An Exploratory Study of the Obstacles for Achieving Quality in Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the obstacles to achieving quality in distance learning during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and was based on a large sample of professors and students of universities in the Arab world (Algerian, Egyptian, Palestinian, and Iraqi). The primary aim of this research was to investigate the various ways in which students pursued their studies at home during the university suspension as a result of COVID-19. In this paper, the researchers use an exploratory descriptive approach through a questionnaire with a conveniently selected sample of 400 professors and student’s returns out of 600 were distributed. The results indicate that the professors and students faced self-imposed obstacles, as well as pedagogical, technical, and financial or organizational obstacles. Recommendations are presented to overcome and understand these obstacles to benefit in the future during unexpected or similar problems.

Prolonged lockdown and academic uncertainties in Bangladesh: A qualitative investigation during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…An individual cannot escape from being vulnerable due to the lack of necessary supportive materials. An effective e-learning usually depends on many interrelated factors, such as uninterrupted high-speed internet, availability, accessibility and affordability of electronic devices, curricula and remote evaluation compatible with e-learning ( Lassoued et al., 2020 ). However, the financial and pedagogical constraints along with inadequate technical infrastructures are considered as the major barriers for online education system ( Lassoued et al., 2020 ; Mahmud and Gope, 2009 ).…”

“…Under these dismal circumstances, the online education is exposing the existence of social disparities among the university students, and leading to mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and frustration, especially among the students from lower-middle income families, for their inability to afford required facilities ( Zaman, 2020 ), and in some cases to suicidal behavior ( Lathabhavan and Griffiths, 2020 ; Mamun et al., 2020 ). Besides, there is no proper guidelines about ‘how to conduct and evaluate the classes’ of the laboratory-oriented subjects ( Lassoued et al., 2020 ), therefore, demotivating both parties - teachers and students, to continue online classes on a regular basis ( Zaman, 2020 ).…”

“…However, the Bangladesh University Grants Commission (BUGC) with the help of Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) – an initiative funded by the World Bank in 2009 – provided the required facilities to re-start the teaching and learning activities based on online platform ( Rahman, Mustashin-Ul-Aziz, & Ahmed, 2020 ). Unfortunately, like other countries, Bangladesh is still experiencing some problems, such as inadequate technical and infrastructural facilities as well as lack of training for both educator and educands ( Dhawan, 2020 ; Lassoued et al., 2020 ; Yang et al., 2020 ).…”

Challenges and Experiences of Online Evaluation in Courses of Civil Engineering During the Lockdown Motivated by the COVID-19 Crisis

“…However, some recent studies seem to agree that the teaching institutions were not prepared for such a sudden shift to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) [1]. There is an increasing number of experiences shared around the world studying how this situation has affected teachers and students, especially focused on primary and secondary levels of education [1][2][3][4], but not so many at the higher education level [5,6].…”

Review of Online Discussion Board to Improve Academic Achievement in Pandemic Time Learning

“…So the collaboration is unlimited, that the learning outcomes are still limited. However, to improve learning outcomes using online discussion boards, teachers and students can learn to have online discussions that are creative, highly motivational, and have the opportunity to collaborate between countries even when face to face was impossible (Lassoued et al, 2020).…”