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SUMMARY OF ARTICLE “FIRST-TIME ODL EXPERIENCE AMONG B40 AND NON-
B40 STUDENTS IN PRE-DIPLOMA PROGRAMS: ASSESSING STUDENTS’ WELL
BEING”
Siti Mariam Saad, Siti Nurleena Abu Mansor and Mahanim Omar.

Over a year has passed after the massive transition of face-to-face teaching and learning
(PdP) to online distance learning (ODL) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Upon this date, ODL
has become a common practice for primary, secondary, and even tertiary education. This
sudden change affects all students from each level of income groups, no exception to the B40
families. The hardship they endure during the pandemic not only to survive the retrenchment
but also persisting their children education. The B40 students must compete between all
equipped students, with themselves whom barely have a computer. The aim of this study was
to evaluate the B40 and non-B40 students on their perception on ODL and the supports they
received from their families and lecturers. Data on first-time ODL experiences were collected
using self-administered online questionnaire from 206 pre-diploma students in UiTM
Cawangan Pulau Pinang, consisting of 65 male and 141 female students. The data analysis was
done quantitatively and descriptively.

Figure 1: ODL experiences by categories B40 and non-B40

The findings, as shown in Figure 1, indicated that 51% and 23% of B40 students,
respectively, have sufficient and insufficient internet data when accessing an ODL session.
This has made it difficult for them to download notes and videos provided by their lecturers.
Among non-B40 students, only 39% have insufficient data on occasion, while only 17% have
a problem with insufficient data. Issues with internet connection and data could have been one
of the factors that contributed to students occasionally having problem with ODL (B40 – 53%
and non-B40 – 51%). Furthermore, 30.1% of B40 students and 13.1% of non-B40 students
admitted that the movement control order (MCO) had an impact on their families, either
economically (retrenchment, business closure, unpaid work, etc.) or having health issues. This
has caused 22% and 12% of B40 and non-B40 students, respectively, must balance their time
between helping their families and participating in ODL. In terms of lecturers’ support, 83%
of B40 and 87% of non-B40 (as displayed in Figure 2) agreed that their lecturers provided good
support, which including understanding their difficulties with ODL and providing class
materials. However, only 59% of B40 students received good support from their families,