The Determinants of the Effectiveness of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) during the COVID -19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused accounting education to drastically change the teaching and learning methods from the traditional method to the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) method. The switch between the teaching and learning processes of the ODL method has created a problem regarding the effectiveness of the ODL, especially during this COVID-19. Thus, this study is conducted to identify the factors that have an impact on the effectiveness of ODL to ensure the process of ODL is going effectively and efficiently. At the same time the aims of this study are to enhance the stakeholders of higher education institutions in managing the ODL process and make effective decisions towards the effective teaching and learning process. Therefore, two variables are being analyzed, which are the hardware and software provision and interaction. A quantitative approach was used, and data were collected through an online survey using a Google Form. The respondents are full time students enrolled in undergraduate accounting course from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) located in Malaysia and the sample size is 375 students. The IBM SPSS version 27 and Partial least squares regression (PLS regression) which is WarpPLS version 7.0 was used to analyze the data. The results show that the provision of hardware and software, as well as their interaction, had a significant positive impact on the effectiveness of ODL during COVID-19. Further investigation showed that the hardware and software provision and interaction are the main determinant on the effectiveness of ODL. The findings of this study have significant value for higher education institutions, faculties, lecturers, and students. Future research could be applied to the others higher education institution using the qualitative approach and focuses on the other variables.