Exploring the Stress among Students During Online Distance Learning: An Integration of Statistical Approach and Fuzzy Analysis
Abstract
Worldwide educational institutions, including Malaysia have to be closed in order to prevent the disease of Covid-19 from spreading. This pandemic has changed the people’s life in many ways. Education is one of the most affected sectors. Aware about the importance of educations, our government have taken an initiative to introduce online distance learning as the new platform of learning. However, most students are still coping and struggling with this new method of learning. Hence, the stress and depression arise, consequently affect the student’s performances. Therefore, this issue needs to be solved. This is a quantitative research study that was carried out using a structured online survey and a random sample approach. 100 students from UiTM Terengganu, Malaysia are selected for the research sample. A 21-item online survey was used in the quantitative technique to incorporate student stress in online distance learning (ODL). Descriptive analysis is carried out to gauge the student’s perception on the challenges that they faced in this type of learning. In this research, the Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP), a decision-making tool, was used to identify the most influential factors that may cause stress among students during online distance learning. Five factors and twenty-one sub-factors were chosen and studied. The factors were time management, environment of study, resources, and family’s as well as lecturer’s concerns. The percentage value, which denoted the rank of each factor was calculated using the FANP. Results show that, the environment of study was the most dominating factor which contribute to student’s stress during ODL. As a result, higher education must play their role in order to minimize the stress among the student as well as to improve their performance. To alleviate student’s stress, government agencies and representatives must make strategic decision swiftly and effectively. It is crucial to equip students with training in order to improve their educational experience attitude, which may help them reduce their level of stress in online learning. There is also a need to look for a better virtual teaching delivery approach in order to reduce students' stress and to safeguard the mental wellbeing of university students.
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