Educational disruptions during the COVID-19 crisis in Small Island Developing States: Preparedness and efficacy of academics for online teaching

Abstract

COVID-19 has caused a global rush of universities to transfer their courses online to maintain continuity in student teaching and learning. The study presented in this article investigated the preparedness of academics in Small Island Developing State (SIDS) universities for shifting to emergency online teaching. To examine the impact of preparedness and other factors on the efficacy of academic staff in performing their work duties during the pandemic, the research team collected data from 75 respondents who filled in a questionnaire. In addition, they conducted semi-structured online interviews with a subsample of 5 respondents. They found that most academics had the necessary tools and infrastructure to teach online, including access to reasonably fast internet connections. However, many of them lacked adequate training in applying the use of technology to teaching, which limited their preparedness for developing e-learning activities. Thus, the study found that, insufficient competence in using educational technologies and inadequate university support impacted academics' work efficacy significantly. This impact was less pronounced for staff who had prior online teaching experience, which suggests that their pre-pandemic experiences lessened their dependence on support for online teaching when the sudden need arose. The authors' thematic analysis similarly found academics' uneven familiarity with technology and the need for more "at-the-elbow" technological support during crises to be significant, as well as a need for more leadership to deal with complex situations. Based on their findings, the authors conclude that greater preparedness for online teaching -and thus improved efficacy -might be achieved through a balanced mix of independent learning (by doing) on the part of academic staff and customised and targeted formal professional learning (through training provided by the university).

Impact of digital technologies upon teaching and learning in higher education in Latin America: an outlook on the reach, barriers, and bottlenecks

“…In that perspective, this study also, on the other hand, note that most HEIs are not readily prepared to face those challenges of adopting the new digital technologies and its underlying global reality and/or transformational benefits (Boninger et al, 2019(Boninger et al, , 2020CONECTA, 2021a;Cuban, 2020OECD, 2015OECD, , 2021. The lack of preparedness became patent when the universities and faculties were forced to shift to a completely-digital modality due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic (Aguilera-Hermida et al, 2021;Almaiah et al, 2020;Al-Maskari et al, 2021;Aristovnik et al, 2020;Armstrong-Mensah et al, 2020;Blackman et al, 2020;Burgess & Sievertsen, 2020;Crawford et al, 2020;Crick et al, 2020;Devkota, 2021;di Pietro et al, 2020;Ma et al, 2021;Mncube et al, 2021;OECD, 2020bOECD, , 2021Oyedotun, 2020;Peres et al, 2020;Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021;Reimers et al, 2020;Rogers & Shwetlena, 2020;Sánchez-Cruz et al, 2021;Seetal et al, 2021;UN, 2021;UNESCO, 2020;Viner et al, 2020). Besides, a larger part or reason for such lack of readiness may be attributed to the unavailability of infrastructures, digital literacy skills, or limited resources in the region (LALA, 2020;Sánchez-Cruz et al, 2021;UNESCO, 2021a, b).…”

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals on health and education and “least developed countries” such as Nepal

“…For example, Dhruba Kumar Gautam and Prakash Kumar Gautam analysed the perception of faculty members and higher education students about the online mode of teaching adopted by Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic; they found that the effectiveness of online classes depended on three main factors: infrastructure, students and teachers (Gautam and Gautam 2021 ). Isma Seetal et al ( 2021 ) found that in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a designation referring to a group of developing countries with a number of distinctive vulnerabilities, learning loss occurred because teachers “lacked adequate training” in using technologies (Seetal et al 2021 , p. 185).…”

“…LDCs’ education sector is affected as much as their health sector. Teaching–learning activities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (the regions where the majority of LDCs are located), came to a standstill during the pandemic because of a lack of electricity, computers and internet infrastructure (Seetal et al 2021 ). Educational institutions were unable to move to online instruction because only about 18% of the population in LDCs have access to the internet (Bhattacharya and Islam 2020 ).…”

“…public plus private) have internet connection (MoF Nepal 2020 ). Furthermore, in many countries, especially LDCs, the government’s decision to move to online instruction has forced poor parents to stretch their meagre financial means to buy smartphones, computers, tablets, instructional software and internet data, but even for those with access to technical tools, learning has not happened, since many students and teachers lack skills to use online instructional platforms (Seetal et al 2021 ).…”

Student Intrinsic Motivation for Online Creative Idea Generation: Mediating Effects of Student Online Learning Engagement and Moderating Effects of Teacher Emotional Support

“…The evolution of educational technology and computer-assisted learning has brought many changes to higher education ( Seetal et al, 2021 ). Over the past three decades, online learning has become an important part of the higher education system.…”