Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many universities across the world to implement online teaching and learning as an emergency education strategy to mitigate learning loss. How successful was the implementation? What lessons could institutions learn going forward? Several studies have been conducted on the topic, but none seems to have adequately described the experience of University of Ghana students. To fill this gap, this study investigated the challenges that the University of Ghana students faced in emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic closure of schools. It also sought to determine ways in which the challenges could be addressed. The study was a descriptive survey in which 265 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 142 (53.6%) females and 123 (46.4%) males, with a majority of the respondents (79.2%) between the ages of 20-25 years completed a semi-structured survey instrument. The results indicated that the five most common challenges faced by the students were fiscal (high Internet data cost, 94.3%), technological (slow Internet connectivity, 90.6%; concerns about the quality of online learning, 87.2%; weak technical support for online learning, 81.9%) and human (students' lack of motivation to learn online, 80%). The results further showed that three effective ways to address the challenges are fiscal (reducing the cost of Internet data), human (making online learning and assessment more flexible for students) and technical (improving Internet connectivity). The authors recommend that the Ghana government and University of Ghana authorities upgrade the information technology and Internet infrastructure to remove or reduce the online learning bottlenecks.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Emergency Remote Learning, Teaching and Leading |
Subtitle of host publication | Global Perspectives |
Publisher | Springer International Publishing |
Pages | 103-119 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030765910 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783030765903 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 23 Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- Access
- COVID-19
- Emergency education
- Emergency remote learning
- Fiscal
- Human
- Infrastructure
- Skilled instructors
- Technical
- Technological challenges