E-Learing Service Issues and Challenges: An Exploratory Study

The use of e-learning in higher education has been known since the late 90's albeit its development and adoption remained a slow process in higher education institutions. The adoption of e-learning is gaining traction as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in 2019 and become a necessity for all educational institutions. Although today the institutions have opted for e-learning as an alternative way to carry out the learning process, many are still not ready and facing difficulties in implementing, managing, and using it. This research aimed to investigate the issues and challenges of e-learning implementation during the Covid-19 pandemic at Universitas Esa Unggul. This research was conducted using exploratory research method by conducting literature study, observation, interview, and survey to examine the lecturer's and student's experiences and perspectives of the e-learning system. The questionnaire was adapted from an Information Technology Service Management perspective to gain data of e-learning satisfaction, availability of e-learning facilities, e-learning ease of use, availability of guidelines, availability of system supports, and to get feedbacks from the student and the lecturer. Based on the study, we identify the following seven e-learning issues: 1) e-learning infrastructure, 2) e-learning system integration, 3) e-learning policy, 4) e-learning support, 5) individual workload, 6) timeliness, and 7) interactivities. E-learning infrastructure is a dominant challenge for Universitas Esa Unggul that requires special attention to improve on its support and regulation. This finding gives implications that improving e-learning service is essential to provide a better learning experience. The e-learning service includes the infrastructure, the system integration, the policy and regulation, IT support, the lecturer, and the interactivity. This research could contribute to the design of an effective model of e-learning service by giving more structured guidance on how to do readiness self-assessment and factors to be focused on.