Diploma Engineering Students' Perceptions of Online Distance Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Movement Control Order (MCO) has resulted all formal classroom learning for 4.9 million students at all levels of education in Malaysia was suspended since March 2020 till todate. Educators were advised to shift from traditional face-to-face classroom meetings to distance learning mode; online or offline platforms. However, the reality is, the majority of the students are still grappling with e- learning, inadequate equipment, and an unconducive environment making the adoption of home-based elearning even harder. There is no evidence on how Diploma engineering students are experiencing this new normal. Having realised the importance of getting first-hand information regarding online distance learning (ODL) experiences, this study investigated Diploma engineering students’ ODL experiences amidst COVID-19. An online survey using Google Forms was utilised to collect data for three weeks from 486 Diploma level students in a university from the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia. Using descriptive quantitative and qualitative analysis, the distribution of study participants, learning experiences, and expectations on educational decisions of ODL was investigated. The findings highlight the need to transform education for more tech-based lessons for the millennials and there is a need to a properly planned ODL implementation with full support from all involved in ODL mode. As classes move online in the foreseeable future, the findings of this project will benefit UiTM and the government in restructuring digital education post-Covid-19 to develop employability and the productivity of the future generation.