DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A SCALE TO MEASURE STUDENT'S PERCEPTIONS ON ONLINE LEARNING

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the functioning of all sectors of the economy. With no exception, the education sector's functioning has also been significantly affected due to the rapid outbreak of COVID-19. It has resulted in a drastic surge to deliver pedagogy using online methods. In this uncertain worldwide environment, educational institutions have been forced to continue educating students through the remote teaching process due to the emergency lockdown declaration. With due consideration for the prevailing conditions, the government and policymakers of educational institutions had to promote online education. Even many Higher Educational Technical Institutions (HETIs) may be likely to continue teaching online once this pandemic has passed. It is essential to review and examine students' perceptions about the online learning process to improve online education's quality and standard to the next higher level. In this context, the present study aimed to develop and validate a measuring instrument to evaluate students' online learning perceptions. Data was collected from 1632 students using a structured questionnaire Using EFA, CFA, and SEM. The designed instrument is validated. The developed instrument addresses a total variance of 63.47% with Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient value 0.942. The final validated instrument consisted of seven factors, Capability of Online Learning (COL), On-line Learning Difficulties (OLD), Course Faculty Capability in online learning (CFC), Online Learning System (OLS), On-line Learning Assessment (OLA), Online Platform and Communication for Learning (OPCL) and Conventional Learning and Communication (CLC).