Shifting to Open and Distance Learning (ODL) During Pandemic Era: Learning Experiences of the Undergraduate Students at UiTM Cawangan Kelantan

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has urged the education providers to transform their method of teaching and learning into Open and Distance Learning (ODL). The sudden implementation of these online learning may cause some negative experiences for students as there are several issues that may impede them during the learning process. Hence, the aim of this study is to assess the university students’ learning experiences on ODL implementation during pandemic era using UiTM Cawangan Kelantan as a case study. A total of 2217 students participated in the study to share their experiences about ODL learning experiences. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics techniques to check on the students’ perceptions, the challenges of ODL faced by them and their most preferred online platform for ODL. The findings reveal that majority of the students gave neutral response on the effectiveness of ODL implementation. As overall, most of the students preferred live chat such as WhatsApp and Telegram as a platform for the learning process. Some negative feedback were given by the students such as not effective for the students with limited facilities, problem with internet coverage and difficult to adapt and perform well through ODL implementation. The findings of the study can be used by the higher education providers to improvise the online learning mechanism in future.