CHAPTER 1 
                         INTRODUCTION 
              This chapter consists of seven sub-chapters. They are background of the 
           research,  research  question,  objectives  of  the  research,  subject  of  study,  and 
           significance of the research, scope and limitation of the research, definition of key 
           terms. 
           A.  Background of study 
                Covid-19 pandemic changes many aspects and dimensions. The effect 
             spreads to the sector of economy, social, and education system. In the current 
             situation,  the  stakeholder  provides  policies  to  dismiss  all  educational 
             institutions to prevent the corona transmission. The government and related 
             institutions also must provide alternatives to the students who cannot carry 
             out the process of education in school. The policy in field of education taken 
             by the government to face this pandemic are: online learning to students of 
             kindergarten until senior high school, online learning for college students, the 
             abolition of national examination, UTBK SBMPTN 2020 is postponed, and 
             SNMPTN is still under review (Anhusadar, 2020) 
                In state Islamic education, the adjustment of educational policies can be 
             seen  from  circular  letter  number  657/03/2020  concerning  to  the  effort  to 
             prevent covid-19 in state Islamic education that stated the leader of PTKI 
             made the change from face-to-face lectures become study at home or using e-
             learning from 16 – 29 March 2020 and further will be evaluated. Seeing the 
             condition that in Indonesia the number of covid-19 case still increase every 
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             day,  then  the  circular  letter  number  697/03/2020  concerning  changes  to 
             circular letter number 657/03/2020 about the effort to prevent the spread of 
             covid-19  in  Higher  Education  of  Islamic  Religion  which  stated  that  the 
             lecture process in this even semester in 2019/2020 academic year at every 
             Islamic Tertiary Institution, both of public and private completely done online 
             (Kemenag, 2020). 
                The vaious application and platform to facilitate the education is one of 
             the indicators that technology grows rapidly. It can be the support system to 
             the demand of online learning. Nowadays, students and teachers can also do 
             online  teaching  and  learning  activities.  The  meeting  application  such  as 
             Google meet, Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp video call, etc provide the situation in 
             which students and teacher can communicate interactively in the process of 
             learning. Students can also learn through internet where at this time learning 
             materials  are  widely  available.  According  to  (Hill,  2012),  course  delivery 
             using the internet has started by 1994 and latter introduced the new approach 
             of  course  management  system.  E-learning  is  the  combination  of  two 
             processes; the use of electronic, digital technology and media to manage and 
             deliver teaching and learning content and collection of teaching evaluations 
             and learning outcomes in education. Learners can access the same learning 
             resources from different locations through internet-connected digital devices. 
             E-leavening  can  be  synchronous  and  asynchronous.  Synchronous  is 
             commonly supported by media such as video conferencing and chat, has the 
             potential to support e-learners in the development of learning communities. 
                              
            
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             The instructors facilitate learners in a reaql time virtual leaning environment, 
             which motivates learners to participate in discussion and receive instructor’s 
             immediate  feedback.  Asynchronous  e-learning  is  commonly  facilitated  by 
             media such as email and discussion boardfs, support work relation among 
             learners and teachers, even when the participant cannot online at the same 
             time. This type give more time to students to process deeper reflection on the 
             learning  content  and  complete  the  learning  at  their  own  pace  (Hrastinki, 
             2008).  In  college  students,  both  of  those  models  are  utilized  in  lecture 
             process,  however  learning  through  online  meeting  or  conference  such  as 
             zoom and Google meet are commonly used in this situation. Moreover, some 
             of the thesis examination is done online. 
                Study conducted by Laode Anhusadar (2020) on the students’ PIAUD 
             perception on online class during Covid-19 reveals that all of the students 
             prefer offline class rather than online class. 88.3% of them conduct e-learning 
             at home. 91.8% students prefer study via whatsapp group. 4students stated 
             than  online  class  cannot  be  understood,  34  stated  online  class  is  fairly 
             understandable, 23 students stated it is understandable and only 1  student 
             stated it is very understandable. Other study conducted by Chen Chen (2016) 
             reveals  that  face  to  face  learning  is  still  students’  most  preferred  course 
             delivery method. It is also found that students have better learning outcomes 
             in face to face learning. Blended learning and e-learning are complements of 
             face  to  face  learning  to  meet  students’  different  needs.  Study  by  Laxmi 
             Mustika  Cakrawati    (2017)  on  students  perception  on  the  use  of  online 
                              
            
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                                 learning  platforms  in  EFL  classroom  indicated  that  most  of  students 
                                 considered the use of Edmodo and Quipper in English teaching and learning 
                                 is effective and efficient in terms of time. Although slow-speed of interned 
                                 considered to be one of the difficulties, but most of them agreed that online 
                                 learning platforms can help them in practicing language skills. Acquiring new 
                                 vocabulary, and improving understanding in lesson. 
                                        This study aims at knowing the students perception on e-learning using 
                                 survey  questionnaire  and  to  know  the  different  between  male  and  female 
                                 students who join e-learning. 
                            B.  Research Question 
                                 There are two research questions of this research as this follows:  
                                  1.  What is students’ perception on the use of e-learning? 
                                  2.  Is there any significant difference between male and female learners on 
                                       their perception on e-learning? 
                            C.  Objective of the research 
                                 There are two objectives of this research as this follows:  
                                 1.    To describe the students’ perception on the use of e-learning. 
                                 2.    To describe significant differences between male and female learners on 
                                       their perception on e-learning. 
                            D.  Significance of the research 
                                        Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to give contribution to 
                                 lecture  process  in  university,  especially  for  higher  Islamic  education. 
                                 Learning is not only meeting the lecturer in the same time and place. Hence,