THE QUALITY OF STUDENTS CHARACTER ON LEARNING IN THE PANDEMIC: A SURVEY STUDY

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic that hit parts of the world impacts education. The acceleration and shift of learning to online mode are massively carried out. Changes in learning modes impact the character of students, so a comprehensive non-cognitive instrument is needed that can be used to measure the quality of student character. This study aims to identify the quality of students' character in online learning during the pandemic. Character qualities are identified by the manifestations of curiosity, initiative, resilience, adaptation, leadership, and ethics. Respondents (N=442) consisted of teachers (N=56) and students (N=386) who applied online learning in several schools from Medan, Deliserdang, Batubara, and Aceh. Collecting data using a questionnaire that explores information about students' character during online learning. The research findings reveal that there is a change in students' character that leads to a positive path in online learning, where the presence of the teacher is crucial in the manifestation of curiosity, initiative, resilience, and adaptation to construct student character. Meanwhile, the manifestations of leadership and ethics felt by students during online learning were very meaningful to the quality of their character. Identification from the point of view of teachers and students found that ethics plays an important role in shaping students' character. This study provides the latest insight regarding identifying student character which comprehensively discusses and reveals the urgency of student character qualities in online learning.

Keywords

• student character
• online learning
• the covid-19 pandemic