Covid-19 crisis: Is online learning more effective than face-to-face learning?

Abstract

Traditional face-to-face learning and online learning have become a debate for decades, which is more effective and has a significant impact on students' learning. The pandemic of COVID-19 has forced students to change their study mode from traditional face-to-face learning to online learning. This study has conducted a study to identify which ways are more effective, the traditional face-to-face learning or online learning using a quantitative method of online survey questionnaires. This study intends to fill this void in the literature and explore students’ perceptions of online learning versus traditional face-to-face learning. This study used target respondents of 148 public and private university students in Malaysia. According to the results, most of the respondents preferred traditional face-to-face learning is more effective than online learning because of some problems they encountered while doing online learning, such as lack of course instructions and unreliable university internet connection.