scholarly journals African female university students' experiences of online education at home during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ansurie Pillay ◽  
Martha Khosa ◽  
Bridget Campbell ◽  
Nicholus Nyika ◽  
Ayub Sheik

The purpose of the study on which this paper is based was to explore how self-identified female African university students understand the influence of their home environments on their experiences of online education. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic when universities in South Africa and elsewhere introduced online teaching and learning. Using a qualitative approach to a single case study design within a critical feminist paradigm, we carried out an inductive thematic analysis of the data from seven in-depth, open-ended questionnaires and metaphors. We found that home environments play an important role in the education of female African students, particularly in a context characterised by gender inequalities exacerbated by inequities in material resources. However, a sense of agency, displayed by some participants, indicated their determination to rise above the many forms of marginalisation and discrimination they experienced.

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Lobos ◽  
Rubia Cobo-Rendón ◽  
Javier Mella-Norambuena ◽  
Alejandra Maldonado-Trapp ◽  
Carolyn Fernández Branada ◽  
...  

Due to COVID-19, university students continued their academic training remotely. To assess the effects of emergency remote teaching (ERT), we evaluated the expectations and, subsequently, the experiences of university students about online education. This study employed a simple prospective design as its method. We assessed the expectations of 1,904 students from different discipline areas (1,106 women and 798 men; age M = 21.56; SD = 3.07) during the beginning of the first semester, March 2020 (T1), and their experiences at the end of the same academic period, September 2020 (T2). We used convenience non-probability sampling. Participants responded to the questionnaire on Expectations toward virtual education in higher education for students and the questionnaire on virtual education experiences in higher education. The results showed that students’ responses reflected low expectations regarding peer relationships and comparison with face-to-face education (T1). This perception was maintained during the evaluation of experiences (T2). Students reported positive experiences regarding online teaching and learning, online assessment, and their self-efficacy beliefs at T2. Statistically significant differences between measurements were found, with the expertise presenting higher averages than expectations. Furthermore, differences by gender were identified, reporting a positive change in the scores of women. In addition, results reflected differences according to the disciplinary area, showing Social Sciences and Medical and Health Sciences students a more significant size effect. Findings regarding the empirical evidence and the implications for future teaching scenarios in Higher Education are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-101
Author(s):  
Ting Jing Kweh ◽  
Ghee Seong Lim ◽  
Gonzalez Maria Angela Garcia ◽  
Teng Kai Ong

Education worldwide has been conducted in the traditional face-to-face classroom teaching style for ages, and this includes the education in dentistry. Since the introduction of online education and distance learning, teaching institutions have gradually made e-learning an integral part of teaching and learning activities. With the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic and closure of teaching institutions worldwide, the faculty of dentistry is amongst the many that were forced to leap onto the online education field abruptly. There is a sudden need for educators to resort to online teaching and e-learning becomes an essential tool to be developed as an alternative to traditional education methods. This article serves as a review to explore and discuss the common concerns and institutional readiness in delivering e-learning and review the methods currently utilised during this time of crisis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sam Baddeley

This article, written at the start of April 2021, is a personal reflection on what has and hasn't worked in remote/online education. I have drawn on my own experience of teaching over the course of the past year, observations of classroom practice I have undertaken as a mentor and middle leader with responsibility for teaching and learning in my school, and conversations I have had with colleagues in my school and elsewhere; it is, therefore, highly anecdotal, and the reader is asked to bear in mind the fact that, like many others, my journey into online teaching was enforced by the closure of schools during the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. My core aim during both lockdowns was to provide for my students the best experience possible until such a time as we could all return to the physical classroom. As it became clear towards the end of 2020 and the start of 2021 that we were going to need to return to remote education, I began to think more deeply about the strategies I was employing in my online teaching, how effective they were for my students, and what I might do to maximise their learning experience and outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (09) ◽  
pp. 65-84
Author(s):  
Aditi Gupta ◽  
◽  
Anshika Sharma ◽  
Prof. Patiraj Kumari ◽  
◽  
...  

The current situation of COVID 19 not only involves global health crisis but also economic and social crises. It has brought about a change in the system of education by conducting all academic activities online. Acc. to ILO, a world of universal distance education (as nearly 94% of learners have faced school closures) is created. Online education is a new concept for most Indians, creates room for incivility. Incivility is defined as a lack of manners, courteousness, and respect which deteriorates the decorum leading to disturbance in teaching and learning of the class. This study is focused on incivility in online teaching and learning. A total of 130 college students from around the country were asked to fill an open-ended online questionnaire to know their views on incivility in the online classroom. The overall thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three themes i.e. reported incidents, possible causes, and measures to reduce incivility in the online classrooms. In the time of pandemic where almost all the dissemination of education is done online to minimize the effect of the pandemic on the education system, incivility is a stumbling block. Therefore, it is important to bring incivility in online education in limelight as tackling incivility is the need of the hour.


2020 ◽  
pp. 196-213
Author(s):  
Bharat Kumar Lakra

In the Coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) response, all the educational institutions have been compulsory to move all teaching and learning activities online at very short time notice by the University Grand Commission (UGC). Consequently, all classes, simulations, practicums, viva-voces, and valuation, etc., were adapted for the online setting. Online education has been at the forefront of discussions as a new and viable option for learning opportunities in higher education. Academic institutions continue to see remarkable growth of online education during COVID-19. Due to the pandemic situation, UGC has instruction with 40 per cent of online learning. Hence educational institutions have been implementing online classes. The article investigates to identify the factors which students perceive significant influence towards online class. From a student perception, there has been adaptation and the prospect to advance new skills, possibly providing online teaching via elearning or virtual learning. Further, this study sought to provide an investigation of online teaching in University with an intention on how the teaching and learning interaction will affect students ‘perceptions relating to their online class preparedness and experiences. The results revealed from descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis that students reported a moderate relationship between the extracted factor scores and overall satisfaction of online teaching. The findings of four factors that affect the students' views about online teaching characteristics instruction seen that student perceptions about online teaching are positively affected by "Perceived Usefulness” of online teaching. The second most important factor is student supportiveness, followed by faculty responsiveness and perceived flexibility. Further, Multiple Regression Analysis has been analysed to inspect the relationship between the various online teaching characteristics and the overall satisfaction from online teaching. Thus, this study may be helpful to teachers in constructing proper pedagogical techniques which can be suitable and beneficial for learning, understanding and application of the online teaching-learning process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Diego Gormaz-Lobos ◽  
Claudia Galarce-Miranda ◽  
Hanno Hortsch

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic produced new immediate needs in the field of university teaching related to distance learning and forces the universities to transform their “traditional” face-to-face teaching methods, particularly with the implementation of online education. This situation represented a challenge not only for the universities but also for the teachers because they need to transform their teaching work in the classroom to online strategies for online learning environments. To meet these needs for effective online education an online pilot training course in Engineering Education based on the IGIP Curriculum of the TU Dresden was designed and implemented. The course “Introduction to online teaching and learning in engineering” (in Spanish: “Introducción a la Enseñanza-Aprendizaje Online en Ingeniería”) consisted of 4 modules implemented on a mix of online communication strategy of synchronous activities carried out on the Zoom platform, together with asynchronous work on a Moodle-based LMS platform. The course was offered between May and June 2020 for a group of academics of the Faculty of Engineering of a public Chilean University. This paper describes the designed online pilot training course in Engineering Pedagogy and presents the results of the evaluation of its implementation. For this a survey was applied and filled by the participants to evaluate the course and to know their per-ceptions about their competencies development to improve online learning in engineering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 07-10
Author(s):  
Manpreet Kaur

The process of teaching and learning through online or virtual mode has been gradually becoming an important part of the Indian education sector. Teachers and students in higher education have already been effectively using online education mode to optimize the learning process. Schools, too, have been using educational technologies in many ways at all levels and across all grades. But with the unexpected worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020, a sudden exponential boom has come in the online teaching set up. Until now, online teaching was assumed to be an aid to the teaching-learning transactions and was immediately adopted as the only way out, to continue with the pedagogical process in schools and colleges. This research attempts to make a comparative analysis of the changes in various aspects of online teaching before and during the COVID-19 era, including content development and delivery and type of information shared with students in private schools of NCR of India. Data collected by the investigator from school teachers about their usage of online methodologies from 2017 will be compared with school teachers’ data in August 2020, and its educational implications will be discussed.


Author(s):  
Clark Shah-Nelson

Instant messaging and text chat, online collaborative whiteboards, web conferencing and other synchronous Web 2.0 tools are increasingly finding their way into higher education and are available in both commercially-branded and open source varieties. This chapter describes excellent practices and challenges in using these tools for synchronous and blended course delivery, collaboration, learning activities, and technical support, based on the author’s experience in online education and online-teaching support. Synchronous tools can provide immediate and efficient communication for instructors, learners and support staff, foster community and establish a heightened sense of social presence. An increasing number of practitioners in the field of distance learning are using synchronous tools to reach their learning and support objectives (Murphy and Rodríguez Manzanares, 2008). Today, institutions have a whole menu of synchronous tools to choose from, ranging from free and open-source software to more costly commercial enterprise systems. These tools enable education and support for teaching and learning to happen across great distances and on all types of mobile and not-so-mobile computer devices. This chapter will describe some of these tools, the types of needs that drive their use, and strategies for effective use and implementation.


Author(s):  
Mary D. Oriol ◽  
Gail Tumulty

This chapter presents a theoretical framework and research base for the successful transition of an established Master of Science in Nursing program from that of traditional classroom delivery to one that is Web-based with no geographic limitations to students. The application of socio-technical systems theory to facilitate creation of a positive learning environment for future nurse leaders is described. Use of social processes and application of technology to optimize learning is explained and the latest research on content presentation and student engagement in an e-learning environment are presented. The authors hope that through examination of successful online teaching/learning strategies, readers will have a clear understanding of the competencies necessary for students and faculty to be successful in online education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 121 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 503-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuko Fujita

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the practical work of learning designers with the aim of helping members of the information science (IS) and learning sciences (LS) communities understand how evidence-informed learning design of online teaching and online learning in higher education is relevant to their research agendas and how they can contribute to this growing field. Design/methodology/approach Illustrating how current online education instructional designs largely ignore evidence from research, this paper argues that evidence from IS and LS can encourage more effective and nuanced learning designs for e-learning and online education delivery and suggest how interdisciplinary collaboration can advance shared understanding. Findings Recent reviews of the learning design show that tools and techniques from the LS can support students in self-directed and self-regulated learning. IS studies complement these approaches by highlighting the role that information systems and computer–human interaction. In this paper, the expertise from IS and LS are considered as important evidence to improve learning design, particularly vis-à-vis digital divide concerns that students face during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value This paper outlines important ties between the learning design, LS and IS communities. The combined expertise is key to advancing the nuanced design of online education, which considers issues of social justice and equity, and critical digital pedagogy.


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