The educational system has undergone some changes due to COVID-19,
particularly in the learning process. Some educators implemented cooperative
learning as a teaching method in their classrooms before the pandemic. Online
learning has been the only method of teaching used during the pandemic.
Teachers must adjust the learning method to accommodate the circumstance to
implement cooperative learning during the pandemic. This research aimed to
know the perception of online cooperative learning in EFL classrooms.
Furthermore, this research aimed to see the impact of cooperative learning on
students when implemented in online settings. This study used a descriptive
qualitative survey method to achieve the result of this study. 3rd and 4th-year
students of the English Department in Ibn Khaldun Bogor participated in this
study. The researcher used a closed-ended questionnaire and a structured
interview to achieve the purpose of this study. The result found that the students
positively perceived online cooperative learning as a good method for learning.
Furthermore, there are four aspects of students? perception of online cooperative
learning: academic improvement, students? ability to work in a group, students?
engagement in online learning, and students? ability in social interactions. In the
academic improvement aspect, participants thought that they could improve their
academics with online cooperative learning. In part about students? ability to work
in a group, participants felt it was quite helpful to learn in a group. While in
students? engagement in online learning, participants thought that even if internet
connection is the main problem, they are quite comfortable learning cooperative
learning in online settings. In students? ability in social interaction, participants
thought they could interact with their groups well in cooperative learning. In
conclusion, this study discovered that students liked online cooperative learning.
It proved that teachers could implement cooperative learning in any environment,
whether online or offline.
Keywords: students? perspective, cooperative learning, and online learning