THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE CLASSES FOR LEARNING KURIKULUM MERDEKA BASED ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF SMA STUDENTS GRADUATED IN 2021

Online classes are a learning method that is also often used by teachers in Indonesia because of their flexible time and location, so that sometimes teachers are interested in implementing online classes when there are obstacles or other commitments that prevent them from holding face-to-face classes at school. However, the rise of online classes occurred after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which originated in China and then spread throughout the country, especially Indonesia. The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic became increasingly intense and posed a significant threat to human health, prompting the Indonesian government to implement physical distancing measures to reduce the spread of the virus. As a result, students were required to attend online classes from home. To this day, many educators continue to use online classes, which has sparked both support and opposition among students. This study investigates the effectiveness of online classes for learning Kurikulum Merdeka based on the perceptions of SMA students graduated in 2021. This study uses a descriptive qualitative research method to analyze open-ended questionnaires. There are seven open-ended questions in the questionnaire, and these questions contain three main components regarding students' perceptions: cognitive, affective, and conative. The majority of SMA students have a negative attitude toward the online classes implemented for their learning. This is determined by cognitive factors.