Open AccessOnline learning during a global pandemic: Perceived benefits and issues in higher education
Author(s) -
Anthony Weldon,
W. K. Will,
Indy Man Kit Ho,
Emil Li
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
knowledge management and e-learning: an international journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 2309-5008
pISSN - 2073-7904
DOI - 10.34105/j.kmel.2021.13.009
Subject(s) - higher education , online learning , pandemic , psychology , distance education , covid-19 , medical education , mathematics education , pedagogy , computer science , political science , multimedia , medicine , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
The COVID-19 pandemic has created substantial challenges across higher education, requiring academic institutes to conduct all teaching, learning, and assessments remotely online. To obtain a stronger understanding of the opinions of teachers and students in Hong Kong during this period, an anonymous online survey was distributed to all teachers and students at a higher education institute. Overall, 48 teachers and 425 students responded to the survey. This paper specifically analyzes the responses to open-ended questions from the survey to identify key topics and concepts. Open coding was used to obtain key terms, which were further grouped into categories. Results indicated that higher education teachers and students had similar issues (e.g., access to digital devices and software) and benefits (e.g., flexible scheduling and time arrangements) regarding online education. However, some categories were reported as both issues and benefits by teachers and students (e.g., communication/interaction), demonstrating that individual circumstances, abilities, preferences, and experiences, may influence satisfaction levels. Furthermore, results indicated that the delivery of quality online education enforced during a pandemic requires a multi-factorial and tailored approach. The information presented in this study will help higher education institutes to develop, redefine, and re-conceptualize online learning initiatives.