Adoption of Online Learning during the Covid19 Pandemic Lockdown by Universities in Garowe

Abstract

In response to the Covid-19 outbreak the world closed and therefore countries like Somalia have not been exceptional. The government of Somalia and all higher education institutions adopted crisis intervention measures on implementation of blended learning approaches like online teaching and learning. In this chapter we explore the process and challenges of adopting online learning in response to the world wide lockdown due to the pandemic. Given that this was an abrupt requirement, the survey was interested in finding out whether universities adopted and adapted easily. Researchers compared findings from previous studies and theoretical inclinations on online learning. Results indicate that the adoption of online learning among universities in Garowe was as a matter of crisis management whereby administration, lecturers and students were all not ready and had no prior grounding in this pedagogical learning platform. Just like previous studies online learning implementers have continued to encounter several challenges like intermittent internet network, cost of gadgets and facilities, inadequate skills of both the instructors and students, aspects of communication and satisfaction from stakeholders. With the research survey in Garowe, results show that this is still pervading and therefore need for more rigorous contextualised research on this subject.

Positioning higher education institutions as work-based ICT-integrated learning theatres for employee mid-career development; a strategy for HR capacity building

“…Additionally, the key to successful mid-career development is for individuals to be proactive and stay engaged in their fields as they pursue their further studies. The sporadic adoption of Online learning by most institutions in the developed world makes it the fastest growing segment in higher education (Means et al, 2010;Cates et al, 2021), after 2020, this has spread to the rest of world so easily as a crisis management mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic (Auf and Hamdi, 2022). By investing in their career development through continuous learning and growth, individuals at different employment levels can increase their job security and position themselves for career progression in their respective organizations and fields.…”