Perceived Barriers in Online Learning among Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In March 2020, nursing schools in Indonesia were forced to abruptly shift from face-to-face learning to fully online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, fully online learning was still not widely used in Indonesian nursing education. AIM: This study aimed to identify barriers in online learning among Indonesian nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design and involved 530 undergraduate nursing students from five universities in Indonesia participated in this study. The authors sent an online self-administered questionnaire to nursing students from October to December 2020. The questionnaire consisted of four sections to obtain the following data: (1) Sociodemographic characteristic, (2) information about online learning, (3) platform used for online learning, and (4) perceived barriers in online learning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data with frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations. RESULTS: Nursing students in Indonesia were confronted by various barriers during the implementation of abrupt online learning in the current pandemic situation. Most frequently barriers encountered by nursing students during online learning were high costs for online learning, poor internet connection, lack of motivation toward online learning, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms. CONCLUSION: High cost for online learning, poor internet connection, low learning motivation, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms were identified as the most frequent barriers encountered by nursing students.