Challenges in Distance Education During the (Covid-19) Pandemic Period

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal the perceptions of the teachers, administrators, and academics who had to continue distance education during COVID-19 epidemic disease period, about the problems they experienced and the strategies to cope with the challenges. The working group of the current study consists of 65 teachers. The data were collected via an open-endedwritten interview. Content analysis was applied for analysis of the data gathered. Various important results regarding the use of distance education were obtained during the pandemic period and yielded significant findings. The first and the most important finding is that theachers have difficulties in internet access and lack of infrastructure, classroom management and human resources. Another challenge that participants reported was about teachers’ and students’ behaviours. The last theme stated by the participants is the distance education process itself. The findings reveal that the participants determined their strategies to deal with these problems with new arrangements regarding the classroom management, getting help from colleagues, family members and experts and communicating with students and parents. It can be certainly suggested that the participants are not ready for the distance education process and there is a lack of application in this regard; such as technology support and distance education training, and moreover, the participants do not have sufficient knowledge and experience about distance education.

E-Learning vs. Face-To-Face Learning: Analyzing Students’ Preferences and Behaviors

“…Although e-learning has become a topic of discussion in the late 1990s, only now, during the 2020 pandemic, it seems that the world has focused almost entirely on e-learning for a longer or shorter period of time, adapting and re-adapting to the new reality. More and more studies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] have begun to emerge in this field of research, as it has become increasingly exploratory and fertile for worldwide researchers.…”

“…With the mass transition to online education, many studies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] have looked at the concept of e-learning. A large-scale study [2], involving no less than 424 universities around the world affected by the pandemic, shows that for areas and sub-domains, such as research, exchanges of experience between universities, scientific conferences, and, of course, the education process, there is a single solution, namely the adaptation of the whole process to the online environment.…”

“…It also involves the development of opportunities and alternatives to be explored in higher education [3]. Despite the studies pointing out the benefits of the "rediscovered" e-learning [17,29,31], several studies [3][4][5][6]18] show that there are many disadvantages to this form of education. The pandemic education system is under unprecedented stress and is facing real risks [3].…”

Distance Learning In Primary Schools During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Indonesia: Challenges, Solutions, And Projections

“…Research conducted in Turkey found obstacles during the COVID-19 plague in the process of online learning, inter alia students' inability to access the internet, weak infrastructure, and lack of ability to use communication and information technology. Another problem is about management in the classroom so that students cannot help but follow the subject matter given during the teaching and learning process properly (Sari & Nayir, 2020).…”

“…Research in Turkey has several solutions to overcome problems during the online learning process, namely improving classroom management by changing the syllabus, preparing new learning activities, motivating students, and using learning courses with different materials. The way to overcome other obstacles is to ask for help from internet providers, colleagues, family, or experts' assistance (Sari & Nayir, 2020).…”