THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC : CASE STUDY AT STAIN TEUNGKU DIRUNDENG MEULABOH

This study aimed to find out and describe the learning effectiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, State Islamic Institue (STAIN) Teungku Dirundeng, Meulaboh, along with its obstacles and solutions. This study employed the descriptive qualitative research method and was also categorized as field research. The subject of this study was limited to the learning process experienced by students in the sixth semester at the Islamic Education study program, Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh. The data-collecting techniques used in this study were observation, interview and documentation. The findings revealed that the learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic was executed in two ways: online and offline learning. Offline learning was viewed as more effective than online learning because offline learning allowed students to interact live with the lecturers and other students despite the health protocol application. On the other hand, online learning caused some obstacles, one of them was the unstable internet connection. There were some reasonably solutive solutions to this issue which as the reliable internet connection reaching out to the remote areas.


INTRODUCTION
Education is a fundamental and crucial aspect of the life of humans due to its role in a more meaningful life.Education aims to form and improve the potency owned by human beings to become more quality humans (Musanna, 2012).Education is also a standard for a nation to reflect its strengths and progress.The success of one nation depends on the quality of its education.Al-Ghazali explained the goals of education in Islam, which were to achieve human perfection (insan kamil) both in the world and hereafter.A similar idea was also mentioned by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, saying that in Islam, education aims to create a perfect, immaculate personality or character (insan kamil).These two ideas were meant for humans to function as they were created as the servant of Allah and the leader (khalifah) on earth (Arar & Ibrahim, 2016).From these ideas, education in Islamic teaching functions to embody an immaculate character (insan kamil) and to fulfil the duty of Allah as his servant and leader on earth.
Moreover, the execution of learning activities affects the quality of education because it specifies the outcomes of the educational quality of a sphere or nation.An effective learning activity would lead to a positive result in the educational process and eventually improve the quality of education.Therefore, learning effectiveness becomes a crucial factor in the education sector to realize a satisfying quality of education.Effectiveness of effectivity is a standardized measurement of how far the goals have been decided and achieved (Arfiansyah, 2017).In its implementation, there is an interaction between students and lecturers or amongst the students themselves.Learning effectiveness could be seen and evaluated from students' liveliness in participating in learning activities, understanding the learning materials, learning motivation, and their responses towards learning activities which could be seen from the movements.
However, during the pandemic, the learning process is properly questioned for its effectiveness.During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government ordered online learning for students both at university and school before reimplementing face-to-face learning.Covid-19 stands for "Corona Virus Disease 2019", a disease transmitted by the contagious Coronavirus.In December 2019, the Coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, one of the districts located in China and later, this virus became an epidemic across nations worldwide, including Indonesia.Eventually, on March 12 th , 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that this disease became the world's global pandemic (Nasution, et al., 2022).
In Indonesia, many preventive actions have been implemented to break the spread of this Coronavirus through many regulations such as lockdowns, Large Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), new normal and Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM).In mid of March, 2020 Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, along with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, enforced the learning and working from home regulation (Rahmawati, et al., 2021).That policy was applied as a warning to prevent Coronavirus contagion.Therefore, on March 16 th 2020, the chancellor of STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh, to implement that regulation, also enforced some policies stated in the circular letter.
By releasing that regulation, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh also implemented online learning for all students before running the face-to-face learning as it used to be.However, this online learning could not be separated from some obstacles in its implementation; even more, for a country like Indonesia, the online learning system seemed difficult to implement due to students' and lecturers' unfamiliarity.
The implementation of online learning at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department at STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh was done in the middle of March 2020, right after the circular letter of the Covid-19 pandemic was issued.Online learning at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh was executed through numerous e-learning media called E-Learning Sipadu and supported by several other apps such as Edmodo, WhatsApp Group, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Zoom Meeting, Telegram and other required software (Rohana, 2020).
There were challenges faced during the implementation of online learning, especially associated with the learning media system that was insufficient, unstable internet network, especially in remote areas and the increased cost to afford the internet quota, lack of facilities that could support the online learning.These were considered new challenges for students and lecturers because they needed the information to execute them (Yulianto & Nugraheni, 2021).As a result, it led to an ineffective learning process, which went negatively beyond expectation.At the end of February 2021, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh once again issued a circular letter enforcing the offline learning (face-to-face learning) but by implementing the health protocol such as washing hands, checking body temperature before the class began, wearing a face mask, and physical distancing (Mukhlizar, et al., 2020).However, in terms of its implementation, there were still some obstacles where certain class activities could not be flexibly and unimpeded as they used to be.Hence, some solutions were required to handle this kind of circumstance to guarantee that the teaching and learning process would be effective.
Considering this uncertain learning system, it urges the question about the effectiveness of the learning process during this Covid-19 pandemic.Therefore the learning effectiveness, obstacles and solutions towards the learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh, have become the research problems of study or the background of this study by at least offering some solutions for the department itself to make the decision and enforce the policy which suits or is accurate on the learning process occurred at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh during the Covid-19 pandemic.

RESEARCH METHOD
This study employed qualitative research with a descriptive approach and was also categorized as field research (Rawan, 2000).The source of data of this study was divided into two, namely, primary data, which the data was obtained from students of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh, and secondary data, which data was collected from the journals and books related to the learning effectiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic.The subject identification of this study was students of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh.The subject limitation used in this study was limited to the learning process experienced by students in the sixth semester of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh.The data collection techniques used in this study were observation, interview and documentation.Also, in this study, the researcher used data processing techniques like editing (checking and filtering), coding and clarification (grouping).The data were analyzed using the techniques formulated by Miles and Huberman consisting of three stages, namely data reduction, data display and conclusion/verification.

A. Learning Effectiveness
Learning effectiveness refers to an evaluation or measurement of the extent to which the progress and learning goals have been successfully achieved.In its implementation, there is an interaction between students and the lecturer or among the students themselves (Anggraini & Hidayati, 2022).The effectiveness of the learning process could be assessed by comparing the targets and goals of learning with their ultimate achievement.When the learning goals were completely achieved, the learning could be considered effective as expected.The effective establishment of the learning process could be influenced by several factors, namely: (Musanna, 2012) First, the professional quality of the teacher or lecturer.A professional teacher, according to the government regulation of Indonesia, should satisfy four teacher competencies, which are professional competence (ability to master scientific materials), pedagogic competence (ability to manage to learn), personality competence (good manners), and social competence (has concerns for others).Through these four competencies, a teacher will set a good example for students so that they will follow the example.The students will always respect the teacher because of his authority; that way, the teacher will also be a figure that students always await because the teacher always provides freshness of thought and breadth of insight.
Second, enthusiastic students receive instruction or teaching from their teacher/lecturer.The breadth of insight in a teacher will make students thirsty for knowledge, so it will foster a love of knowledge.Moreover, they will feel enthusiastic during the learning process.So that they will learn with enthusiasm and easily understand the learning material provided by the teacher (Amalia et al., 2022).
Third, supporting facilities and infrastructure.An educational institution should provide adequate learning facilities and infrastructure.With the existence of adequate facilities and infrastructure, it will able to increase the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of students in learning, both theoretically and practically.
Fourth maximal self-actualization (Gifari et al., 2019).The availability of selfactualization would be encouraging for the learning process.The existence of a place for self-actualization is necessarily needed to assess and evaluate the extent to the effectiveness of learning materials given so far that could be absorbed by students.One example of this potential actualization is the extracurricular activity done by one institution.
Fifth, an exchange program based on the courses.Through the exchange program, students are expected to be motivated to enhance their skills and ability to the level of competitiveness.One example of an exchange program on the course of History of Civilization (Sejarah Peradaban) that requires further and deeper knowledge about the taught lesson, so students could be involved in attending the study tour to the museum associated with the course (Umam et al., 2021).
Besides those five factors, assessing or evaluating the effectiveness standard requires some indicators.Learning effectiveness could be seen from students' live activities during the learning process, understanding towards the lesson, motivation in following the instruction, and their responses towards the learning activities, which could be seen from their movements.There were some indicators in achieving effective learning, namely: (Hamid et al., 2021) First, there was a dynamic and progressive interaction between the teacher/lecturer and students.Leaving strong marks, both in the memory and in the soul of students so that they will continue to remember the material they have learned in the learning process.Second, students' confidence and self-courage | 121 | could be seen by participating in local, national and international competitions.Third, a work or masterpiece was done by students.Fourth, the emergence of the spirit of independent learning.Therefore, in order to make a learning process effective, there must be some factors and indicators which should be satisfied.

B. Effectiveness Approach
There are some approaches used in evaluating or assessing the effectiveness, namely: first, Goal Apporach meaning an approach used to measure the extent to which a goal set by an institution has been achieved.Assessing the effectiveness using the goal approach begins with identifying the goal/purpose which is intended to be achieved by an institution.Then, the level of success could be assessed by achieving the set goals.The crucial factor of this goal approach is the execution time.They work effectively if the goals are achieved based on the set targets (Lazwardi, 2016).So, this targeted approach tries to measure how far the goals/targets set by an institution have been achieved.
The second is the System Resource Approach.The basis of this system resource approach is derived from a theory about the openness of an institution's system to its environment.This is because the institution has an even relationship in which rare resources could be valuably obtained from that environment.This system resource approach is used to assess the effectiveness by seeing the success of an institution that could successfully obtain varied resources that align with the needs (Apollonio et al., 2022).After obtaining those resources, an institution must also preserve the situation and system to achieve effective success.This approach tries to measure effectiveness by observing the success of an institution regarding the extent to which it can obtain a variety of sources according to what it needs at that time.
Third, the Internal Process Approach.The assessment of effectiveness using this internal process approach is done by focusing attention on the internal activities of one institution that are associated with the resources owned and kept by that institution.This internal process approach is used to assess the level of efficiency and quality of an institution (Anggraini & Hidayati, 2022).This internal process approach tries to measure effectiveness by observing various internal activities related to sources previously obtained by an institution to determine the level of efficiency and internal quality of an institution.

C. COVID-19 Pandemic
A pandemic can be defined as an outbreak or epidemic of a certain disease that spreads globally (worldwide).Covid-19 stands for "Corona Virus Disease 2019", meaning a disease carried by the extremely contagious Coronavirus.This Coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan in late December 2019, and this virus started to spread all over the countries worldwide, including Indonesia.On 12 March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) announced this disease as a global pandemic (Kurniawan, 2021).This Coronavirus has infected the symptoms of someone are sore throat, stuffy nose, cough, excessive tiredness, and fever.Even worse, this disease could lead to death at the chronic level.This virus can spread through the air and also through droplets expelled from the respiratory tract by someone who has been infected with this virus.However, asymptomatic people can also transmit the Corona or Covid-19 virus (Baharuddin et al., 2021).
Therefore, to prevent the transmission or break its infection, the Indonesian government enforced people always to be alerted by staying away from the crowds and keeping a distance of at least one meter from others.The Covid-19 pandemic caused many activities to be restricted so that all activities must be done at home, like learning at home | 122 | or online, before the conventional (face-to-face) classroom would be reapplied by following the health protocol.

D. Condition of Students and Teaching Staff
Teaching staff hold a significant role that every institution must own because they would supervise and guide the students in a learning activity (Khadijah & Indrawati, 2017).Therefore, the teaching staff is highly needed to succeed in teaching and learning.All teaching staff at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng support and teach the subjects based on their educational background.This would maintain the education quality here at this department, and there are 46 teaching staff consisting of 33 permanent lecturers (PNS) and 13 casual (non-permanent) lecturers (non-PNS) (Mukhlizar et al., 2020).
The number of students at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh 2020/2021 academic year was hundreds of active students.There were 179 students from the Islamic Education (PAI) study program, 74 students from Arabic Language Education (PBA), 177 students from Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Teacher Education (PGMI), 84 students from Management of Islamic Education (MPI), and 12 students from English Language Education (TBI) department.In total, there were 526 active students enrolled at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh.

E. Learning Model during Covid-19 Pandemic
During the Covid-19 pandemic, most schools or universities in Indonesia enforced online learning before offline learning was reapplied.The effectiveness of implementing learning activities during the Covid-19 pandemic could be seen from several different perspectives.On the positive side, students could access the time and place during online learning.In other words, they could follow the class everywhere at home and elsewhere.(Suharman et al., 2022).Through online learning, lecturers could provide learning materials through virtual classrooms or online apps, which could be accessed anywhere and anytime freely and flexibly without being limited by time and space.
On another positive side, in terms of its implementation of offline (face-to-face) learning, students would be more satisfied following the learning.That was because they could interact lively with both their lecturer and their classmates.Hence, they could easily deliver their arguments, questions and responses directly without being hindered or constrained by the network or other things.In that way, they would feel satisfied because they can experience learning experiences directly, making it easier for them to understand and master the complete learning material.
The research findings from Ali Sadikin and Afreni Hamidah informed that students felt more comfortable asking and expressing their opinions in the online learning setting.This was because online learning that could be followed from home made them not feel too much psychological pressure from both lecturers and colleagues as usual when doing face-to-face learning.So that they did not feel awkward when they wanted to ask questions or provide feedback about lecture material during the online learning process (Sadikin & Hamidah, 2020).
Learning effectiveness is a product or outcome obtained after the teaching and learning process.The effectiveness and efficiency in the learning process are key to motivating students to learn well, understand and master the lesson.Learning model, time flexibility and place in online learning fully influence and become the factors that could make students feel satisfied towards the learning process itself.The online learning process could eliminate students' awkwardness, so they could freely express their ideas and questions (Kumalasari, 2015).
Furthermore, online learning activities could also enhance students' independent learning (self-regulated learning).This is because online learning media focuses more on students, so it could gain students' sense of responsibility when learning.The online learning process requires students to seek the learning materials and evaluate and manage themselves during their courses to persist in their learning motivation.Eventually, online learning could improve students' learning interests.Moreover, the learning effectiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic could be seen from the negative side.There were some challenges in implementing online learning, namely inadequate media system of learning, unstable internet connection, especially in isolated areas, the increased cost of internet quota, lack of facilities and infrastructures that could support online learning, and lack of preparation for online learning execution.Eventually, it results in an inefficient learning process, as expected.Most students also faced difficulties in virtually understanding the learning materials given by the lecturer.They felt they still needed further explanation from their lecturer even though the explanation had been described online (Gunawan, 2020).
The implementation of offline (face-to-face) learning could also have some challenges, namely the strict regulation of health protocol implementation during the learning process, physical distancing, washing hands, wearing facemasks and checking the body temperature before following the learning in the classroom (Arar & Ibrahim, 2016).This certainly leads to the effect on the learning convenience and the use of the learning method, so the learning process could not be executed as it used to be.
Therefore, implementing learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has strengths and weaknesses.For those who could handle all the challenges that emerged in the learning process (both online and offline) and even could improve the self-potency, the learning activity during the Covid-19 pandemic was as effective as it was.On the other hand, the learning activity during the pandemic is ineffective for those who cannot handle those challenges.

F. The View of Learning Model Effectiveness at STAIN Dirundeng
Learning during the Covid-19 pandemic was different from the previous learning situation.At Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh, the learning activity during the pandemic was done in two ways, namely online and offline.In the early pandemic, Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department, STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh enforced online learning based on the government's recommendations, namely online and continuing with the issuance of a circular on the implementation of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic by the Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department of STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh (Mukhlizar et al., 2020).
Later on, after about two semesters, the learning process at Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Department of STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh turned into offline learning with the issuance of a circular on the implementation of offline learning during the Covid-19 pandemic but still having to follow health protocols.By learning in these two ways during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is necessary to know about the effectiveness of learning (Yulianto & Nugraheni, 2021).
Learning effectiveness is a standard of success of a learning process or can also be defined as an assessment or evaluation of the extent to which predetermined learning objectives have been successfully achieved.The assessment of the effectiveness of learning can be seen from various students' activities during the learning process, like | 124 | their responses towards the learning process and their understanding of learning materials.Learning effectiveness can also be assessed from their readability and motivation during teaching and learning.
If the learning outcomes are achieved based on the target set, then the learning process is effective, and vice versa.Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the process of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic is not effective compared to offline (face-to-face) learning because the implementation of online learning during the pandemic seems to be sudden, which results in the unpreparedness of lecturers and students towards this online learning (Indah, 2020).
The learning process during the pandemic at STAIN Dirundeng was also viewed by students as ineffective because there was limited communication happened in the online learning between students and lecturers or with other students due to lost internet connection, especially for students living in remote areas and lack of the internet quota or service and other factors which caused the learning materials could not be delivered optimally to students.This made the learning process ineffective.
Another opinion also mentioned that the learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic was less effective because of the difficulties in accessing the internet network and for students in understanding the learning materials provided by the lecturer.During that online activity, lecturers often did not explain the materials clearly and deeply, which resulted in students who seemed to be forced to understand the current lesson and directly learn for the upcoming lesson or materials, despite their incomprehension of the previous materials (Hartati, 2020).Students expected lecturers to repeat their explanations about the previous lesson before learning the next lesson so that all students could understand the materials.Students also hoped that lecturers could use various interesting learning applications so that all students would feel energized to participate in online learning.
In another context, the implementation of online learning during the pandemic was viewed as ineffective because most students could only about 50% of the learning materials given by the lecturer, and students had difficulty discussing the learning materials that had not been understood during the online class.The effectiveness of learning also depends on the interest and motivation of students to participate in learning.However, if this is lacking, it will result in less effective learning, so students will find it difficult to understand the learning material provided by the lecturer (John & Clinton, 2017).
Moreover, the online learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be clarified for lecturers.They could not control students directly during the learning, so they had no idea whether the materials were well delivered to students or not.This indicated that the learning effectiveness also depended on the circumstances of the education world at that time.The point is that in learning, we must follow the flow of that time around (Widyastuti, 2020).The learning effectiveness relies on the situation and condition.The online learning process was considerably effective, considering there were no solutions besides doing the learning itself during the pandemic because there was no opportunity to arrange offline learning (face-to-face) during the pandemic to prevent the danger of Covid-19.Lastly, the traditional classroom (offline learning) is considerably more effective.
Thus, it was understandable that the learning process, which was held offline during the Covid-19 pandemic, was considered to be more effective compared to the online learning done in the early pandemic, even though students and lecturers also felt burdened by the health protocol implementation that must be obeyed by in doing the offline classes.Time by time, the conclusion can be drawn when the learning process during the | 125 | pandemic has been completed.Learning carried out online during the Covid-19 pandemic was considered less effective due to the many obstacles when learning was carried out.Meanwhile, learning carried out offline during the Covid-19 pandemic was considered more effective than online because students could interact directly with lecturers and other students even though they had to follow health protocols.

G. Obstacles and Solutions of Learning during the pandemic
The online learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic was viewed as less effective due to countless issues with its implementation.Meanwhile, on the other hand, the learning process done offline (face-to-face) by following the health protocol during the pandemic was considered to be more effective compared to online learning because students could interact live with their lecturer or with other students despite the health protocol (Khosmas & Chalimi, 2020).Additionally, it was the Covid-19 pandemic that became one of the other challenges emerging from the pandemic of Covid-19, which caused the movements in learning to be restricted from offline to online learning.
The other challenges of learning are the internet network which is unstable during the teaching and learning process, especially for students living in remote areas; limited internet quota, limited references, difficulties in discussing during the learning; and if there is electricity failure which causes to the inactive learning tools from laptops or smartphones.It was worsened by students' unfamiliarity towards various models of learning apps, which made students clueless, and they should learn them first beforehand.Moreover, other factors related to the economic condition, the increased number of assignments, lack of discussion during the learning and most of the learning process was done one way (Firdaus et al., 2019).Sometimes, what has been delivered by the lecturers to students or students to their lecturers was partially delivered because the internet connection was cut off.
All the challenges that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in ineffective online learning execution.During the new normal, the learning activity was held offline by following the health protocol.This information could be applied considering that it was beyond the red zone in Aceh province, especially in the district of Aceh Barat.Even sometimes, students felt inconvenienced or burdened by the health protocol because they had to keep their distance, wear a facemask, wash their hands, and do other things.However, it was considered that offline learning with health protocol during the new normal was far better compared to the previous online learning activities during the Covid-19 pandemic (Indah, 2020).
Behind those countless obstacles, there were at least positive effects or strengths, like gaining the students' insight about using several apps during the learning process so that it could improve students' understanding and their skills in IT.It also allowed them to spend more time with their parents, and some students could work while they learned at a distance (Marini, 2018).Even so, there were still many more drawbacks than their advantages.
After that, when online learning is applied again, there are some accurate solutions to tackling those challenges in learning during the Covid-19 pandemic; one of them is that the government should provide broader internet access reaching isolated areas, so there would be no students that face the internet problem.Students and lecturers are supposed to be provided by the government with a free internet quota, and there are supposed to be adequate facilities and infrastructures.Lecturers are also expected to provide and design simple, interesting, appealing and easy-understanding materials for students and also use various accurate and affordable learning media or apps that can be accessed easily by students (Anwarudin, 2020).Therefore, all students would feel | 126 | energized to participate in the learning process and make it easy to understand the learning materials.
Therefore, lecturers should give only a few assignments to students.When the assignments are due, they are submitted to the learning group, and students are expected to mark and grade the assignments right away.Lecturers are also expected to provide assignments based on students' capability and by considering the difficult situation during the Covid-19 pandemic (Syarif, 2019).As well as for students are supposed to study even harder and look for additional learning materials, so they would not only get stuck on the given materials from their lecturer or other monotonous lessons.Students are expected to be more active and proactive in participating in the learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic and making the classroom even more interesting, so lecturers are suggested to give motivated students some tips so they can easily understand the lesson even faster.
Moreover, before implementing online learning, lecturers are supposed to be provided with training or coaching related to their awareness of executing online learning.In addition, lecturers are also expected to be able to raise students' focus and seriousness in following the learning process by motivating them.Furthermore, it is possible that the campus could provide some special classes or rooms designated for lecturers to deliver online learning (Widiyono, 2022).In that case, some face-to-face classes (offline) are held once a few times, so students can share their feelings toward some lessons they could not fully understand.Nevertheless, the most reasonable and accurate solution is to completely reimplement offline learning by following the health protocol so that students can have a candid discussion about the lesson and make them faster and more easily understand the learning materials compared to what happened during online learning.

CONCLUSION
The findings of this study revealed that the learning activity done online during the Covid-19 pandemic was viewed as less effective due to many challenges.On the other hand, offline learning under the health protocol instruction was considered more effective because students could have live and direct interaction well with their lecturers or classmates.