ARTICLE REVIEW

Minghat, A. D., Ana, A., Purnawarman, P., Saripudin, S., Muktiarni, M.,

Dwiyanti, V., & Mustakim, S. S. (2020). Students' Perceptions of the Twists

and Turns of E-learning in the Midst of the Covid 19 Outbreak. Revista

Romaneasca pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12(1), pp 15-26.

Introduction

The article that I am going to review is an article on ‘Students· Perceptions of

the Twists and Turns of E-learning in the Midst of the Covid-19 Outbreak’

written by Minghat et al. (2020) discuss the perceptions of students from

Malaysia and Indonesia who were carrying out learning activities through e-

learning. This article highlights the struggle and the whole experience that the

students face during an e-learning session. There were few studies conducted

about the effectiveness of E-learning towards students but those studies may

overlook at the overall aspects of e-learning especially during the pandemic.

The article emphasizes the discovery of students’ perception towards the

online learning processes or E-learning in the midst of the pandemic.

Furthermore, this article aims to study the positive impact of online learning in

order to enhance its use in future education. In this paper, the article

summary, critical reflections as well as comments about selected aspects and

suggestions to the issue being raised are precisely resented. 

Article Summary
This article investigates students’ perceptions of online learning processes or

E-learning during the Covid-19 outbreak. As stated by Paules et al.

(2020), Covid-19 has been declared a global pandemic officially by the World

Health Organization (WHO) which must have caught the full attention of the

entire world (WHO 2020), requiring the general public, including educational

institutions to stop activities with large numbers of masses to suppress the

number of infections and the spread of the covid-19 virus. As referred to in the

article, the implementation of e-learning during the Covid-19 outbreak can be

measured based on the student assessment and their perception of it. The

major points made in the article include 1) student perception about e-learning

throughout the outbreak and 2) how e-learning can be done in an effective

way to benefit the education progress. Few possible questions may be asked;

how familiar is the student with the e-learning system? Is the student being

prepared enough to involve in e-learning? In the previous research conducted

by Cuiyan Wang et al.(2020), it was stated that 53.8% of the people in 194

cities in China experienced psychological impacts due to the Covid-19

phenomenon, with female gender and student status being the two categories

that were most psychologically affected. Since e-learning is seen as the most

preferable way of continuing the learning session during the pandemic, thus it

would be good to get the dept insight regarding how to improve the e-learning

system that could lead to a better enhancement in the education field. 

Critical Reflection 

Amid the coronavirus outbreak in 2019, the implementation of e-learning for

students has risen to avoid physical classes to be conducted as a result of

avoiding the possibility of the virus being spread around. Firstly, the title of this

article is very clear and complies with what the researchers study. The

authors managed to make clear the purpose of this study in the introduction to

investigate the perceptions of students about the online learning processes.

The researchers managed to state relevant discussions throughout the article.

They found that students define e-learning as an online learning process, in

the form of access to learning material, task submission, and discussion. 

In addition, the research also includes the diversity of e-learning platforms that

are often used in Indonesia and Malaysia. This a good example of a

questionnaire as the researcher provides several types of e-learning platforms

to be chosen by the student. It is observed in this article that 51% of the

students agreed with the aspect of learning preparation using e-learning. This

data shows that students’ preparations are giving a good sign of their

perceptions in using e-learning during the outbreak. Based on the article,

there are advantages and disadvantages to learning using e-learning. It is all

based on how the student itself benefits from the usage of e-learning. E-

learning system provides are flexible in terms of time and space as it can be

conducted anytime and anywhere whenever the student and lecturer prefer

to. By this, the student can have their own time in planning their time frame of

learning using e-learning. However, it is true based on the article that e-

learning depending a hundred percent on the internet connection to be able to

be used. 

 
Finally, the conclusion part of this article was well written by the authors as

they conclude the study with clarity along with suggestions provided for future

researchers to study the same objectives. The authors suggest that learning

through e-learning requires good preparation before it can be implemented.

The researchers also claim that e-learning should be designed to be simple,

personal, and fast to enhance the e-learning system. Last but not least, I think

the recommendation in the conclusion part can add more due to the need for

online learning to be conducted nowadays has risen. As stated by Agormedah

et al. (2020), academic staff should provide instructional support through

instructional activities that can help students in appraising their preparedness

and readiness (e.g., assessment), gaining the needed skills to learn online

(e.g., orientation), and managing their expectations about learning online

(e.g., course tours and tips), which can help increase students’ chances for

success in an online course.

Conclusion 

To conclude, the researcher has presented practical research that student

evaluation and successful perception of e-learning play a significant role in the

application of e-learning learning. The article also includes methods of how e-

learning can be effective especially during the outbreak. Also, I would like to

recommend that the research should be done throughout every university

student especially in Malaysia, and not only limited to 136 students like in the

research article. This is to have greater results of students’ perception of e-

learning beneficial to intensify the efficacy of the system. Lastly, this article
could be more practical and convenient for future research if the authors

managed to provide more recommendations about the issues being studied. 

Reference:

AGORMEDAH, E. K., ADU HENAKU, E., AYİTE, D. M. K., & APORİ ANSAH,

E. (2020). Online Learning in Higher Education during COVID-19

Pandemic: A case of Ghana. Journal of Educational Technology and

Online Learning, 3(3), 183–210. https://doi.org/10.31681/jetol.726441

Minghat, A. D., Ana, A., Purnawarman, P., Saripudin, S., Muktiarni, M.,

Dwiyanti, V., & Mustakim, S. S. (2020). Students’ Perceptions of the

Twists and Turns of E-learning in the Midst of the Covid 19 Outbreak.

Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12(1Sup2),

15–26. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/12.1sup2/242

Paules, C.I., Marston, H.D., & Fauci, A.S. (2020). Coronavirus infections

more than just the common cold. Jama, 323(8), 707-708.

Wang, C., Horby, P. W., Hayden, F. G., & Gao, G. F. (2020). A novel

coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. The Lancet,

395(10223), 470-473. WHO. (2020). Coronavius Dieases (COVID-

19) Pandemic.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-

coronavirus-2019