Is Online Learning Effective?

Internet users as of January 2021 account for 59.5 percent of the world's population, or
around 4.66 billion active internet users in the world this number will certainly increase
(Johnson, 2021). This is supported by the influences of the internet in aspects of our lives such as
economic, social, and educational aspects. One of the major influences of the internet in
education is online learning. Online learning is certainly a familiar thing to us, especially since
the coronavirus pandemic, where this pandemic has an impact on various areas of human life,
especially in the social field, where people are required to carry out social restrictions and carry
out all activities online, including in teaching and learning activities. online learning aims to keep
teaching and learning activities running during this pandemic, but in its application, online
learning certainly has positive and negative impacts. This article will discuss the positive and
negative impacts of online learning based on the articles we have read and the author's personal
opinion regarding the implementation of online learning.
Online learning is indeed the most effective way out to deal with this coronavirus
pandemic. where the learning process can still run during this pandemic. online learning during
this pandemic is following the principles of the ministry of education, which prioritizes the
health and safety of students, educators, education personnel, families, and society in general,
and still considering the growth and development of students and psychosocial conditions to
fulfill educational services during the Covid- 19 (Sekretariat GTK, 2020). With online learning
teaching and learning can run easier because they can be done anywhere this makes online
learning more flexible. During this pandemic, besides can save our health, online learning can
reduce our financial costs because when we studied online we can reduce our transportation cost,
and real state (Gautam, 2020).
In addition, online learning also encourages students to explore technology here clueless
students will begin to understand how to use technology which is, important to compete in this
21 century. Furthermore, teachers can create new learning methods, online learning is certainly
different from offline learning, where when doing offline learning the interaction between
teachers is easier, this of course makes the method used by the teacher in carrying out online
learning different from offline learning because it adjusts the student's situation. Finally, there
are technological innovations in the field of education, the current situation, of course,
technology activists are constantly innovating in the field of technology, including technology in
education, applications that support education are constantly being updated and popping up.
Online learning during pandemic covid-19 also make government trying to overcome the spread
of technology, this can break distance of rural and urban place and can increase the use of
technology in the education sector (Irfan Kamil, 2020).
On the other hand, online learning has a negative impact. Some negative impacts of
online learning are: online learning can decrease student enthusiasm in studying. Online learning
is not appropriate for young students because during study online student must have good time
management and high self-motivated, and those will be difficult for young students. Students
also have difficulty assuming responsibilities by the online paradigm (Sharma, 2020). During
studying online students should have a good internet connection and this issue can bring a big
gap between students because during studying online internet determine student success in the
learning process. And the last is online learning can cause students and faculty to experience
social isolation this is because of the lack of social interaction, and this problem can cause
serious negative effects such as burnout and stress.

From our perception as a writer, we believe that online learning brings many negatives
impact and not effective, those because online learning can reduce students' understanding, this
happens because teachers tend to only provide material without any explanation. And as we
mention on the negative impact the implementation of online learning students need a lot of
motivation, then the gap between rural and urban students is due to unequal internet access, this
because rural place mostly has a poor internet connection. And the last is online learning also can
make students more easily distracted, this happens due to lack of direct supervision, the state of
the place of study that has many distractions, the use of electronic devices that are not devoted to
learning activities, it is possible to have notifications from social media that make us unfocused.

In conclusion, The spread of the internet throughout the world can be seen from all

aspects of life such as economy, trade, health, government, and education. In terms of education,

the internet also has a very important role, especially during a pandemic like today. Learning

must continue even from home, therefore online learning is an effective solution at this time.

With online learning, learning can be done wherever students are without having to make eye
contact. Besides that, online learning also raises enthusiasm for students and teachers to explore

more about the use of the internet and technology to develop the learning process for the better.

However, online learning also harms students. One of them is reducing students' enthusiasm for

learning. Coupled with the lack of direct interaction with fellow students and teachers, it can

cause stress on students. The uneven internet network in all regions also makes it difficult for

students in certain areas to use the internet in implementing online learning. Not only that, the

limitations of the media that students have are also a problem in online learning.

Finally, Everything has a positive and negative side as well as online learning.

Regardless of the joy and sorrow of undergoing online learning, this is still the best way out that

can be done so that the learning process continues as expected. Although online learning cannot

replace the urgency of learning directly, this method is an effective way that can still be done to

continue the learning process. Because both students and the teachers still can explore and use

the technology as well as they need. It also increases their skill in using technology that can help

them in the future.