Perception of Online Learning on Academic Performance of UMT Students, Lahore

Background: With online learning becoming an established facet of modern education, understanding its reception among specific student populations is crucial. This study offers a critical perspective on E-learning's impact by focusing on the academic performance of undergraduates at the University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore. Objective: The objective was to explore the differential effects of online learning on two distinct student groups within UMT, those in the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Doctor of Nutritional Sciences (DNS) programs, thereby assessing the broader implications for academic performance. Methodology: A purposive sampling strategy was employed to conduct a cross-sectional survey with 200 UMT students, equally split between the DPT and DNS programs. The survey consisted of 26 closed-ended questions designed to capture students' attitudes toward online learning. Results: The survey elucidated a spectrum of responses: 12% of students strongly endorsed online learning, 30% were satisfied, and 31% remained ambivalent. In terms of learning quality, 32% perceived an improvement, with 14.5% strongly concurring. Neutral responses were evident in 31.5% of participants, while 18.5% disagreed and 8% strongly rejected the premise that online learning enhanced educational quality. Notably, 12% strongly affirmed satisfaction with E-learning. Conclusion: The prevailing sentiment toward online learning among UMT students is one of cautious optimism, characterized by a majority indicating approval or neutrality. However, the notable minority exhibiting disapproval suggests a need for a reassessment of online pedagogical methods. The study underscores the importance of developing adaptive teaching strategies that are responsive to the diverse needs and preferences of the student body, aiming to elevate academic performance across all sectors of the university.


INTRODUCTION
Web-Based Learning, Online Learning, Distributed Education, Computer-Assisted Teaching or Internet-based learning is often referred to as E-learning.Two common E-learning modes have traditionally existed: Distance Education and Computer-Assisted Teaching (1).Distance education uses information technology to offer teaching from a central website to apprentices who live in far-off places.Computer-Assisted teaching (also referred to as computer-centered education and computer-centered training) uses computers to help provide stand-alone education and tutoring multimedia packages.These forms are included in E-learning as incorporation technology turn into the Internet (2).
Blended education is a form of education that incorporates e-learning technologies by conventional trainer-led instruction, a justly new word in learning but an idea acquainted to most of academics, for example, a lecturing or presentation is accompanied by a web guide (3).Multimedia system e-learnedness improves both education and learning for faculty, staff, and learners.These benefits are classified as delivery learning or knowledge improvement targeting.Students have control the load, erudition process, erudition rate, period, and sometimes media, enabling them to adapt their capability to achieve particular erudition goals (4) .Cyberspace techniques enable digital content to be widely transmitted to multiple users at any time or anywhere continuously (5).
Today, educational institutions schools, colleges, and universities are focused only on conventional learning techniques, that is, they adopt the conventional set-up of classroom face-to -face lectures.Although several academic units have begun blended learning as well, several of them are still running old methods (6).
Furthermore, conventional method of teaching has its own perks, including better involvement of teacher and student interaction, direct communication, organized and stable class and moreover disciplined mode of studying (7).But at the same time it has some flaws also as innovation is left behind without the use of recent technologies.The ideas cannot be demonstrated well without all those technical aids (8).
Many challenges are linked to online education, but in times of crisis such as COVID-19 outbreak, no one is concerned about the benefits of it.E-learning challenges are as follows: The independent learning capability of students is poor and also pupils do not build adequate online learning behaviors appropriate for networked instruction, access to the internet, lack of communication skills and lack of practical commencement (9).
Online learning is now an essential component of the educational systems now a few days after the COVID-19 pandemic.This system has its own pros and cons.E-Learning helps in creating new ideas, arrangements, concepts, and opinions (10).Regardless of whether it is for formal training or amusement, online Learning is speedy way of learning , this study will evaluate the efficiency of e-learning as compared to conventional teaching methods (11).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This is a cross-sectional quantitative study.The sample size is 200 calculated with the help of epitool (12).Study was approved by the university research and ethics committee of University of Management and Technology, Lahore.Inclusion criteria was both male and females students were included, all the undergraduates of Doctor of Physical Therapy and Diet and Nutrition Sciences, who studied online semester and students of age between 18-22 years were taken.Data was collected via questionnaire, after taking the consent from the participants a questionnaire named amended version of the teleconference evaluation tool was given to them.After collection of the data, it was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for frequency and Cross Tabulation.Variables were presented by using frequency tables and appropriate graphs where applicable.Informed consent was taken from all the participants before data collection.

RESULTS
In a survey focused on age, gender, and perceptions of E-learning, the data reveals a diverse demographic and range of opinions.Participants were split into two age groups, with 31.0%(62 individuals) aged 18-20 and a larger group of 69.0% (138 individuals) aged 21-22.Gender distribution was nearly balanced: 53.0% (106 individuals) were Male, and 47.0% (94 individuals) Female.When asked about E-learning's role in enhancing knowledge, opinions varied: 7.0% (14 individuals) strongly disagreed, 20.5% (41 individuals) disagreed, 31.0%(62 individuals) were neutral, 28.0% (56 individuals) agreed, and 13.5% (27 individuals) strongly agreed.This indicates that while a slight majority view E-learning positively or are neutral (62.5%), a significant minority harbor reservations or disagreement.strongly disagree, 18% disagree, 30% are neutral, 32% agree, and 12% strongly agree.Regarding the increase in quality of learning, 6.5% strongly disagree, 18% disagree, 29% are neutral, 32% agree, and 14.5% strongly agree.The data reveals that the largest segment of respondents, constituting 32% in each category, are in agreement, suggesting a positive reception towards the quality of learning, while the least are strongly dissatisfied, comprising 8% and 6.5% in satisfaction and perceived quality, respectively.

DISCUSSION
The study was conducted in Lahore.The researcher utilized purposive sampling and selected the survey method for it.The students of UMT University Lahore were selected as most of this study.The researcher selects a sample of 100 students of DPT and 100 students of DNS from UMT University because of their convenience.Findings have shown that most respondents were satisfied with the E-learning strategies used for undergraduate students.Students asserted that an online course may be an effective way to provide students with a theoretical basis in their DPT courses.
While e-learning, technology has been considered as an effective way of addressing student academic performance, there are those (13) that report both program and end-of-semester course completion rates in several education courses as merely acceptable compared to more traditional courses.Specifically, the main goal was to highlight the findings regarding to the connection between technology and student learning through online courses (14).On a comparative note, DPT students felt more satisfaction than DNS students because of their dissent, associated with the need to create much better web-based techniques, which helps the students to fully understand different forms of technology making them gain more interest in it which increases their learning of new knowledge rates in this field.
The findings of the present research are also comparable with the results of a study conducted in Libya for engineered students (15) This study highlighted the noteworthy relationship between e-learning and students' motivation to increase academic performance (16).When applying E-Learning, DPT Students are more likely to be more motivated whereas DNS students appear to be less motivated for E-Learning and more likely to be interested in traditional classroom learning (17).
Students are more likely to be engaged if they are motivated to learn and if they are engaged and engaged successfully, then they are probable to achieve the learning objectives (18), So, it would definitely be fascinating to make use of e-learning as a standard device in the instruction of university students as it is convenient, accessible and user-friendly.
However, only in Pakistan the analysis was executed; thus, the center of attention should be paid in generalization of the results in this country (19).Since the motivation of students is an important issue in higher education, mainly owing to significance of academic performance in their professional life (20), in developing countries, this study will be very helpful for educational thinkers to better grasp the effects of E-Learning on student's academic performance.

CONCLUSION
The survey data suggests a generally positive but varied perspective on the educational approach under consideration.A notable 64% of participants either support or express neutrality, indicating that the approach is reasonably effective.However, the presence of 26.5% with dissenting views signals a need for attention.The implications here are twofold: firstly, there is a foundation of satisfaction that can be built upon, and secondly, a substantial minority requires further engagement to enhance their educational experience.This underscores the necessity for tailored educational strategies that consider diverse student needs and perspectives to optimize academic performance for a broader student body.
ISSN 2791-156X Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Research (JHRR) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License | www.jhrlmc.com| Vol. 3, Issue 2

Figure 1
Figure 1 Students Satisfaction and Quality of Life

Table 1
Demographics and E-Learning Knowledge Ilyas T. et al., 2023 | Online Learning Impact This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License | www.jhrlmc.com| Vol. 3, Issue 2