E-learning Challenges for Lecturers in Indonesia Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Since the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, e-learning has become a necessity. There may have been some uncertainty on how to perform e-learning properly because many educational institutions may not have expected the rapid change in learning style. This is especially true when it comes to offering an e-learning management system (LMS). This study aims to examine the affordances of higher education institutions in Indonesia in conducting the e-learning during the pandemic. To understand more about the adoption of e-learning in their individual institutions, we conducted an online survey towards 100 university lecturers from several cities. The results revealed that 79% of the participants used a specially built LMS in their universities, while the rest still used commercially built LMS like Moodle. Then, 82% of the participants prefer blended learning model which combined face-to-face and e-learning models, and 46% of them wanted to have a fifty-fifty division between face to face and e-learning. As for the challenges, no interaction with students was deemed as the most disturbing challenge for the lecturers. The results imply that e-learning will continue to be implemented in Indonesia, regardless of the condition of the pandemic. Thus, universities should provide an e-LMS that can cater all the e-learning needs, while lecturers should also equip themselves with pedagogical as well as technological skills to face the e-learning challenges.