Perception of University Students toward the Effectiveness of E- Learning during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed education systems throughout the planet from traditional courses to online learning. Aim: this study aimed to explore the perception of university students toward the effectiveness of E-Learning during Covid-19 pandemic. Design: An exploratory descriptive research design was utilized to conduct this study. Subjects: by using stratified random sampling technique eight hundred and seventy-five (857) fourth year students were selected. Tools. Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire that consists of four parts: part I: Socio-demographic characteristics of the students, Part II: perception of students towards E-learning via Microsoft Teams application, Part III: challenges facing the students and their suggestions to overcome them. Results: The rate of the student's agreement on the perceived usefulness, behavioral intention and perceived ease of use was (72.6%,64.7%,63.7%). The highest challenge reported by the students was cost of the internet (66.5%) followed by unavailability of the internet at home (56.8%), absence of collaboration between the students in the web-based class (44.2%) and limited technology skills of the students (40.8%).Conclusion. This study sheds the light on the challenges and factors affecting the perception of the college students towards E-learning as a newly adopted teaching strategy. So, it will assist to create an effective plan for E-learning successful implementation and view innovative technology as a good step to progress and evolution. Recommendations: use of offline downloadable learning materials would overcome the challenges related to the variable quality of internet access in the country.