Exploring the Affordance of Distance Learning Platform (DLP) in COVID19 Remote Learning Environment

Abstract

Higher Education has been facing the dilemma of the preferred delivery method for over two decades. COVID19 pandemic in 2020 made the need for further exploration of the same even more imperative. Although the urgency of events did not leave much time for policymakers and educators to decide, it did inspire the authors of this article to analyse the affordances of Distance Learning Platform (DLP), and the ways students perceived the online learning due to current uncertain circumstances. Students as critical stakeholders in the learning process were on the receiving end of the decisions taken to facilitate distance learning. The focus of this study was to understand students’ experience of using the Distance Learning Platform (DLP) in a crises-induced environment at a university in the United Arab Emirates. A sample size of 60 undergraduate students who took academic study skills classes was used to collect data. Students were asked to reflect on their experience of distance learning, and the data were analysed to understand the students’ preferences of their study method while enabling them to recognise their cognitive skillset. The data indicated reasons behind students’ preferences of the preferred delivery method.