User Satisfaction on E-Learning Platform during Movement Control Order Period in a Private Higher Learning Institute in
Malaysia
Logeswary Maheswaran1,2*, Rohaida Basiruddin1, Pratheep Bobi1, Rajaletchumi Muniadi1, Elizabeth Embang Anak Stephen Sile1, Lee Leong Wei1
1 Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: logeswarym@utar.edu.my Accepted: 1 November 2020 | Published: 15 November 2020
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Abstract: The objective of this paper is to investigate the current level of user satisfaction on e-learning platform among the students and lecturers during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period in one of the Private Higher Learning Institute in Malaysia. There are three factors related to user satisfaction in this study, namely information quality, system quality, and service quality. We employed mixed-method to collect the data from the lecturers. The qualitative analysis findings from the interview session with the lecturers suggest that the system and service quality factors must be further improved to increase user satisfaction.
Whereas, the quantitative analysis findings show that students are achieving moderate user satisfaction in the e-learning session during MCO. Moving forward, as to improve the drawback differences arise to increase the user satisfaction level, several recommendations are proposed to private higher learning institute in Malaysia.
Keywords: e-learning, user satisfaction, higher learning
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1. Introduction
COVID-19 pandemic is identified as the public health emergency outbreak that has impacted world health that varies across the countries. The increase in the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 has rapidly increased recently. Most of the countries have come up with several precaution measures such as providing medical treatments for COVID-19 patients.
Precautions such as trace the immediate contact history of COVID-19 patients, cross countries border closing, travel within the same country being limited, quarantine process, cancellation of large scale gatherings for sports, entertainment events and education-related class, practices of social distancing and many more. The spread of COVID-19 into Malaysia was started in January 2020. The spreading curve initially was lower and slowly has a positive correlation of increase in the number of patients confirmed for COVID-19 during the mid-month of March 2020. This has caused the Malaysian Government imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) effective from 18 March 2020 to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic in the country. In the education sector, the beginning phase of MCO has caused all the education- related entities such as kindergarten, childcare nursery centre, Government and private schools, pre-university education bodies, public and private universities to be closed. The higher educational institutions were proposing the swiftness of a new learning system that can enable the learning sessions to be conducted using an online platform.
The conduct of the learning session using an online platform was identified as e-learning.
Further to the reformation of learning sessions from in-class behaviour to e-learning, has made the Malaysian Higher Education Ministry derive for the preparation of guidelines on the virtual class conduct. The student assessment approach was realigned to enable the learning outcome for studying courses is achieved successfully with prompt quality. The transformation of in-class teaching to online teaching approach must be approved by the University Senate to ensure the education quality and assurance.
The unexpected and sudden transformation from face-to-face into e-learning platform during the MCO period leads to adaption shock for the educators for teaching purpose and students for the learning goal. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the level of satisfaction among the lecturers and students on the e-learning platform. A survey was conducted in one of the Private Higher Learning Institute in Malaysia.
2. Literature Review
Learning is a fundamental thing in anyone's life since the MCO period came in; every education institute is pushed to provide courses through e-learning. E-learning is implemented in many different ways to create an electronic learning environment for learning; it is worth researching the pedagogical impact of these technological advances.
Rapid development in recent decades, ICTs have created excellent tools implementation of e- learning. However, there are many e-learning projects based on the experience of the business community they have also created "bubbles" that tend to explode (e.g., internet bubbles) knowledge (Kapenieks, 2009). E-learning is still in its infancy, but its use has led to the development of e-learning, a variety of approaches, and guidelines. These concepts are based on the science of learning and aim to help customers and designers of multimedia learning e-learning achieve in two ways (Clark & Mayer, 2007). There are several factors impacting e-learning we are examining the user satisfaction through information quality, system quality and service quality.
López-Pérez, Pérez-López, and Rodríguez-Ariza (2011) highlighted that participation in activities such as forum as well consulting lecturers will have a positive effect on the learning outcomes. User satisfaction is directly influenced by service quality and perceived usefulness, whilst perceived usefulness is directly influenced by trust and information quality in e- learning (Ramayah & Lee, 2012). Ramayah and Lee proved it in 2012; user satisfaction is found to be significant in affecting user's intention to use therefore the findings provided by the study may enable the creators of e-learning systems to think seriously on these factors that will affect user satisfaction. There is a concern among educators about the effectiveness of online studies and acceptance of knowledge among students (Downing & Dyment, 2013).
Despite all the worries, the educators expressed their readiness to conduct classes online. If the lecturers increase the activities in e-learning which includes assignment uploads, active forums uploads and publish learning resources for students to consult to improve the learning outcome in accounting (Chamizo-González, Cano-Montero, Urquía-Grande, & Muñoz- Colomina, 2015). It is proven that students are enjoying the flexibility of learning through online since the materials are available anytime (Lam, Chan, & Yan, 2015). The students prefer the lecturers explaining theory and content during lecture time and explain the practice problems (Taplin, Kerr, & Brown, 2017). Students and lecturers should attend training to familiarise with the tools used in e-learning (Lam, Chan, & Yan, 2015). Even there is access by students to the computer, and this does not ensure the internet services is at prime as it varies depending on the location (Prinsloo & van Rooyen, 2007). In the context of e-learning,
system quality evaluates the characteristics and effectiveness of the used platform such as flexibility, stability, reliability, security, responsiveness, and user-friendliness (Raspopovic, Jankulovic, Runic, & Lucic, 2014). Students are encouraged to attend the training session will improve the student's engagement (Lam, Chan, & Yan, 2015). Service quality evaluates the quality of student-lecturer interaction and can use metrics such as promptness, availability, helpfulness, and organisation and clarity of the lectures. (Raspopovic, Jankulovic, Runic, & Lucic, 2014).
The research question of this paper is, how to improve user satisfaction for the e-learning during Movement Control Order (MCO) period. The research objectives are to study the current user satisfaction of lecturers and students in the e-learning class during the MCO period and to improve the user satisfaction of the lecturers and students on the e-learning class during the MCO period.
In this study, we used the extended model by DeLone and McLean's (2003, 2004), as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for the Study
3. Methodology
We collected the data using a mixed-method, combining both qualitative and quantitative method. We gather the data through interviewing with the lecturers and collecting feedback from the students through survey questionnaires.
Table 1: Data Collection and Analysis for the Study
No. Method Description and Sampling Analysis
1. Survey questionnaires (quantitative method)
Survey questionnaires were developed using Google Form
The questionnaires were given with Likert rating scale from 1-Strongly agree to 4-Strongly disagree.
The survey data were collected within one month in April 2020, and a total of 151 students responded.
Regression and Descriptive Analysis using SPSS.
2. Interview (qualitative method)
Interviewed with five lecturers and conducted between April and May 2020 through an online platform.
The interviews were video-recorded and transcribed into the interview transcript.
Content Analysis
Reliability (Pilot Test)
To ensure the reliability of the survey, we conduct a pilot test to 30 students. The result of Cronbach Alpha Test shows values between 0.778 to 0.932 which indicates the measurement
items for the variables were stable and consistent and above the lowest limit of acceptable reliability level of 0.6 – 0.7 (Ursachi, Horodnic, & Zait, 2015).
4. Results and Discussion
Qualitative Analysis – Interview
From the interview with the lecturers, we found that there was a shortcoming in the performance of the device and internet connectivity (system quality). One of the lecturers informed that it is rather challenging to teach mathematic subjects through e-learning with her current device. The lecturer suggested an additional supporting device such as writing pad will help in teaching the mathematic subjects. As e-learning system is highly dependent on the internet connection, there were two lecturers concerned about the quality of the internet bandwidth and high usage of the internet, which may incur an additional cost. As suggested by El-Seoud et al. (2014), internet quality would have a significant influence on the delivery of the e-learning. The delivery of the e-learning is expected to be affecting the user satisfaction level from the aspect of information quality. Some lecturers found it is not easy to monitor and interact with students via online class. The system lag when cater to a large number of students. Another identified problem from the interviewing with the lecturers was insufficient training provided by the university due to sudden notice of the MCO. Two of the lecturers highlighting the training provided by the university was not adequate and useful.
The lecturers need to learn the e-learning system through trial and error method. One of the lecturers was suggesting that the training should be provided on an on-going basis.
Quantitative Analysis – Survey Questionnaires
From the survey, it can be seen that in a total of 151 responses has been obtained from the students. In this study, the students responded in terms of gender is 80.8% are female, whereas 19.2% are male. All of the students are using Microsoft Team as their e-learning platform provided by the university.
System Quality
The mean score of the system quality is 2.21, which shows that most of the students were moderately satisfied being the user of the e-learning in term of the system quality, as shown in Table2. Most students relatively felt that e-learning platform which is the Microsoft Team to be user-friendly, easy to access and suitable for the e-learning class. SQ3 and SQ5 have a higher mean value ranging from 2.37 to 2.38 as compared to SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3, which are ranging from 2.05 to 2.17.
Table 2: Students' Responses towards System Quality in User Satisfaction of E-learning in a private higher learning institute
No. Measurements Mean Std. Deviation
SQ1 The e-learning platform is user-friendly. 2.07 0.250
SQ2 The e-learning platform is easy to access. 2.05 0.253
SQ3 The e-learning platform is stable and reliable. 2.37 0.511 SQ4 The e-learning platform is suitable for the e-learning class. 2.17 0.373 SQ5 I can run the e-learning class smoothly with my internet
connection.
2.38 0.540
Mean 2.21 0.385
Information Quality
The mean score of the information quality is 2.20, which shows that most of the students were moderately satisfied being the user of the e-learning in term of the information quality, as shown in Table 3. Most students relatively felt that the duration and pace of the e-learning class, learning material provided by the lecturer and the time given for Q&A session to be sufficient. Besides, IQ4 and IQ5 have a higher mean value ranging from 2.23 to 2.29 as compared to IQ1, IQ2, IQ3 and IQ6, which are ranging from 2.11 to 2.22.
Table 3: Students' Responses towards Information Quality in User Satisfaction of E-learning in a private higher learning institute
No. Measurements Mean Std. Deviation
IQ1 The learning material provided by the lecturer is sufficient. 2.13 0.359 IQ2 The duration of the e-learning class is sufficient. 2.11 0.317 IQ3 The pace of the e-learning class is well organised. 2.22 0.446 IQ4 The lecturer can explain the theory and computation through e-
learning.
2.23 0.450
IQ5 The lecturer can explain the practical problems through e- learning.
2.29 0.484
IQ6 The time given for the question and answer session is sufficient.
2.19 0.407
Mean 2.20 0.411
Service Quality
The mean score of the information quality is 2.25, which shows that most of the students were moderately satisfied being the user of the e-learning in term of the service quality, as shown in Table 4. Most students were relatively happy with the interactive engagement between lecturers and students in the e-learning platform and on the prompt responsiveness of the lecturer to the students' questions during e-learning class. Also, SVQ1and SVQ3 have a higher mean value ranging from 2.34 to 2.36 as compared to SVQ2, SVQ4 and SVQ5, which are ranging from 2.09 to 2.26.
Table 4: Students' Responses towards Service Quality in User Satisfaction of E-learning in a private higher learning institute
No. Measurements Mean Std. Deviation
SVQ1 Private higher learning institute is well-prepared in implementing e-learning class sessions.
2.34 0.552
SVQ2 Private higher learning institute provides sufficient technical support on e-learning.
2.26 0.496
SVQ3 Private higher learning institute provides sufficient training for the e-learning system.
2.36 0.558
SVQ4 The lecturer was able to respond to the students' questions promptly during e-learning class.
2.09 0.281
SVQ5 Interactive engagement between lecturers and students is well established during the e-learning class.
2.19 0.423
Mean 2.25 0.462
User Satisfaction
The mean score of user satisfaction is 2.33, which shows that most students were moderately satisfied being the user of the e-learning in a private higher learning institute, as shown in Table 5. They were relatively happy with the e-learning class and in adapting it. Besides,
US1, US4 and US5 have a higher mean value ranging from 2.36 to 2.45 as compared to US2 and US3, which are ranging from 2.23 to 2.25.
Table 5: Students' Responses towards User Satisfaction of E-learning in a private higher learning institute
No. Measurements Mean Std. Deviation
US1 I feel the e-learning class is effective. 2.36 0.508
US2 I can adapt the e-learning quickly. 2.25 0.447
US3 Overall, I am satisfied with the e-learning class. 2.23 0.479 US4 I look forward to having the e-learning class in the future. 2.38 0.587 US5 I would recommend the e-learning class to the others. 2.45 0.574
Mean 2.33 0.519
An open-ended question was provided to the students what they least like about the e- learning. The feedbacks that we received from most of them are lacking internet connectivity, no face-to-face interaction and some classes are not suitable for e-learning. Poor internet connectivity could be because some students are using their limited mobile data in accessing e-learning, and some of them are residing in the area where the network connectivity is poor.
Students felt that the tutorial is more understandable if conducted via physical class due to subject such as computation subject which is difficult to be explained via the online platform.
Based on our findings, we proposed to private higher learning institute of the following actions to be taken during e-learning period. The lecturer is encouraged to pre-record the lecture video and distribute before the class, then followed by a live session of Q&A session during the study. The pre-recorded lecture video before the class can mitigate the system problems such as lousy internet quality and lagging of the e-learning system during the e- learning class. It is recommended that private higher learning institutions provide additional teaching device such as a writing pad for the lecturers. Although the e-learning class is more challenging to monitor and less interactive as compared to in-class teaching, the lecturers could also utilise the online resources to create an interactive learning environment for the students. The university could also provide additional training to the lecturers to enhance their e-learning teaching skills. Due to high usage of the internet bandwidth on the e-learning system which may incur additional cost to the lecturers and student, private higher learning institute could collaborate with the telco service provider by offering affordable mobile data plan to the lecturers and students. Lastly, on-going training must be provided to the lecturers so that they can familiarise with the e-learning system within a short time frame.
5. Conclusion
As the current global situation where all the countries are affected by pandemic COVID-19 outbreak, private higher learning institute is trying their best to ensure the continuity of education via e-learning where the classes are conducted via the online platform. Our research focuses on improving user satisfaction of e-learning, it helped private higher learning institute in knowing their current gap on the factors involved such as the system quality, information quality and service quality and the ways to tackle related issues of it.
Based on the diagnosis done, it helped to give a more in-depth view of the positively affecting factor towards the user satisfaction of e-learning. In conclusion, the suggestion by our research will be beneficial to private higher learning institute in improving the level of
user satisfaction of lecturers and students on the e-learning where the online platform can be essentially contributing a positive change to their organisation.
Limitation and Recommendation for Future Research
The limitation of this study is time. The research conducted during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, and it is towards the end of the semester for the participants. The researchers don't have sufficient time to do the test on bigger sample size. The area which can have future research is by expanding the samples to courses from different field of studies to look at the user's satisfaction from other groups.
The conclusion allows you to have the final say on the issues you have raised in your paper, to synthesise your thoughts, to demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and to propel your reader to a new view of the subject. It is also your opportunity to make a good final impression and to end on a positive note.
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