Perceptions towards E-learning in Times of COVID-19 Lockdown Phase in the Tertiary Education

Abstract

OVID-19 pandemic had a huge effect on people's lives and lifestyles all over the world since its first spread in China between late 2019 and early 2020. The educational systems in all countries were among the first concerns that had to be dealt with to complete the academic year for students. The only and rapid solution was the use of e-learning. Thus, The advent of online learning (e-learning) has also encouraged the widespread acceptance of learner-centric education and other improvements in education practices. The present study aimed at exploring the perceptions of students and teachers on the use of e-learning during the COVID-19 lockdown phase. Participants represented samples of the students from various Egyptian private and governmental universities that depended on e-learning in completing the courses and evaluating students. Many challenges and difficulties faced different universities as it was the first time for some of them to depend on e-learning completely. Instruments included a teachers' reflection survey and a students' reflection survey. They were used to determine the perception of the respondents. Findings showed general agreement among teachers and students on using e-learning during and after the lockdown phase, despite some challenges.

Learning Foreign Languages in a Digital Environment: Learners’ Perception of the Sudden Transition to e-Learning During COVID-19 Lockdown

“…The results of the present study overlap with a number of related works that were conducted in developed and developing countries and outlined the processes of transition to e-learning (Chetty et al, 2018;Sanad and El-Sayyed, 2020;World Bank, 2020;Yeung and Lee, 2019). As already mentioned, it is extremely hard, if not almost impossible, to find research on the sudden education shifts during the COVID-19 lockdown period.…”

“…The present research demonstrates a similar correlation between grades and real objective learning outcomes for men and women, but objective learning outcomes for women are better throughout the entire period of e-learning. According to a number of scholars, similar results can also be explained by the greater psychological stability of women in overcoming difficulties in the learning process (Rosen, 2020;Sanad and El-Sayyed, 2020;Sheina and Grashchenkova, 2020). Besides, women may be less prone to loss of interest and motivation and may retain them longer than men (Stone et al, 2016;Sigit et al, 2019).…”

“…Many researchers note that the problem of distance learning during the lockdown has three major dimensions (Bilawar, 2020;Lo Presti, 2020;Sanad and El-Sayyed, 2020). The first dimension is the socio-technological one.…”

“…A number of researchers point out that in terms of motivation, engagement, and distraction mechanisms, there is no significant difference between adults and children/adolescents in the process of e-learning (Bennett and McWhorter, 2020;Langan et al, 2016). Even though it is known that the lockdown has had almost the same effect on school, university, and post-secondary education, there is still little research on this topic (Bonal and González, 2020;Krishnapatria, 2020;Sanad and El-Sayyed, 2020). The problem touched upon in this study lies in the investigation of changes in the quality of education and its assessment, usefulness, and acceptability in the context of the transition from exclusively or predominantly in-class education to e-learning.…”

“…Researchers note that many developing countries are characterized by acutely negative trends in the educational system, which turned out to be not ready for the transition to the digital environment due to unexpectedly low levels of digital literacy (Abdulai et al, 2021). The penetration of mobile communications and cloud services, including completely free e-learning methods, turned out to be much weaker than it was estimated (Opaluwah, 2020;Sanad and El-Sayyed, 2020). www.ejel.org 549 ISSN 1479-4403…”