This quantitative study investigated the determinants of students’ satisfaction with their online learning experience at Sri Lankan universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was collected from 1376 undergraduates enrolled in various courses in humanities and social sciences at three state-owned universities in the country. The results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that the independent variables of the model, namely perceived learner motivation, perceived challenges of e-learning, and interaction significantly affected students’ satisfaction with their new online learning experience. Out of the three variables, learner motivation exerted the strongest effect on students’ satisfaction, implying the crucial role self-regulated learning—characterized by motivation—plays in online learning environments. The study has several implications for both creating and ensuring the long-term sustainability of productive and student-friendly online learning spaces in higher education.

Increased participation in private tutoring intended towards the high academic performance has been perceived enormously worldwide. However, to date literature is indecisive about the effect of private tutoring on students' academic performance. This study directed to observe the impact of private tutoring on students' academic performance in Sri Lanka. Data was collected from a stratified systematic random sample of 600 children were in Year 7 -11 and their parents through a questionnaire survey. It was found that private tutoring has positive effect on students' academic performance while net impact of private tutoring on student's academic performance is reduced in magnitude when parental education, economic status and especially the effect self leaning hours is concerned. Hence, the study concludes that rather than focusing on private tutoring, efforts to improve self learning strategies that enhance socio-cultural connectedness and human focus can lead to achieve wider goals of education.

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