Challenges of e-learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic

                                                     Nur Widia Nengsi

      COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way of learning in higher education. Teaching, and learning activities that are usually carried out with face-to-face meetings have turned into virtual meetings in various e-earning applications.

     e-learning provides various instructions led by the lecturer. Instructions can be synchronous (communication where participants interact in the same time space as video conferencing, zoom, and google meet or asynchronous (time-separated communication such as e-mail, google form, streaming video content, posting lecture notes and social media platforms).

      The crisis really came suddenly, governments in any part of the world including Indonesia had to make a bitter decision, close schools to massively reduce people's contact, and to save lives or still have to open schools, in order to survive the workers in protecting economic sustainability. All power and efforts have been made by the government to reduce cases of Covid-19 transmission, it is undeniable that one of them is the online learning policy, or online for all students due to social restrictions. In this regard, the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia issued circular letter number 4 of 2020 concerning the implementation of educational policies in the emergency period of the spread of Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19), namely the learning process from home.work from home ) for teachers and government employees. This policy requires learning to be carried out online. One of the online strategies is e-learning .

        Technology-based education policies are booming, starting from the online learning process, online seminars, to real work courses online. Learning from elementary school to tertiary level is busy migrating from conventional models (face-to-face in class) to modern with technological devices. One side of the use of technology for education is a challenge, as well as a threat to institutions that do not use technology, strengthening technology is also a mandate of the 4.0 industrial revolution which is soon moving towards the 5.0 industrial revolution. One of the demands of the industrial revolution era is to strengthen the use of technology. Many criticisms are leveled with technology-based education. One of them is that people are unfamiliar with technology. However sophisticated the technology used has not been able to replace the implementation of face-to-face learning. Because the conventional face-to-face interaction method is still much more effective than online or e-learning learning.

       In addition, limitations in internet accessibility, hardware (hardware) and software (software), as well as financing are often a link in maximizing online learning resources. There are many excesses for the sustainability of education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The first is the short-term impact, which is felt by many families in Indonesia, both in cities and in villages. In Indonesia, many families who are less familiar do school at home. Home schooling for Indonesian families is a big surprise especially for the productivity of parents who are usually busy with work outside the home.

        Limited facilities and infrastructure have also triggered the slow process of online education. The infrastructure factor is the main support for the implementation of online learning. If the ingredients are not fulfilled it automatically hinders the pace of online learning development Then the factor of limited internet access, in certain areas, especially in rural areas, it is still difficult to find a strong internet network for learning. This limitation of the internet network becomes an obstacle to the virtual learning model. Including budget constraints, limited quota and declining purchasing power factors due to economic difficulties during the Covid 19 pandemic.

      There is a very dilemma in the use of online media, when the Minister of Education encourages productivity to move forward, but on the other hand the financial skills and abilities of educators and students have not gone in the same direction. Although the results of online learning as one of the strategies in this pandemic era are still not the most reliable vehicle. Even though the world of education is essentially demanded to maximize technology to catch up with the world of western education. However, whatever the online learning model does will contribute to improving the quality of education in this country.

       Only time will tell whether e - Learning will be a good substitute for normal classes, and if they are, there will be a rise in online educational programs and online universities.

                                       Masamba, 26 April 2021