Like many sectors affected by the Coronavirus (Covid - 19) pandemic, the higher education sector was disrupted globally and needed immediate re-adjustments to provide distance learning solutions. Educational management contingency plans were initiated in many parts of the world to reach out to students isolated due to the pandemic; however, it quickly became clear that one size (or plan) did not fit all, especially with regards to students with online learning constraints. This qualitative research explores the online learning experiences of students during the pandemic in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study employed an online survey to investigate Bahraini students' perceptions of online learning as a new initiative during the pandemic. The findings of this survey suggest that the digital divide, digital inequities, and differences in e-learning opportunities have been experienced by students through the implementation of online learning. The study also revealed different perceptions of the educational technologies available to students.
TopIntroduction
The academic disruption caused by Covid-19 has influenced both students and academics worldwide (Marinoni at al., 2020), including in the Middle East (Al-Mahadin, 2020; Mohammed & Mudhsh., 2021). Schools and universities experienced an unprecedented shift from traditional face-to-face teaching and learning to distance online learning in response to closures and lockdowns. Authorities in educational institutions initiated e-learning strategies through virtual online learning environments. This has been termed ‘emergency remote teaching’ (Hodges et al., 2020), and has been defined as “a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate remote delivery mode due to crisis circumstances” (Iglesias-Pradas et al., 2021). In their study of K-12 educators’ responses to emergency remote teaching in the US, Trust and Whalen (2020) found that,
“Participants felt overwhelmed and unprepared to use online or remote teaching strategies and tools and they struggled to adapt their pedagogy to fluctuating situations, such as students’ unreliable Internet access, changing personal needs, and unclear or shifting educational or governmental directives.” (p. 191)
Apart from many educators, some students also faced considerable challenges. In short, not all students or academics had the same level of digital literacy or even digital means, leading to increasing “inequalities and [exacerbating] a pre-existing education crisis” (UNESCO, 2020). According to UNESCO (2020), a minimum of one-third of students globally were excluded from receiving proper distance education due to the lack of connectivity and devices. With the Bahraini government’s expectation for teaching and learning to continue through other means than face-to-face, 10 days into the pandemic, educational institutions were confronted with the challenge of how to find innovative ways to connect with students and continue teaching and learning. The reality of the digital divide and consequent digital inequality became more apparent within the higher education sector when the demands to offer online learning came to the fore. For educational institutions, especially in government institutions, the means of delivering virtual lessons was a challenge for both students and teachers. However, many private schools and higher education institutions that already had virtual learning environments, which had been utilisedfor their face-to-face teaching, found the shift less challenging. The challenge for teachers was to provide suitable teaching materials through e-learning tools that would keep students well-engaged and informed at the same time. Yet, some tutors who were not computer or internet-literate were resistant to change and found the demanded changes in their roles traumatic, especially when learning to develop online materials or just navigate through the available online tools (Tadesse & Muluye, 2020). Furthermore, students also faced digital divide obstacles in accessing technology and relevant digital tools, which affected their learning through the pandemic. For example, not all students had access to the internet and others did not own electronic devices which would allow them to join their online classes (Litchfield et al., 2021). These socio-economic differences resulted in inequalities in accessing online learning. This relates both to accessing technologies and the skills to use them (Mathrani et al., 2022).