Jurnal Inovasi Teknologi Pendidikan Volume 10, No. 2, June 2023 (203-217) Online: http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/jitp https://doi.org/10.21831/jitp.v10i2.61752 ISSN: 2407-0963 (print) | 2460-7177 (online) How to cite: Trilisiana, N., Haryanto, H., Pujiriyanto, P., Kurniawati, W., & Sulaimon, J.T. (2023). Cognitive load in high school students during online learning amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative study in Bantul, Indonesia. Jurnal Inovasi Teknologi Pendidikan, 10(2), 203-217. https://doi.org/10.21831/jitp.v10i2.61752 Cognitive load in high school students during online learning amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative study in Bantul, Indonesia Novi Trilisiana 1 * , Haryanto 1 , Pujiriyanto 1 , Wahyu Kurniawati 2 , Jamiu Temitope Sulaimon 3 1 Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 2 Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 3 University of Ilorin, Kwara State Nigeria. * Corresponding Author. E-mail: novitri@uny.ac.id INTRODUCTION Improving the quality of learning is one of the themes raised by researchers to investigate how learning in schools can improve based on considerations of learning conditions and learning methods (Reigeluth, 1993). Learning will always be based on learning objectives for students, so learning design has an essential position in learning success (Dick et al., 2015). Like an interrelated and binding chain, quality learning begins with managing students as raw inputs with various powerful methods to achieve targeted results. The learning outcomes are one of the benchmarks for the quality of learning. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History Received: 13 July 2023; Revised: 14 July 2023; Accepted: 23 July 2023 Available online: 30 July 2023. Keywords Cognitive load; Instructional technology; Online learning in a pandemic. The public doubts that learning can be meaningful and in-depth if done online. Moreover, the implementation of online learning still has weaknesses from upstream to downstream. This research focuses on the cognitive load in students when online learning begins to be carried out massively in Indonesia due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This qualitative study aims to identify high school students' experiences in Bantul while learning online during the pandemic. Data were collected for four months through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The collected data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes using cognitive load theory and learning technology. The results illustrate that high school students in Bantul experience extra effort in learning through online platforms due to the novelty of the online learning experience, distractions, subject matter presentation, and the impact of cognitive load on students' learning. This research enriches innovative strategies for managing online learning by learning technology science. It has contributions to the need to train teachers and students to carry out learning in an independent mode. Online learning, when managed by accommodating good theory and practice of learning technology, proves to be a strategic learning mode, especially amidst the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-SA license.