STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Online learning has been chosen to be applied in all tertiary institutions in Indonesia; this also applies to IAIN Takengon. Student perception is one of the determinants of the success of the learning that is carried out. The purpose of writing this article is to find out how students' perceptions of online learning have been implemented and the factors that influence these perceptions. The research method used is an online survey using google form. The results showed that students' perceptions of online learning were not very good; this was caused by several factors, such as poor internet access, burdensome internet quota, difficulty communicating with lecturers, so students were not ready to use applications when online learning was carried out. There needs to be much improvement in the online learning system implemented; this indicates that universities are not ready to carry out online lectures.


INTRODUCTION
Online learning is an option for conducting lectures during the Covid-19 pandemic in all universities in Indonesia (Kemendikbud, 2020); IAIN Takengon is no exception.
This online lecture policy was taken to keep the Covid-19 virus spread due to crowds caused by lectures being held in class (Dhawan, 2020). At IAIN Takengon, online lectures are conducted from the beginning of March 2020 until the end of the semester for the 2019/2020 academic year in July 2020. Online lectures are carried out by utilizing various learning media, such as the WhatsApp application, Edmodo, google classroom, google meet, zoom, and telegram.
The quality of education in tertiary institutions can be seen from learning outcomes and assessed from students' perceptions of learning (Griffith, 2002). Students' perceptions Jurnal As-Salam, Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020 (Print ISSN 2528-1402, Online ISSN 2549 Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 195 -204 Awal Kurnia Putra Nasution, Nurul Qomariah Ahmad | 196 are very important for learning motivation so that learning that takes place can be improved in quality (Koohang & Durante, 2003). Students' negative perceptions can lead to poor learning outcomes and decreased learning motivation and persistence (Kauffman, 2015). Research conducted by Bali & Liu shows that students feel comfortable implementing online learning; this is because students can learn technological innovation (Bali & Liu, 2018). Students have a positive view of online learning, even though online learning can only be used as an adjunct to face-to-face learning (Asiry, 2017). In research conducted by Almaghas, it is shown that students are more comfortable choosing face-toface lectures than online lectures (Almaghaslah et al., 2018). Based on some of these studies, it is feared that lectures' discomfort will negatively affect the learning being carried out. The purpose of writing this article is to find out students' perceptions of online learning and to identify difficulties in online learning. In the end, this description of student perceptions will be used as an evaluation material for online lectures to make improvements in the implementation of subsequent lectures.

Student Perception
Perception is an individual's view of other people who play a role in his life and can be one of the determining factors for success, which also applies to students (Corbin et al., 2020). It is indicated that if the individual has a good view of something or other people, it will also benefit him/herself. Perception can also be considered an individual's interpretation of something (Amir et al., 2020). This opinion is in line with that expressed by Arifin, that perception is a process of giving meaning, interpretation of stimuli and sensations received by individuals, and is strongly influenced by internal and external factors of each individual (Hadi et al., 2017

Online Learning
Online learning is a learning process between students and teachers/instructors not face to face directly but using electronic media in the internet network simultaneously in different places (Singh & Thurman, 2019). With online learning, it is expected that Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 195 -204 Awal Kurnia Putra Nasution, Nurul Qomariah Ahmad | 197 students' role in the learning process will increase because it is not limited by time and space (Saifuddin, 2018). Technological developments have led to more applications that support online learning, such as WhatsApp, google meet, google classroom, zoom, and Edmodo. Each of these applications has advantages. Whatsapp is used by individuals and individuals who have the function of socializing and delivering messages (Trisnani, 2017), but not limited to that WhatsApp is used by teachers to transfer knowledge to students directly and can even take advantage of voice recording and video call features (Baguma et al., 2019). Google classroom is an application that creates classrooms in cyberspace by facilitating communication between educators and students because they can collect, distribute and assess assignments at home or anywhere without being bound by time limits or class hours (Nirfayanti & Nurbaeti, 2019). Edmodo is specifically designed to be used by teachers and students to facilitate the teaching and learning process, communicate and collaborate and share content in the form of text, images, videos, links, or audio (Mafulah & Wilujeng, 2018).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research method used is an online survey. Data about student perceptions were collected using a questionnaire using google form. When the research was carried out in July 2020, which coincided with the end of lectures in the even semester of the 2019/2020 school year, this was done so that the data obtained could fully describe student perceptions during the initial to the end of online lectures at IAIN Takengon. The number of students who became the source of research data was 216 students from 7 study programs in the Tarbiyah department at IAIN Takengon. The number of detailed respondent data in each study program can be seen in table 1. Questions about student perceptions are arranged by adjusting the conditions of online lectures, which consist of 12 questions that will describe how students' perceptions during online lectures have been held for one semester with 16 meetings. The questions will explore students' perceptions about online learning's suitability with the Covid-19 pandemic conditions and whether online learning can help the lecture process.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In the first question, online learning is following current conditions, data obtained by ten students or 4.63% answered strongly disagree, 44 students or 20.37% answered Disagree, 48 students or 22.22% answered doubt, 102 students or 47, 22% answered Agree, and 12 students or 5.56% answered Strongly agreed.
Based on this answer, if the answers are combined agree and strongly agree, the answers obtained by more than half of the students agree or 52.78% that online learning is applied according to pandemic conditions. This percentage is in the less convincing category because only half of the students have a good perception of the application of online learning, with conditions like this it shows that students feel uncomfortable with applied online learning. According to Smith, two factors determine student learning success in higher education, namely learning management and the convenience of learning online (Smith et al., 2003). Based on this, it is feared that students will not truly succeed in their learning.
In the second question, online learning helps the smooth process of lectures, data obtained from 31 students or 14.35% answered strongly disagree, 67 students or 31.02% answered Disagree, 43 students or 19.91% answered doubt, 70 students or 32.41% answered Agree, and five students or 2.31% answered Strongly agreed. Based on these results, the percentage of students agreeing and disagreeing has a slight difference, namely 32.41% and 31.02%, with a difference of 1.39% or only three students. When combined, the answers strongly disagree, disagree, and doubt, and the percentage will be 65.28%; this is a very large percentage, this shows that students feel that online learning does not help the smooth process of lectures.
In the third question, I was burdened with the quota for online lectures, data obtained by ten students or 4.63 answered strongly disagree, three students or 1.39% answered Disagree, 22 students or 10.19% answered doubt, 75 students or 34.72% answered Agree, and 106 students or 49.97% answered Strongly agreed. In this answer's results, if the answers are combined agree and strongly agree, a very large percentage will Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 195 -204 Awal Kurnia Putra Nasution, Nurul Qomariah Ahmad | 199 be obtained; namely, 84.69% of students feel burdened by internet quotas when learning is carried out online. It is a very unfavourable condition for the future lecture process because students' perceptions are not good in terms of internet quota. According to Tsai, students' perceptions of the internet shape student attitudes and online behaviour (Tsai & Lin, 2004). When referring to this opinion, online behaviour and student attitudes in learning will be greatly affected and are in poor condition.
In the fourth question, Signal Quality hinders me in online lectures, data obtained by ten students or 4.63 answered strongly disagree, three students or 1.39% answered Disagree, 22 students or 10.19% answered doubt, 75 students or 34.72% answered Agree, and 106 students or 49.97% answered Strongly agreed. In the fifth question, difficulties in using online applications, data obtained from 1 student or 0.46% answered strongly disagree, 41 students or 18.98% answered Disagree, 58 students or 26.85% answered doubt, 74 students or 34.26% answered Agree, and 42 students or 19.44% answered Strongly agree. Based on the data above, it can be seen that students still have difficulty using online learning applications. Research conducted by Hung found that students' level of readiness in using computer and internet applications will affect student motivation in learning (Hung et al., 2010). The difficulty of using online learning applications will affect student motivation in learning, so, likely, students will not be very successful in lectures.
In the sixth question, the suitability of online course material with the syllabus, data obtained from 13 students or 6.02% answered strongly disagree, 34 students or 15.74% answered Disagree, 54 students or 25% answered doubt, 111 students or 51, 39% answered Agree, and four students or 1.85% answered Strongly agreed. On this question, more than half of the students answered that online lecture teaching materials were following the syllabus; this is a positive and good thing. Appropriate lecture materials will affect student learning outcomes (Khoza, 2013).
In the seventh question, I understand the material provided by the lecturer during online lectures, obtained data from 4 students or 1.85% who answered strongly disagree, 68 students or 31.48% answered Disagree, 103 students or 47.69% answered Doubt-In doubt, 40 students or 18.52% answered Agree, and one student or 0.46% answered Strongly agreed. In this question, the most dominant answer is doubt; here, students are not sure that they can understand the lecturer's online lecture material.
Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 195 -204 Awal Kurnia Putra Nasution, Nurul Qomariah Ahmad | 200 In my 8th question, I find it difficult to handle the time to teach online; it was seen that there was no big disagreement, 23 or 10.65 percent responded to disagreement, 43 or 19.91 students answered concerns, 99 or 45 students, 83 percent replied and 51 or 23.61 percent replied strongly. In this answer, it is very dominant; it can be seen that students have difficulty managing lecture time; this can be due to the improper time for online lectures, which are carried out with a predetermined class schedule.
In the ninth question, difficulty communicating with lecturers during online lectures, obtained data from 1 student or 0.46% answered strongly disagree, 32 students or 14.81% answered Disagree, 50 students or 23.15% answered doubt, 93 students or 43.06% answered Agree, and 40 students or 18.52% answered Strongly agreed. In this result, it can be seen that students are still not ready to communicate online with lecturers; this is evidenced by the number of agreeing and disagree answers, which when combined reach 61.58.
In the tenth question, difficulty finding references or reading material during online lectures, data obtained from 1 student or 0.46% answered strongly disagree, 83 students or 38.43% answered Disagree, 30 students or 13.89% answered Doubtfully, 14 students or 6.48% answered Agree, and 88 students or 40.74% answered Strongly agreed. In answer to this question, students have difficulty finding references or reading material to support the lecture process; this can be caused due to limited library access and limited internet signal.
In the eleventh question, difficulties in doing assignments during online lectures, obtained data from 3 students or 1.39% answered strongly disagree, 20 students or 9.26% difficulties in doing assignments, will affect the learning process's effectiveness (Adnan & Anwar, 2020). Based on this, it is feared that the learning that has been taking place and that will be carried out in the following semester will run less effectively, so that Jurnal As-Salam Vol. 4 No. 2 Juli -Desember 2020: 195 -204

CONCLUSIONS
Students' perceptions of online learning are not very good; this can be seen from only half the number of students who feel that online learning is following the current situation and are not sure that students about online learning can help the lecture process.
Many factors cause this: student burden of internet quota, difficulties in internet access, difficulty communicating with lecturers, difficulty doing and collecting assignments, and unpreparedness of students in participating in online learning. The number of student difficulties in online learning requires special attention, considering that there is no possibility that lectures will be conducted face-to-face. It is necessary to develop a good and appropriate online learning system so that the problems that arise during online learning can be overcome.