China and reported by WHO (World Health Organization) since December 2019 (Yuki, Fujiogi & Koutsogiannaki, 2020). More than 130 million people were infected causing almost three million death around the world (Coronavirus Cases, 2021, updated 3 April). This has alarmed people around the world to change the communication medium into online communication in order to prevent the spread of pandemic (Douglas, Katikireddi, Taulbut, McKee & McCartney, 2020). As a result, it has impacted the way of people doing work, learn in school, run business, and socialization (Wolor et al, 2020). Research reporting online learning effectiveness for informal educational setting have not received much attention (Mogboh, 2021); for example, research reporting the effectiveness of online learning to replace traditional classroom setting for training program among undergraduates during the pandemic has been neglected
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