Adapting on virtual classrooms: adult learners in Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC) adjustment in online course during COVID-19 era / Noor Jawahir Ismail

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many tertiary institutions converting overnight from taught to online lectures without much preparation. Many researchers suggest that the sudden change has impacted on students’ satisfaction with online learning in differing ways. Up till now, slight is identified about how this change impacted specifically on adult part-time students, which is the focus of this study. The Coronavirus Disease or to be known as COVID-19 has caused by a newly identified coronavirus which originated from Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) has had a significant impact on every country's economy, particularly in the education sector and impact on schooling, leading to important adjustments that affected students. Some of the effects include social distancing, quarantines, isolation measures, university closures and travel restrictions. Adapting to new norm learning standards was difficult due to a variety of demographic backgrounds among students, particularly among adults because children have a stronger connection to technology than adults. A quantitative study was done among 250 respondents in a Malaysian training organization facility in Klang Valley. The study developed is quantitative, descriptive, and correlational. The research design is simple random technique with each member of the population has an exactly equal chance of being selected. The results show that the implementation and use of the e-learning platform has a highly positive influence on motivation, self-concept, experience readiness to learn and orientation of learning on adult learner. It can be concluded that the e-learning platform leads to improvement in adult learners who are studying the financial planning area in the educational stage of certification, if it is compared with the expository method. Therefore, this method is considered effective for its implementation in adults.