Exploring Online Learning Challenges during COVID- 19 Pandemic: Perspective of Instructors

Abstract

The Corona pandemic has become a threat to humanity, as the spread of the coronavirus has led to the closure of many institutions as well as many economic, social, and educational activities. In order not to stop the educational process, various educational institutions, including universities, have moved to remote electronic education methods (e-learning) instead of the well-known traditional education system. As several organizations concerned with education have made their electronic platforms and libraries available almost free of charge to alleviate the load on, students and teachers. Despite the advantages provided by e-learning methods, it is accompanied by some difficulties and obstacles that must be dealt with to reduce its effects. This study aims to identify the most important challenges facing the use of e-learning from the university instructor's perspective. The study assesses instructor's opinions, level of satisfaction, and readiness to use e-learning and its platforms available in Libya. A descriptive method was conducted using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to many university instructors to determine the most important challenges they face during the closure as a result of the spread of the Corona pandemic. The study population consists of instructors belonging to six faculties of the Libyan International Medical University. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS software. The results show that the aspect with the greatest impact was the challenge of the instructors, with the materiality of 69.9% and a mean of 3.49. Social issues ranked second in terms of their impact on e-learning, and all issues related to students came in third place. After that the aspect related to accessibility, which had the least impact on the e-learning process, with the materiality of 55.9 % and a mean of 2.80.