Students’ Attitude and Impact of Online Learning; Role of Teachers and Classmate Support During the Covid‐19 Crisis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created pressure on the education system to find alternatives to face-to-face education. Consequently, teachers and students have used online teaching and learning on an unparalleled scale. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the Bahauddin Zakariy University (BZU) students' attitude toward learning and mainly examine the problems associated with taking online classes during COVID-19 in a developing country like Pakistan. The cross-sectional design was used to fulfill the study requirements. For the data collection, an online Google form was designed and circulated via a link to students enrolled in different programs at BZU. The result revealed that students have an enthusiastic attitude to using the online medium and would like to use online learning in the future or after the pandemic goes away. The highlighted issues include an inappropriate study environment, a disparity of gadget availability, inadequate online study content, no access or slow internet speed, and electricity load shedding. The above problems negatively affect students' studies in terms of minimum or no students' involvement and proxy attendance in the online class. In addition, the health of students is also reported as being seriously affected by attending online classes. Students had weak eyesight, increased weight, sleep deprivation, and behavioral problems. Overall, students showed a positive attitude and generous support from their teachers in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, teachers play a fundamental role in helping students to make digital learning more valuable.