The influence of studying from home, stress level, and ability to use technology toward learning achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in Indonesia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic changes to all aspects of life, including studying from home, the ability to use technology, and learning achievement in Indonesia. This study aims to analyse the effects of studying from home, the ability to use technology, and the level of stress on student learning achievement in Indonesia during the pandemic, where all students must learn from home. Data collection was conducted by issuing an online survey to 107 college students aged 18 to 55 in Indonesia. The data processing found that studying from home had a significant influence on stress levels and the ability to use technology. However, studying from home does not directly influence learning achievement, while stress and the ability to use technology do not directly correlate with each other. Interestingly, the indirect effects of studying from home on learning achievement are significant when stress and the ability to use technology mediate the relationships. This indicates that, although the pandemic is stressful for students as it forces them to isolate themselves at home and to miss out on face-to-face learning on campus, it has enhanced their ability to use technology and thus positively reinforced learning achievement. The result indicates that, in terms of learning achievement, students work "better under pressure" with their enhanced ability to use technology resulting in improved learning achievements. Consequently, the increasing ability to use technology when learning from home, the obstacles in knowledge transfer can run smoothly, and this hopefully reduces students' stress levels in the long term.