THE SUDDEN TRANSITION TO SYNCHRONIZED ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN POLITEKNIK MERLIMAU: A QUANTI-TATIVE STUDY EXPLORING MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT’S PER-SPECTIVES

Abstract

The closure of educational activities in Malaysia due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unplanned shift from traditional learning to a setup that exclusively involves digital teaching and learning. Within this context, the present study aimed to explore Mechanical Engineering First Semester students’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of synchronized online learning at Merlimau Polytechnic, Melaka. The focus area of the research is academic life, technological challenge and emotional and social life development. The total population is 90 which consists of respondents from Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (DKM), Diploma in Mechanical (Manufacturing Technology) (DTP) and Diploma In Mechanical (Electro Mechanical) (DEM). The number of respondents is 90 people. However, only 81 respondents provided feedback in this study which contributed to 90% of the total respondents. The Likert scale used for the questionnaire was ranked from 1 to 5. This data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science for Microsoft Windows Release 27 computer software (SPSS). The Alpha Cronbach’s value for this research was 0.80. This result refers to the main objective of this research, to study the student’s perceptions regarding the effectiveness of synchronized online learning experiences during Covid-19 lockdown period in Malaysia. For the academic life, based on the mean average score obtained 3.73, it was found that the respondents as a whole are satisfied with academic life in a new norm. The mean average obtained for technological challenge is 3.69 indicating that the satisfaction rate of the respondents is high. For the emotional and social life development, based on the mean average score obtained 3.49 it was found that online leaning has a lot of impact on them. As a conclusion, the sudden synchronized online classes were well-accepted by the Mechanical Engineering first semester students. Overall, it showed that students are still coping with the new norms working from the home period, but they had dissatisfaction with certain elements that may need to be considered. The top management of Mechanical Engineering Department need to come up with some strategic initiative, both at individual as well as institutional level to combat the situation. The entire framework of mind and working components of the institution should be changed in accordance with the requirement of digital learning, then only we can win the battle over corona.