With academic online learning becoming an inevitable alternative to the traditional approach of learning for schools and colleges worldwide during the pandemic, there has been a greater need to investigate students' perception of online learning in academia especially for curriculum courses of special nature such as practical courses. With a need to fill a research gap related to the effectiveness of academic online practical courses, this paper aims to get some insights into how students interact with those specific course modalities virtually. This will enable us not only to evaluate student's learning outcomes but more importantly, facilitate and improve students' learning experience in virtual practical classrooms.

Interior Design major students from all levels of study at Jubail university college were surveyed. The students' answers were analyzed using SPSS with relation to their experience in taking online practical courses during the suspension. With both satisfaction rates and effectiveness of learned courses being positive, attention was given to the most important factors that affected the quality of online teaching and learning of practical design courses. The students' level and background were the most influential factors, while the course nature was affected by the course material availability and the instructors' effective feedback. The paper has also shed light on the role of both the teacher and students in the learning process along with other factors such as time, technology, and environment that were also examined and analyzed.