Indonesian Journal of Learning and Instruction p-ISSN 2614-8250, e-ISSN 2614-5677 Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IJLI 33 PALESTINIAN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Heba Jadallah Department of Languages, Palestine Ahliya University, Bethlehem, Palestine hebajadallah@paluniv.edu.ps Mohammed A A Farrah Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Hebron University, Palestine mfarrah@hebron.edu APA Citation: Jadallah, H. & Farrah, M. (2022). Palestinian university English professors and students' perspectives of online learning during covid-19 pandemic. Indonesian Journal Learning and Instruction, 5(2), 33-42. http://doi.org/10.25134/ijli.v5i2.5528 Received: 29-06-2022 Accepted: 22-08-2022 Published: 30-10-2022 INTRODUCTION Whoever has taught me one letter has made me his slave. This is a beautiful phrase that clarifies the importance of education and teachers generally. Education is a very important tool in improving societies. Technology also is a good tool that makes the world entering a new revolution in education. COVID-19 pandemic shows the other important side of technology in learning. According to Itmeizeh and Farrah (2021) educational institutions tend to depend fully on online learning during this pandemic. Thus, the educational process keeps going even in difficult circumstances. To conclude, using technology in learning and teaching represents a new revolution in education. Teachers and students should join this revolution. This new digital age of education is one that is crucial to teachers, students, and the advancement of education. This research will examine Palestinian EFL university students and instructors' perceptions towards using online applications. In this study, the researchers want to reveal EFL Palestinian universities students' and instructors' attitudes toward the sudden and quick transition to online learning. This may help uncover the opinions of this transition, the advantages, and the challenges that online learning has posed. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge there are few previous studies that examined online learning in Palestine. This research is considered to be the first that introduces students' and instructors' views toward the transition to online learning across Palestinian universities. Thus, it will add new information to the Ministry of Education in Palestine and help improve and challenge previous ideas about education. Many educational institutions started to teach by using different online applications due to the Coronavirus pandemic. According to Basilaia and Kvavadze (2020), the transition to online learning was quick. This sudden change did not allow for standardization and schools in Georgia tended to use different online applications in teaching and learning such as; online portal, TV School, Abstract: COVID-19 is a virus that affects all spheres of life all around the world. Students and instructors all around the world are forced to transfer to online learning applications as a substitute for face to face learning. Hence, the pandemic has disrupted the Palestinian educational system and caused online learning to become a necessity. This study observes Palestinian university student and instructor perceptions toward using online learning applications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to collect data from students and instructors from 12 Palestinian universities. Thus, to collect data the researchers distributed 2 online questionnaires and conducted 32 semi-structured interviews. The sample of this study consisted of 375 students and instructors from different Palestinian universities. The results show that both students and instructors agree that online learning has advantages such facilitating learning at any time and place. Still, online learning has more disadvantages such as internet interruption, poor interaction, and more. Instructors and students both harbor negative attitudes toward using online applications. Finally, the study concluded with recommendations to improve online learning in the future. To facilitate higher quality online learning, instructors and students need support, training and a well-developed infrastructure. Keywords: advantages; challenges; online learning; Palestinian Universities; solutions. mailto:hebajadallah@paluniv.edu.ps mailto:mfarrah@hebron.edu Heba Jadallah & Mohammed A A Farrah Palestinian university English professors and students' perspectives of online learning during covid-19 pandemic 34 Microsoft teams, Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, and EduPage. The transition to online learning allowed educators to continue to teach remotely. Additionally, according to Almarzooq, Lopes, and Kochar (2020) the need to social distance because of the pandemic forced the US education system to transit to fully virtual learning. Zoom and Microsoft Teams were the chosen appropriate platforms for education. Using such platforms would allow the educational process to continue. Moawad (2020) stated that because of the closure of the educational institutions in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic, a sudden shift to online learning occurred. Online platforms were used in order to resume the educational process. Students had concerns about final tests and assessments. So, using online learning needs a lot of preparation and training. Online learning offers a number of advantages. Any learning tool has advantages and disadvantages and online learning is one of these tools. According to Itmeizeh and Farrah (2021) online learning opens the way for learners to learn without being restricted by place or time. Learners will be more motivated and responsible. Also, instructors and course designers benefit from understanding any course’s aspects, increasing student understanding and participation. However, online learning is inherent with some Limitations. It has technical problems such as slow servers, training and developmental issues, lack of Web materials, and lack of facilities and high cost. Sadeghi (2019) examined some limitations of online learning such as complicated technology. In case of any software or hardware breakdown, the class meeting abruptly ends. Besides, Al-Jarrah, Talafhah, and Al-Jarrah (2018) observed some obstacles of using online classes such as lack of technical support. Another disadvantage of using online lectures is poor connection. This is clear in Mishra, Gupta, and Shree’s (2020) study. They observed that internet interruption is a challenge in virtual learning. Another disadvantage of online learning is the instructor and learner's lack of experience. Altunay (2019) pointed out that students should participate in orientation programs at the beginning of the semester. Also, face-to-face language learning speaking activities should be provided for better student-teacher interaction. This is in order to better integrate online learning. Further, Huang et al. (2020) explained that some instructors could not find online resources that are suitable in their teaching contexts because thousands of them were published online. Dhull and Arora (2019) revealed that online learning had barriers with high costs, so this affected its usage at institutions. Layali and AlShlowiy (2020) conducted a study about ESL/EFL students' perceptions and implications toward using e-learning during the CoronaVirus Pandemic as a literature review. This study was done at Saudi universities. The researchers used Google Scholar and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) for getting data. The findings showed that students had positive attitudes toward using e-learning tools because using Google Docs improved their writing quality and the Telegram app improved their vocabulary learning, Nearpod led to their collaboration, and Mobile technologies which improved student-teacher communication. But the slow internet was considered a challenge. Similarly, Allo (2020) studied EFL learners' perceptions toward using online learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a qualitative method with researchers conducting semi-structured interviews with learners of English study program of UKI Toraja by using WhatsApp application. The results revealed that learners had positive views while using online learning in the middle of Corona pandemic. Additionally, this study spotted the light on internet breakdown financial problems, and selecting the appropriate and the effective online application while learning virtually. So, the learners recommended taking into consideration these issues in order to improve their online learning in the future. In the same vein, Farrah, and Al-Bakry (2020) studied EFL Palestinian university students' perceptions toward using online learning. The participants were 191 students from different six Palestinian universities and they were from different levels from the first year to MA level. The researchers used a quantitative research method as a questionnaire in order to collect the data. It was distributed online for all students. The results showed that students had positive attitudes toward using online learning applications. Also, this research introduced advantages of online learning such as designating students as researchers. Further, the researchers presented some challenges of online learning such as, students had poor technical support, their instructors should be trained more in using online learning applications, the evaluation system was not fair, and the whole technological infrastructure was poor. Additionally, Octaberlina, and Muslimin (2020) observed EFL students' perceptions toward using online learning during COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 25 students from the English Indonesian Journal of Learning and Instruction p-ISSN 2614-8250, e-ISSN 2614-5677 Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IJLI 35 department from Tadris Bahasa Inggris EFL learners in Indonesia. The researchers used a questionnaire and interviews to gather the data. The findings showed that students faced three major challenges while studying virtually; lack of interaction and personal touch, lack of technology and internet connectivity, and physical problems such as eye strain. However, the researchers gave solutions to overcome these challenges. Nugroho, Ilmiani, and Rekha (2020) investigated EFL teachers' practices of online learning and the challenges that faced them during the pandemic. The researchers used semi- structured interviews. Participants were 16 EFL teachers from different schools in Indonesia. All of them were teaching English as a foreign language and all of them had experience in teaching that ranged from one to eighteen years. Teachers used different online platforms and applications. The results showed that many problems appeared with online learning: it took more time than face-to-face so it needed more preparation and planning, it required more training, students should be familiarized with online platforms, and more. As a result, online learning was not efficient enough to be used instead of face-to-face learning. In addition, Gao, and Zhang (2020) examined EFL teachers' opinions about online teaching in response to the disruption of normal teaching plans. The participants were three teachers of English from a university in a Northern Chinese city and they were chosen through convenience sampling. The data was collected by doing in depth interviews. The results revealed that teachers had clear cognitions about features, advantages, and challenges of online teaching. However, teachers need to be more flexible, and ready to learn any new skills to overcome unexpected challenges such as COVID-19. Zboun and Farrah (2021) examined EFL Palestinian university students' perceptions toward using online learning. The participants were 82 first year students from two intensive English courses which were English Intensive 2 and English Intensive 1 at Hebron University. The data was collected by using a questionnaire and interviews. The findings revealed that students had an overall negative perception toward using online learning. Also, the results showed that online learning had some advantages such as it had easy access, it was more convenient and others. But, the challenges of online learning outweighed them such as, poor interaction, interruption of the internet, less understanding, and more. Therefore, this study aims to explore the advantages of using online learning in education. Moreover, it aims to examine the challenges that face EFL university students and instructors while using online applications. Finally, the researchers aim to suggest solutions for the challenges students and instructors face with education through online applications. METHOD Two online questionnaires for both EFL university students and instructors (see Appendix A and B) were developed based on the literature review conducted by the researchers. Both questionnaires contained 34 items and they were been distributed by the summer semester of 2019/2020 and the first semester of the academic year 2020/2021. Quantitative data was analyzed statistically by using the SPSS program. Thirty-two interviews (see Appendix C and D) were conducted during the same semesters with students and instructors from different Palestinian universities. This study consists of 301 EFL university male and female students and 74 male and female instructors from different Palestinian universities as a total of 375 students and instructors. All of the participants have been teaching or studying online courses of English. Additionally, it consists of 21 interviews with students and 11 interviews with instructors from different universities as a total of 32 interviews with students and instructors. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews. According to Adhabi and Anozie (2017) it is significant to acknowledge semi- structured interviews as the ideal data collection mechanism for qualitative studies. It seems that using semi-structured interviews presents the perfect way to collect quality information. The researchers conducted interviews with 21 students and 11 instructors from different Palestinian universities. Thus, a total of 33 interviews had been done during the same time of summer 2019/2020 and the first year of 2020/2021. Further, before doing the interviews, the researchers tried to take the students' and the instructors' permission to choose the suitable time and applications. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Both questionnaires have two parts; the first one includes socio-demographic characteristics of instructors and students as shown in Table 1 for instructors and Table 2 for students which contain the frequency and percentage of each variable listed according to the survey categories. Heba Jadallah & Mohammed A A Farrah Palestinian university English professors and students' perspectives of online learning during covid-19 pandemic 36 Table 1. The distribution of the instructors' demographic data Variable Group Frequency Percentage Gender Male 50 67.6 Female 24 32.4 Total 74 100.0 Age group 25-34 14 18.9 35-44 10 13.5 45-55 29 39.2 55+ 21 28.4 Total 74 100.0 Years of experience 1-5 10 13.5 6-10 10 13.5 11-16 11 14.9 17-21 14 18.9 22+ 29 39.2 Total 74 100.0 University Al- Quds Open University 8 10.8 Al-Aqsa University 6 8.1 Al-Azhar University 8 10.8 Al-Quds University 4 5.4 An-Najah National University 4 5.4 Arab American University 4 5.4 Bethlehem University 7 9.5 Birzeit University 5 6.8 Gaza University 5 6.8 Hebron University 8 10.8 Palestine Ahliya University 8 10.8 The Islamic University of Gaza(IUG) 7 9.5 Total 74 100.0 Have you taken any online training sessions before? Yes 59 79.7 No 15 20.3 Total 74 100.0 Have you received adequate technical support for delivering your online courses at your university? Yes 61 82.4 No 13 17.6 Total 74 100.0 Table 1 shows that the majority of the instructors are males constituting the total of 67.6%. In terms of age, instructors from 45 to 55 represent the highest percentage with a total of 39.2%. Four out of the twelve universities have the same constituting total of 10.8%. Regarding answering the two questions about taking online training sessions and receiving adequate technical support the majority responded with yes for a total of 79.7% for the first question “Have you taken any online training sessions before?”. The same resulting percentage occurred in the second question “Have you received adequate technical support for delivering your online courses at your university?”. The majority of instructors responded with yes with a total of 82.4%. Table 2. The distribution of student demographic data Variable Group Frequency Percentage Gender Female 242 80.4 Male 59 19.6 Total 301 100.0 Years of Study First 11 3.7 Fourth 127 42.2 MA Student 38 12.6 Second 54 17.9 Indonesian Journal of Learning and Instruction p-ISSN 2614-8250, e-ISSN 2614-5677 Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IJLI 37 Third 71 23.6 Total 301 100.0 University Al-Aqsa University 28 9.3 Al-Azhar University 10 3.3 Al-Quds Open University 40 13.3 Al-Quds University 20 6.6 An-Najah National University 28 9.3 Arab American University 19 6.3 Bethlehem University 39 13.0 Birzeit University 31 10.3 Gaza University 8 2.7 Hebron University 37 12.3 Palestine Ahliya University 13 4.3 The Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) 28 9.3 Total 301 100.0 My major is one of the following (English Literature, Teaching methods, applied linguistics, translation, English/ Minor French) No 0 0.0 Yes 301 100.0 Total 301 100.0 Table 2 shows that females represent the majority with a total of 80.4%. Fourth year students scored the highest percentage with a total of 42.2%. Al-Quds Open University has the highest percentage with a total of 13.3% and Bethlehem University has a close total 13.0%. All of the students respond yes to “Is your major English” with a total of 100.0%. Part Two for both questionnaires answers the research questions, what are the major advantages of using online applications for learning? What are the challenges that face EFL university students and instructors while using online applications? And what can be done to overcome some of the challenges? Exploring the advantages of using online applications Instructors and students have seen certain advantages of using online learning. Here the researcher introduces them with mean and standard deviations. Table 3. Online learning advantages as perceived by the instructors and students # Item Instructors M Std. Students M Std. 6 Online learning offered me the opportunity to follow my study at any place and time. 3.39 .991 3.06 1.262 10 The online education provided a valuable teaching experience. 3.39 1.096 2.81 1.232 11 Online learning promotes higher critical thinking (such as acquiring new vocabularies and idioms). 3.36 1.015 2.89 1.250 4 The web applications involved in online teaching are easy. 3.35 1.103 2.88 1.197 13 Online learning offers effective communication tools. 3.35 1.221 2.82 1.202 14 Online learning offers accessibility for instructors and students. 3.35 1.065 2.92 1.220 2 I found online sessions convenient and interesting. 3.27 1.174 2.71 1.145 5 Online classes were effective in helping me achieve the learning objectives of the course. 3.19 1.029 2.68 1.201 1 The online education was flexible enough to meet my needs. 3.18 1.186 2.67 1.164 12 I recommend online courses to other instructors and students. 3.16 1.123 2.64 1.253 9 Online learning supports student-centered learning. 3.11 1.015 2.82 1.264 7 I liked online learning because there is no need to go to university. 2.82 1.209 2.52 1.298 Heba Jadallah & Mohammed A A Farrah Palestinian university English professors and students' perspectives of online learning during covid-19 pandemic 38 8 Completely online teaching is an advantage. 2.78 1.114 2.58 1.266 3 I could deal with the online course more easily than face-to-face courses. 2.64 1.117 2.53 1.273 Table 3 shows that instructors and students considered online learning to have a number of advantages as expressed in items 6, 10, 11 “Online learning offered me the opportunity to follow my study at any place and time”, “The online education provided a valuable teaching experience’’, "Online learning promotes higher critical thinking”. This indicates that online learning is considered beneficial to students for ease of access and for the valuable experience that it offers. Moreover, they considered it to promote the higher critical thinking skills. The other advantages of online learning are related to the availability of the online applications and tools as shown in items 4, 13, “The web applications involved in online teaching are easy”, “Online learning offers effective communication tools.” Therefore, they reported that “online learning offers accessibility for instructors and students” as expressed in item 14 and they “found online sessions convenient and interesting” as shown in item 2. However, there are some items that received less agreement like items 7, “I liked online learning because there is no need to go to university”, 8 “Completely online teaching is an advantage” and 3 “I could deal with the online course more easily than face-to-face courses.” This indicates that the participants liked the online teaching and learning experience because it is one of the offered options during the covid19 pandemic and not because they do not like to go to university. Similarly, they did not consider that completely online teaching is an advantage. This means that they like face to face sessions because they could deal with the course more easily. Exploring the challenges that face EFL university instructors and students while using online applications To explore the challenges that face EFL university instructors and students, means and standard deviations are calculated. Below is the table that shows these challenges and they are organized from the most challengeable item to the lowest. Table 4. Online learning challenges as perceived by the instructors and students # Item Instructors M Std. Students M Std. 10 I have concerns about interruption of internet or slow connectivity. 4.04 .943 3.55 1.338 11 I have concerns about software breakdown during my online classes 4.03 .921 3.47 1.311 9 Online learning and teaching takes more time than face- to-face teaching. 4.00 1.123 3.27 1.277 8 The online transition increased my workload and working hours. 3.95 1.058 3.44 1.230 1 I have concerns about the absence of face-to-face interaction with students. 3.88 1.020 3.30 1.257 2 Online instruction may isolate students and faculty. 3.84 .980 3.22 1.184 12 I have concerns about the quality of the voice and picture in my online classes. 3.82 .942 3.51 1.277 15 I have concerns about evaluation and assessment in the online environment. 3.80 1.085 3.40 1.183 6 Lack of knowledge in technology has a negative effect on students’ performance. 3.73 1.076 3.49 1.231 13 I have concerns regarding sending and receiving assignments and materials. 3.70 1.043 3.36 1.298 7 I have concerns regarding large class number. 3.68 1.061 3.11 1.242 17 I have concerns regarding exams using Google form. 3.68 1.087 3.22 1.228 5 Lack of knowledge in technology has a negative effect on instructors’ performance. 3.66 1.050 3.55 1.179 16 The online environment made the evaluation of exams difficult 3.59 1.059 3.11 1.198 Indonesian Journal of Learning and Instruction p-ISSN 2614-8250, e-ISSN 2614-5677 Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IJLI 39 # Item Instructors M Std. Students M Std. 14 Lack of resources and web materials of online teaching had a negative impact on students' learning. 3.55 .953 3.27 1.254 18 I have concerns about the availability and effectiveness of my laptop and smartphone for online learning. 3.38 1.069 3.35 1.221 20 I have concerns about the availability of a calm room for online learning. 3.35 1.199 3.31 1.241 4 Lack of technical help for students and instructors hinders the educational performance and progress. 3.24 1.070 3.36 1.187 19 I have concerns about the high costs of internet when using online learning. 3.07 1.317 3.12 1.232 3 I am unfamiliar with online learning. 2.55 1.218 2.85 1.264 Table 4 shows that the instructors and students have challenges while using online applications. It's clear that instructors and students agree that online learning has the challenge of interruption or breakdown of internet and this appears in items 10, 11 “I have concerns about interruption of internet or slow connectivity”. “I have concerns about software breakdown during my online classes”. Further, online learning has other challenges that relate to time and workload. Thus, it needs more time and increases the workload and this is clear in items 9, 8, “Online learning and teaching takes more time than face-to-face teaching”, “The online transition increased my workload and working hours”. Additionally, they were afraid of having less interaction and being isolated from each other as shown in items 1, 2 “I have concerns about the absence of face-to-face interaction with students”, “Online instruction may isolate students and faculty”. However, the item that has less agreement is 3, “I am unfamiliar with online learning”. Instructors and students transferred to online learning suddenly without taking sessions or workshops so of course they are unfamiliar with this kind of learning. Instructor and student interviews are analyzed and presented in detail. The interviews were conducted with 11 instructors and 21 students from 12 different Palestinian universities. All of the interviewees accepted to participate in this research. 3 related questions were been asked to different instructors and students. The questions are about advantages of online learning, challenges and obstacles of online learning, and finally what can be done to overcome some of these challenges. The first question that was asked was “What are the advantages of online learning?” In response to this question, instructors agree that online learning has the advantage of saving time. Some of them 4 out of 11 instructors talked about the negative sides of depending on online learning. But, most of them 8 out of 11 agree that online learning has a big advantage in saving time and effort. Instructor 10: Online learning is something new in our community, of course you can teach or learn at any time of the day, but unfortunately the infrastructure in Gaza Strip is too poor and it is a big obstacle, but the best advantages to instructors are free-lance and no fixed schedule and save a lot of time. Also, you can handle courses more easily than face to face and can fix your suitable time for lectures. Most of the students 17 out of 21 believe that online learning save time and effort. Also, some of them 6 out of 21 agree that online learning makes them depend on themselves more. Student 09: The best advantage of online learning is its flexibility and it doesn't restrict us as students in one place. Yes, online learning eases my life. I can follow up my lectures at any time and place. Student12: For me, I think E-learning was a great experience. It had many weak points, yet I found some lessons are more enjoyable and useful than face to face ones. Also, it gave me the chance to learn from any place and at any time. It taught me to depend more on myself. Moreover, it helped me to think more critically in the exams that depended on critical questions rather than theoretical ones. From the responses of both instructors and students toward the fourth question, it's noticeable that both of them believe that online learning saves time and effort. The second question that was asked in the interview was “What are the challenges and obstacles that you face during online learning?” Almost all of the instructors 10 out of 11 talked about the unstable internet connection. Also, some of them 4 out of 11 talked about poor interaction. Further, 2 instructors out of 11 talked about the large number of students in one online session. Instructor 06: The problem is mostly related to technology (technology phobia). Internet interruption is a recurrent problem which leads to a great loss. Instructor 10: There are lots of Heba Jadallah & Mohammed A A Farrah Palestinian university English professors and students' perspectives of online learning during covid-19 pandemic 40 challenges, most of all electricity supply, the network infrastructure is too weak in Gaza Strip, and poverty is also a big challenge many students do not have internet at their homes. Most of the students 18 out of 21 talked about internet interruptions. Also, some of them 8 out of 21 talked about the distraction from others. Others, so 5 out of 21 students talked about poor interaction with their colleagues and instructors. Student 02: In online learning there is no participation or interaction between students and their instructors. I didn't get anything or information from this system. The Internet is a big problem. Student 04: Technical problems such as internet interruption. Also, distraction from my family is another obstacle. In relation to question 5 about online challenges it's clear that both instructors and students agree that internet interruption is the biggest obstacle. So, both of them talked about internet interruption and the outage of electricity. Finally, the researchers asked the interviewees to suggest some solutions overcome some of the challenges. Some of the instructors 3 out of 11 think that workshops are highly recommended in order to accommodate using technology. 5 out of 11 instructors talked about fixing the whole infrastructure and minimizing the numbers of students in one session. Instructor 01: I think that we should hold more workshops for both students and teachers. Further, we should study the feedback from both students and teachers and work on it. Instructor 05: Raising the awareness towards the benefits of E-Learning. Giving more workshops on using new technologies. Use of satellite channels to broadcast lectures which needs less internet. Helping poor students to be able to access technological items. Some students (5 out of 21) talked about blended learning. 9 out of 21 students talked about supporting them with the appropriate internet connection. Student 04: We should have blending between face to face and online learning. Student 11: To provide us with the appropriate networks, and to have technical solutions such as downloading the recording lessons when the internet is off so students could open them without the internet. Instructors and students believe that online learning is a new situation that should be accommodated with in order to be in line with the educational process. Both of them suggest many ideas in order to improve this type of learning especially during this pandemic. After analyzing data, it's clear that both instructors and students have negative attitudes toward the transition to online learning. Still, both groups agree that online learning saves time and effort and this is clear in the high average of this item in both questionnaires. Online learning allows instructors and students to hold their lectures at any time and place. This helps to continue the educational process in urgent situations that prevent face-to-face learning. In the instructor interviews most talked about another advantage which is developing technology skills similar to what Al-Bakry and Farrah (2020) conclude in their study. Also, students have the ability to re watch the lectures at any time because of the privilege of recording all the educational sessions. In the student interviews some of them agree that online learning makes them depend more on themselves which is highlighted in other studies such as Al- Bakry and Farrah 2020. Online learning eases the way for instructors and students to study anywhere and anytime. As to negative attitudes toward using online learning, this research is similar to what the following studies also conclude: Zboun and Farrah (2021) and Nugroho, Ilmiani, and Rekha (2020). This research concludes that instructors and students agree that online learning has more challenges and they have negative perceptions towards using online learning. The most challenging characteristic of online learning is internet interruption or slow connectivity and this is clear in the high mean of this item in both questionnaires and in interview responses. This conforms to what other studies conclude such as Allo (2020), Zboun and Farrah (2021), Layali and AlShlowiy (2020), and Mishra, Gupta, and Shree (2020). These studies agree that internet interruption is the most common obstacle because it is related to problems and difficulties from both instructor and student attitudes. The internet infrastructure in Palestine is poor and this resembles what Al-Bakry and Farrah (2020) concluded in their study. In some cases, students have poor connection to the internet and this affects the educational process negatively. In others, instructors have problems connecting to the internet which has a huge effect on the completion of their educational mission. Besides, another obstacle in connecting to the internet is the breakdown of electricity especially in winter because of wind and heavy rain. In the instructor interviews another obstacle they highlighted is poor interaction and communication and large number of students in one online session. Indonesian Journal of Learning and Instruction p-ISSN 2614-8250, e-ISSN 2614-5677 Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IJLI 41 To combat this complication, instructors suggested reducing the numbers of students in order to make things simpler. In the student interviews some of them talked about poor interaction and communication between each other and this aligned with findings from other studies such as Octaberlina and Muslimin (2020) and Zboun and Farrah (2021). Instructors and students suggest certain ideas in order to improve online learning in future. Some of the instructors suggest to do more workshops in order to have better online learning skills and this is what other researchers concluded in their studies such as Gao and Zhang (2020), and Al-Bakry and Farrah (2020). To improve online learning, training sessions should be held. With these, instructors and students will be more aware about using technology in the appropriate way. Students suggest blended learning meaning they will attend face-to-face lectures as well as online sessions. They need to have face-to-face lectures from time to time in order to improve the quality of their education. Also, other students and instructors talked about developing the internet infrastructure in their country in order to achieve better connection. CONCLUSION According to the results of the study, students and instructors agree that online learning has some advantages such as saving time and effort. This is because online learning depends on the internet without the need to take transportation and go to the university. Also, online learning had the privilege of recording lectures, so any student could watch any lecture at any time. Further, both of the students and the instructors highlighted the advantage of promoting their higher critical thinking in using technology. However, students and instructors agree that online learning facilitates their learning and this is clear in their questionnaires and interviews. However, online learning has some challenges. Students and instructors have negative attitudes toward using online learning and this is clear in raising more challenges than advantages. Most of the students and instructors highlighted the challenge of the internet interruption and bad or slow connectivity. This obstacle was clear in both the questionnaires and interviews. In the interviews most of the instructors talked about the challenge of poor interaction and having too many students in one online session. Some of the students talked about other distractions and poor interaction. However, both instructors and students agree that online learning has more disadvantages and challenges than advantages. In conclusion, instructors and students largely have negative attitudes toward the transition from face-to-face learning to online learning. In this study the researchers found that online learning needs more attention in order to make it more efficient. She suggests several ideas in order to create a better online learning experience in the future. First of all, educational institutions should hold workshops and sessions to train both students and instructors about how to use online learning applications. These workshops and sessions should be done both virtually and in-person in order to make things clearer. Second, our government, officials, and educationalists should draw a clear picture about mending the whole educational infrastructure in our country. For example, technology needs to be updated by providing the internet for all people in order to make poor students receive their due rights to quality education. Also, lectures should be recorded using satellite channels because it requires less internet. Third, the number of students in one session should be reduced to allow all students to understand and participate actively. 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