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Top.1Introduction
Coronavirus crisis has disrupted all aspects of life worldwide, including halting the life at academic institutions. To ensure the continuity of students’ learning, online educational networks and digital technologies have replaced traditional classrooms by providing web-based form of learning allowing teaching and learning to take place remotely. The switch to distance learning impacted 200 million learners across the globe distance learning in higher education saw an upsurge at the start of the coronavirus, it changed to online classroom settings and forced educators to adapt to the new way of teaching.
Alanazi and Alshaalan (2020) affirm that the most significant benefits of e-learning are its simplicity to deliver and accessibility to learning in emergency situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic. They further state that conversations about distance learning will continue even after the pandemic. Kamal et al. (2020) have also asserted that the unexpected shift to a mix of online and in-class learning is perfectly suited for the situations caused by the coronavirus crisis. As Heng and Sol (2020) have detailed, the use of online educational technology and material has generated numerous terms for describing technology-assisted learning, including electronic learning, online learning, distance learning, blended learning, and hybrid learning.
Higher learning education has been gone into the experimentation of e-learning within an unprecedented scale, as well as the use of all tools of e-learning and digital platforms in the educational process. Academic institutions are seeking the help of online learning so that teaching and learning processes are not hampered (Dhawan,2020). E-learning was the temporary alternative to overcome the interruption of personal teaching. This pandemic prompted the decision-makers in universities and higher education and colleges to plan, evaluate, and implement online learning platforms in their institutions. In the aftermath, situations of crisis and conflicts are the biggest hurdles in the path of education (Di Pietro, 2017).
Although teachers in many developing countries lack the skills and equipment to provide distance education effectively, most teachers and their organizations have embraced this challenge. Most universities suspended the face-to-face learning and set up some distance learning programs for students, turning teaching materials into digital format at short notice. This was a challenge as few teachers have strong digital and ICT skills (IMF, 2020).
Successful application of virtual and distance learning before the Covid-19 crisis involved teachers being trained and students being technologically-equipped and have generally taken place in non-crisis situations. Under the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, given the need to act quickly, the focus has primarily been on securing access to technology. Greater attention needs to be paid to how technology and learning may be effectively integrated, including the vital role of teachers in that regard, as well as the skills that students need for distance learning (UNESCO, 2020). Universities over the past decade are gradually moving their programs online and doing away with face-to-face delivery (Bao, 2020).
Ensuring that quality learning continues in its newly adopted forms during the crisis requires that teachers have access to adequate resources and safe teaching environments and decent working conditions.
Digital platforms are considered one of the most important interactive e-learning environments, as they combine the advantages of electronic content management with the advantages of social networks. They enable teachers to publish lessons and goals, set assignments, communicate with students and implement educational activities. Furthermore, it enables teacher to make electronic tests, assign roles, exchange of ideas and opinions between teachers and students, and share digital contents. (Elhamd, 2019)
However, despite the growing usage of online platforms, there is a shortage of employing this technology, which creates an issue in itself (Abuhassna & Yahaya, 2018; Al-Rahmi et al, 2018).