DPB40093 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

REPORT TITLE: ONLINE LEARNING

GROUP NAME: DREAM KILLER

GROUP MEMBERS NAME:

1. PAVITRA MANOGRAN (16DPM19F2996)

2. KAAVISHAA VISVANATHAN
(16DPM18F2058)

3. VIMALA DHARSHINI KAVARAPPAN

4. PHREMRAJ TAMILSELVAM (16DPM18F2051)

CLASS: DPM4B

LECTURE NAME: PUAN NOOR HANIM BINTI

1 ABSTRACT 1

2 INTRODUCTION 1-2

3 OBJECTIVE 2

4 METHOD 3-4

5 RESULT 4-6

6 DISCUSSION 6-9

7 RECOMMENDATION 9

8 CONCLUSION 10

9 REFERENCES 10
ABSTRACT
Blended learning, the incorporation of different learning environments, is widely
adopted in higher education institutions. The term usually refers to the combination
of traditional face-to-face classroom methods with more modern computer-mediated
activities. Through a blended learning approach, online learning plays an important
role in the learning process which allows learning to happen at anytime, anywhere.
In this paper, we review the use of online learning in an accounting course in our
institution. The online courseware is launched in our new e-learning platform, SOUL
2.0. A survey is conducted to investigate the online learning experience of students
and their perception of various online course materials. The results show that most
of the students were satisfied with the provision of online course materials which
made their study more flexible and accessible.

INTRODUCTION
The World Health Organization has declared the pandemic of the novel SARS-CoV2
infection early this year and it has now become a major public health challenge
worldwide [1]. The infection control and physical distancing measures are crucial to
prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the pandemic situation.
The policy of compulsory physical distancing has been implemented in many
countries including in Indonesia [2, 3], resulting in nationwide school and university
closures. In accordance with this policy, dental academic institutions are compelled
to make appropriate and timely modification in order to continue to deliver education
and to sustain the continuation of student academic progress. The teaching and
learning activities were immediately shifted to a full E-learning.
E-learning is defined as learning that makes use of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). The incorporation of technological resources and innovative
education strategies has transformed the teaching and learning processes. Previous
studies have shown various e-learning and online learning tools that are effective for
teaching and learning in the fields of health profession, including dentistry [4,5,6,7,8].
The knowledge gain and performance of the students as a result of E-learning were
shown to be equivalent to that of face to face methods [9, 10]. Blended learning is
mainly defined as the integration of classroom and distance learning to facilitate an
independent, interactive and collaborative learning among students. However, to
understand it in a more general perspective, blended learning approach redesign
courses that are developed, scheduled and implemented through a combination of
physical and virtual learning activities. It was previously reported that blended
learning provides better student’s satisfaction, motivation, student engagement and
performance [5, 7, 11, 12]. This approach promotes active and self-directed learning
and has gained acceptance in dental education as a complementary method to
traditional learning.
The undergraduate curriculum of the Faculty of Dentistry Universitas Indonesia
adopted Student Centered Active Learning (SCAL) using collaborative learning,
question-based learning or Problem-Based Learning (PBL) since 2003. In PBL,

1
students work in groups to construct content knowledge and develop self-directed
learning skills. The activities along the steps of the chosen learning methods (group
discussions, clarification sessions, the laboratory works and skills lab) were all
conducted in classroom learning with online support. The university E-learning
management system (LMS) was utilized to facilitate various teaching and learning
activities at different academic levels in the undergraduate dental program. The
organization of courses, access to resources and additional learning materials are
available through LMS to support self-directed learning within an integrated PBL
curriculum. During this COVID-19 pandemic, courses delivered in student-centered
learning methods were immediately moved to full E-learning. In the first half of
semester before the pandemic, group discussions, clarification sessions and
interactive lectures were carried out in-campus classroom learning while in the
second half of semester, learning activities were delivered in full distance learning
employing various online meeting platforms. In order to make the format of
discussion sessions stay similar as it had been conducted before the pandemic,
every online session was delivered synchronously with the attendance of a facilitator
in each group. Students and facilitators’ time spent on setting or accomplishing tasks
was similar as in classroom learning.
Despite previous reports on the comparison of classroom and distance learning
[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11], the evaluation on the student-centered active learning
approaches that are delivered through blended learning methods compared to full
online learning has not been widely available. The majorities of studies on distance
learning method reported student perception of virtual learning modules that were
integrated with classroom learning. Student feedback could provide important
information for the evaluation of distance learning so as to improve future learning
strategies. Therefore, the study aimed to analyze student perspective of SCAL
delivered through full distance learning compared to the classroom learning in the
undergraduate dentistry study program. An online questionnaire was distributed to
the undergraduate dental students at the end of semester. We hypothesized
students positive outcomes on the acceptance of distance learning as a new learning
strategy that was implemented during COVID-19 pandemic condition.

OBJECTIVES
 Streamline online student tracking, coaching, and evaluation
 Easier lesson planning and ability to adapt the curriculum per-student
 Endless stress-free enhancement, upgrade, and reevaluation possibilities
 Ability to demonstrate the course topic via 3D models and virtual
environments
 Safe social distancing and health balance due to home-based learning
 Seamless shifts between individual and group learning
METHOD
Sampling procedures and participants
This study was performed from May to June 2020. Study participants were the first,
second and third-year of undergraduate students of the dentistry study program at
the Faculty of Dentistry Universitas Indonesia. The online questionnaire was given at
the end of semester. They were strongly encouraged to fill out the questionnaire but
their participation remained voluntary. The name and other personal information of
the study participants were protected. Dental Research Ethics Committee Faculty of
Dentistry Universitas Indonesia approved the study in accordance with the Helsinki
Declaration (6/EA/FKGUI/VI/2020). Students were informed about the study and
signed consent form.
Learning methods
Before COVID-19 pandemic, learning strategies in the dentistry academic study
program (pre-clinical) at the Faculty of Dentistry Universitas Indonesia was student-
centered active learning. Collaborative learning (CL) and question-based learning
(QBL) approaches were mainly used in the courses of the earlier semesters such as
basic oral biology and introduction of health and dental science courses for the first-
year dental students. Problem-based Learning (PBL) was mainly used in the courses
of the latter semesters such as clinical dental science courses for the second and
third-year dental students. The group discussions of these active learning
approaches and lectures for clarification were delivered in classroom learning. Each
group discussion consisted of 10–13 students and was supervised by 1
facilitator/tutor. Universitas Indonesia web-based education tools (EMAS, Moodle-
based learning management system) was used to support various learning activities.
Students could access the syllabus, learning objectives of each studied courses as
well as scenarios/list of sub-topics or questions, list of references through the EMAS
system and this learning approach represents blended learning.
As the COVID-19 pandemic protocol forced the compulsory work and study from
home policy, since March 17, 2020, courses with CL, QBL and PBL methods were
transferred to full distance learning. Group discussions, clarification lectures and
assessments were carried out using various online platforms (Microsoft Teams,
Google meets, Zoom and EMAS). Practice class and skills lab courses in which the
expected learning outcomes involved various psychomotor skills were either
substituted with video simulation, and or live and presented the stages of work online
or postponed until the university is ready to be opened for the face-to-face classroom
learning.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was developed to assess [1] the student’s perception of the
distance learning method. The response options of the questionnaire items represent
4 Likert-type scales (0 = strongly disagree to 3 = strongly agree), except for questions
of the most effective methods for distance learning (six options of the format of
online learning) and open questions for the challenges and positive experience
during distance learning. Altogether there were 22 statements in four parts: (A)
general information on the student’s gender, year of study and GPA; (B) Preference;
(C) Effectiveness, and; (D) Learning satisfaction.
Statistical analysis
The internal consistency reliability questionnaire was measured by Cronbach’s
alpha. Descriptive statistics were computed and bivariate analyses were performed.
Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with the
students’ preference towards distance learning. The level of statistical significance
was at 0.05.

RESULT
General information
A total of 301 undergraduate first-, second- and third-year dental students of the
Faculty of Dentistry Universitas Indonesia participated in the study. The response
rate was 84.3%. Most of the participants were female (85.1%) and it reflects the
majority of our undergraduate dental students (Table 1). Cronbach alpha of the
questionnaire was 0.880. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of each domain were
above 0.8, which was considered satisfactory. No CITC value was lower than 0.30,
which allowed all items to be included in the instrument.

Preference domain
The total mean preference score was 20.3 ± 5.9, ranging from 2 to 36. Majorities of
students (75.1%) agreed on the importance of classroom learning interaction for
group discussion. Year of study influenced student’s perception toward distance
learning. First-year students have a higher preference towards distance learning
compared to their seniors (p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between
gender or grade point average (GPA) on students’ preference of learning methods
(Table 1). Most students (87.4%) preferred synchronized learning sessions for group
discussions and clarification sessions. Moreover, 58.8% students shared their
concern on the online exams results, due to potential dishonesty of students.
Effectiveness domain
Students perceived to have more learning time with the distance learning, although
technical constraints still existed when doing distance learning (Table 2). Only 34.2%
of students did not experience problems during distance learning. Data from open
questions of the challenges during distance learning revealed the majority of the
problems were categorized as external factors such as unstable internet connection
and extra financial burden for internet quota. Other challenges related to internal
factors included student readiness to the new learning method, time management
and difficulties to focus while learning through the computer for a long period of time.
These challenges might be contributed to the stress experienced by 35.2% students
during distance learning (Table 2).

Learning satisfaction domain

Correlation
The correlations between each 12 variables were shown in Table 4. Item sub-scale
correlations ranged from 0.140–0.763, indicating the multidimensionality of the
questionnaire scale. Strong correlation was observed between sufficient time to
prepare lessons and sufficient time to review the study materials in distance learning
and efficiency related to motivation. Correlations were all significant at the p < 0.05
level.

DISCUSSION
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the unprecedented universities’s facilities
closure, it affected millions of students worldwide. The sudden transformation in the
teaching and learning activities into virtual modalities was carried out in order to
continue the academic courses while avoiding people gathering and the potential risk
of the spread of infection. The present study documented the student perspective of
student-centered active learning delivered through full distance learning since March
17, 2020 and compared to the classroom learning in the undergraduate dentistry
study program. Full distance learning whereby group discussions were carried out
synchronously through the online communication platforms is a new learning method
that has not been previously implemented in our dental school. This study was the
first to compare the student perceptions on both types of learning methods related to
the preference, effectiveness and learning satisfaction reported during the COVID-19
pandemic condition.
The survey demonstrated 44.2% students preferred distance learning over
classroom learning. This result was lower than other studies comparing online and
traditional learning methods which reported higher preference toward e-learning
compared to traditional classroom methods [5, 13, 14]. Student’s attitude and
acceptance toward e-learning has been shown to be more positive and favorable.
However, in these studies the virtual learning modules were integrated with
classroom learning, while in the present study, the distance learning was delivered in
full online. It was previously reported that full online learning offers a sense of
unreality and it largely depends on the students commitment to the courses [15].
Bridges and colleagues suggested the integration of learning technologies with face-
to-face teaching to support access to digital resources and to enhance the
visualization [16]. Blended PBL structured similarly as traditional PBL while offering
the ability to use online communication tools and online environment to share
materials. These differences in the learning methods and the new learning strategy
experienced by our dental students might explain the lower percentage of students
preferred full distance learning observed in this study.
In this study, the preference on learning methods was influenced by the year of
study. Among students who preferred distance learning, the percentage of freshman
students was significantly higher than the seniors. Similarly, studies conducted by
Sritongthaworn et al. (2006) and Teo at al (2011) reported that younger students
tend to adapt to e-learning [17, 18]. One of the factors that contribute to this finding
might be related to the curriculum implemented at the time of this study. Senior
dental students learned more clinical dental science courses which involve both
theory and procedural knowledge and skills. Essentially such courses require
laboratory skill sessions to enhance the understanding of the learned subjects. As
the execution of dental laboratory works and practical was postponed due to the
university closure, this resulted in the lack of motoric skills experiences, less chance
of direct consultation with the instructors and less practical assignments that were
normally served as the reinforcement to the theory class. While the curriculum of
first-year dental students studied more basic dental science courses which are
mostly conceptual theories so that the content knowledge acquisition could still be
re-enforced by laboratory activities based on online tutorial and exercises in form of
video or photographs. It is well comprehended that dental education can not be
carried on the same way as medical education. The reason of this difference is that
the dental students requires adequate physical setting and psychomotor skills, even
since in the academic years, and that could not be replaced by distance learning
strategy as being conducted during the pandemic.
Beside the necessary preparedness of students in distance learning methods, other
factors such as personality types may influence student preference for e-learning
than classroom learning [19,20,21]. As the personality regulates how individuals
perceive, make judgements and react in certain situations. The acceptance of
students for e-learning is commonly associated with self regulation character. Self
regulatory behavior includes the ability to set goals, effective time management,
problem solving capacity, and awareness of time to seek advice from instructors
[20,21,22]. On top of self regulatory behavior, constraint of self efficacy, e-learning
motivation, and high task value are other factors which strengthen the blended/online
learning preference [21, 22]. It is interesting to note that despite the lower
percentage of distance learning preference observed in this study, students agreed
that distance learning could motivate them to prepare the learning materials before
group discussion.
Logistic regression analysis confirmed efficiency has the highest odds ratio in
relation to preference towards distance learning. Moreover, students recognized
there was more time to study and to review study material in distance learning. Such
results are in line with previous studies which has been demonstrated that distance
learning offers higher flexibility of place of study process, saving time and cost since
commuting from and to campus is no longer needed [23]. Well designed distance
learning gives more time for students to access more topics and unlimited
information. Such advantage suits the learning process of medical and dental
students in recent decades since they have to digest increased loads of new and
kept updated topics.
Apart from its obvious advantages, distance learning also brings some
disadvantages. Increased chances of distraction, complicated technology, limited
social interaction, and increased difficulty to stay in contact with instructors are
several conditions that might interfere with the success of distance learning [24]. The
present study showed more students felt lower learning satisfaction and more
difficult communication either with instructors or with peer students in doing distance
learning. Internal factors challenges of student readiness to distance learning, time
management and difficulty to stay focused for long online learning duration were
reported. Besides the students internal factor as mentioned above, other categories
of distance learning barriers were also present in the time and environment when
this study was conducted. The performance of instructors in charge in the distance
learning process of this study were varied in their interactive pedagogy ability,
uplifting spirit, and confidence toward utilization of innovative learning. Self efficacy
character is importantly demanded not only from students but also from instructors.
The quality of teaching is very important in stimulating students’ satisfaction. Special
attention to communicate with students is essential since lack of personal contact
may affect the development of trust [22, 23]. Peer to peer communication and
interaction in a group discussion are not often feasible in the virtual learning method.
The barriers associated with infra-structure were obviously also encountered by the
students complaining about unstable internet connection and extra financial burden
for internet quota. Moreover, stress experienced by one-third of the participants of
the study might have an impact on student perspective toward learning method.
Recent study also reported students concerned on the issues of economic
slowdown, potential academic delay and changes in daily life and these were
associated with the level of anxiety of the college student in China during this
pandemic time.
The present study demonstrated important findings that are essential for the
improvement and development of learning strategies in the future. However, this
study had some limitations. First, the generalizability of the study was limited by the
use of data from a single university. Second, although students were encouraged to
take part in this study, their participation was voluntary. The response rate of 84.3%
was below the 90% response rate that was initially targeted. The number of non-
respondents may therefore have undermined the power of the study and the
potential response bias can not be completely ruled out [25]. The results of the study
must therefore be interpreted with caution. Third, the study focused on the preclinical
students as its respondents, while the more challenging adaptation in learning
strategy in dentistry during the pandemic is critically faced by the clinical students in
the profession program. Forth, the questionnaire used in this study only measured
student perception. It was unclear how student academic performance was affected
by distance learning strategy, whether there were any difficulties encountered by
students in understanding course learning outcomes, particularly for senior-year
students who received clinical dental science courses and have lower preference
toward distance learning. Previously, it was reported a weak correlation between the
student perception of learning with the actual gain of knowledge [26]. Student
perception may not reflect student understanding of course learning outcomes.
Therefore, assessing the impact of distance learning on student academic
performance is as crucial for the evaluation of curriculum transformation. This should
be further investigated. Despite these limitations, the results of this study offer
valuable information on the current perspectives of dental students with regard to full
distance learning methods implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. As student
acceptance of learning method play an important role in creating an effective
learning environment [27, 28]. Due to the uncertainty in this COVID-19 pandemic
time, whereby the situation is still changes, it is essential to design the learning
method that is most suited to current situation and to have appropriate plan once it is
permissible for classroom teaching to resume its activities, taken into consideration
all the necessary protocols for safety and health protection.

RECOMMENDATION
For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning
online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on
average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to
only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn
faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional
classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-
reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.
Nevertheless, the effectiveness of online learning varies amongst age groups. The
general consensus on children, especially younger ones, is that a structured
environment is required, because kids are more easily distracted. To get the full
benefit of online learning, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide this
structure and go beyond replicating a physical class/lecture through video
capabilities, instead, using a range of collaboration tools and engagement methods
that promote “inclusion, personalization and intelligence”, according to Dowson
Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Cloud and
Smart Industries Group.
Since studies have shown that children extensively use their senses to learn, making
learning fun and effective through use of technology is crucial, according to BYJU's
Mrinal Mohit. “Over a period, we have observed that clever integration of games has
demonstrated higher engagement and increased motivation towards learning
especially among younger students, making them truly fall in love with learning”, he
says
CONCLUSION
The study presented evidence that despite some challenges, undergraduate dental
students could adapt to the new learning methods of distance learning and agreed
on better efficiency experienced in distance learning than in classroom learning. This
sudden closure of the university globally due to COVID-19 pandemic, albeit
undesirable, presents an enormous opportunity for cultural transformation in the
education system. As more “tech-savvy” generations enroll in higher education,
dental educators need to incorporate blended learning in the curriculum, to design
the best features of classroom and distance learning to improve the overall learning
environment.

REFERENCE
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-31398-1_4
https://www.teacheracademy.eu/blog/writing-learning-objectives/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250378