Distance Learning in the COVID-19 Era: Perceptions in Southern Italy

Abstract

The first case of pneumonia was reported on 8 December 2019 and identified on 7 January 2020 as COVID-19. On 9 March 2020, to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases, the Italian government declared a health emergency, forcing all citizens to go into lockdown. Suddenly, schools were constrained to using distance learning strategies with little or limited experience on the topic. Particularly, in the southern regions of Italy, approximately 20% of the students did not have access to any devices and were excluded from learning, producing a direct risk of increased adolescent delinquency. This research team intended to report the results of an observational study that focused on the perceptions of distance learning in adolescents from secondary school in Naples (Italy) between April and May 2020. The questionnaire comprised 11 questions focused on the perceptions of distance learning in comparison to live classrooms, relationships with peers and teachers, and levels of anxiety. The study is amongst the first to report the effect of the pandemic from a student-centred perspective and hopes to produce information to develop future research on asynchronous learning.

Teachers' views related the middle school curriculum for distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Queiros and de Villiers ( 2016 ) state that it is impossible to continue distance education with students who do not have sufficient access to instructional materials. Limited access to instructional materials is identified as one of the obstacles that diminishes the effectiveness of distance education, since many students may not have access to a technological tool, such as a computer, a tablet PC or a smart phone (Ferraro et al, 2020 ; Jena, 2020 ; Thomas & Rogers, 2020 ). In this study, a number of teachers complain about the number of objectives in the curriculum and suggest that certain objectives need to be taken out of the curriculum during the EDD process and that course durations need to be adjusted depending on the course content.…”

Bridging Digital Inequalities in Rural Schools in Germany: A Geographical Lottery?

“…To compensate for cancelled classes, online schooling was often used as an alternative. However, this has posed an explicit risk for people with insufficient internet connectivity or digital devices [9,10]. In Germany, the differences in ICT equipment and digital literacy training among schools, as discussed in this paper, have become very visible since March 2020.…”

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Students’ Learning Outcome in Higher Education

“…Therefore, to support the success of distance learning during the pandemic, collaboration with parents is needed. The presence of parents can be a companion for students if there is a technology problem (Ferraro et al, 2020) Educators are also required to prepare students to become tough students and build their abilities to remain strong and optimistic individuals to successfully pass the current online learning period (Rahiem, 2021). Even for some students who have a high level of enthusiasm for learning, the concept of online learning also has a positive influence, such as flexible study time (Mulyani et al, 2021).…”