E-learning readiness and perceived stress among the university students of Bangladesh during COVID-19: a countrywide cross-sectional study
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled all educational institutions from the conventional campus-based education system to e-learning worldwide. However, adapting to this new platform, e-learning readiness may cause perceived stress among students. This study aimed to examine the association between e-learning readiness and perceived e-learning stress as well as the relationship with socio-demographic and e-learning related factors. Results: This cross-sectional study was employed, where 1145 e-learning enrolled university students were surveyed. The result indicated that nearly 91% of students reported moderate (76.07%) to the higher level (14.85%) of perceived e-learning stress whereas more than half of them (58.17%) were at sub-optimum level of readiness. Furthermore, it was found that students with the sub-optimum level of readiness compare to optimum had a significantly higher chance of reporting a moderate and high level of perceived e-learning stress. Besides, parents’ highest education, residence, students’ preference, and having any eye problems were associated with perceived e-learning stress. Conclusion: A sudden introduction of e-learning during the COVID-19 catastrophe has brought about challenges including the readiness of the students that might exacerbate the perceived level of stress in different ways. This study reported that most of the students were at sub-optimal levels of readiness and suffered from moderate to high levels of perceived e-learning stress. The study findings should integrate into the education monitoring system to enhance students' coping strategies, incite readiness, straighten, and nourishing existing policies.