Factors Affecting the Quality of E-Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Higher Education Students

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: The objective of the research was to study the relationship of seven independent factors: administrative support, course content, course design, instructor characteristics, learner characteristics, social support, and technical support on quality of e-learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the study analyzes the moderating effect(s) of gender and level of the course on the quality of e-learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. objective of the research was to study the relationship of seven independent factors: administrative support, course content, course design, instructor characteristics, learner characteristics, social support, and technical support on quality of e-learning in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic situation has impacted the entire education system, especially universities, and brought a new phase in education “e-learning.” The learning supported with electronic technology like online classes and portals to access the courses outside the classroom is known as e-learning. This study aimed to point out the variables influencing the quality of e-learning, such as administrative support, course content, course design, instructor characteristics, learner characteristics, social support, and technological support. Methodology: An inferential statistics cross-sectional study was conducted of the students of higher education institutions in India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a self-administered questionnaire to learn the students’ perception of e-learning. All levels of undergraduate and postgraduate students took part in the study with a sample size of 784. Ultimately, this study used a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to find the positive relationship between the quality of e-learning and the seven independent variables and two moderating variables in the higher education sector. Contribution: The study aims to explore the quality of e-learning in higher education from the students’ perspective. The study was analyzed based on the student’s data collected from the higher educational institutions of India and Saudi Arabia. The study will support the top management and administrators of higher educational institutions in decision making. Findings: The findings revealed that there is a positive relationship between the set of variables and the quality of e-learning in the higher education sector. Also, there is a significant difference in the perception of the students between gender, level of the course, and quality of e-learning in the higher education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for Practitioners: The results of the study can help top management and administrators of higher educational institutions to improve their actions. Higher educational institutions need to concentrate on the study outcomes related to administrative support, course content, course design, instructor characteristics, learner characteristics, social support, and technological support to enhance the quality of e-learning. The study revealed that there should be a difference in the procedure of providing e-learning based on the level of the course and gender of the students. Recommendation for Researchers: The results were examined and interpreted in detail, based on the perspective of the students, and concluded with a view for future research. The study will be beneficial for academic researchers from different countries with a different set of students and framework. Impact on Society: The study revealed that the positive results of the students’ perspective on the quality of e-learning would help the policy-makers of the country in providing the learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the result explored the importance of the quality aspects of e-learning for improvement. Future Research: There is a need for future studies to expose the quality of e-learning in higher education in the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Further researchers will bring the performance level of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online learning amid COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of Bhutanese students

“…Furthermore, educational technology enables the teachers to access the students at any time across boundaries and vice versa. In similar note, online learning also supports the students in attending the classes during their free time even they are at any other work (Elumalai, et al, 2020).…”

Emergency remote teaching in higher education: Mapping the first global online semester (Pre-print)

“…The studies were also categorised according to their sample size. While 25.2% of the studies can be considered large, with more than 400 participants, including a number of institutional (e.g., Alturise, 2020) and international (e.g., Aristovnik et al, 2020;Elumalai et al, 2020) surveys, but particularly comprised of national surveys (e.g., Wang, Zhang, & Ye, 2020), 16.3% of studies in the review had sample sizes of up to 25 participants (see Appendix E). This is in stark comparison to studies of K-12 teaching and learning during the pandemic, with 34% of studies focusing on 25 or fewer respondents (Bond, 2020).…”

University Students' Perceptions of Curriculum Content Delivery During COVID-19 New Normal in South Africa

“…The above perceptions and views on the possibilities of the curriculum compromise in implementing online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 new normal may be connected to the variables such as course content, social and technological support, among others (Elumalai et al, 2020;Di Pietro, 2020). The findings of Elumalai et al (2020) confirmed that there is a positive relationship between the course content, social and technological support and quality of e-learning in universities. This indicates that when there is a sudden change from the traditional teaching-learning system to the new normal, it may significantly affect the quality of curriculum implementation.…”