Research Article
Sara Suleymanova, Amjad Gawanmeh, Suhair Al-Alami
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep441
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way instructors teach and students learn. Rather than receiving education face-to-face on-campus, remote online education emerged as an alternative solution. If implemented properly though, online education can have its positive impact on the teaching and learning processes. Online education, however, may have its deficiencies, especially in terms of mental health. This paper is a follow-on study comparing students’ perceptions towards remote online education versus their perceptions towards on-campus education as regards mental health specifically. Involving sixty-two engineering students at a private university in Dubai, where this study was implemented, the researchers utilized a questionnaire focusing on both online and on campus education models, which was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown time and on-campus education following the lockdown period. Based on the study’s findings, most respondents were in favor of on-campus education, particularly in relation to its impact on student mental health.
Keywords: COVID-19, online education, mental health, education models, on-campus education, graduate education
Research Article
Jamal N. Al-Karaki, Nedal Ababneh, Yasir Hamid, Amjad Gawanmeh
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 3, Article No: ep311
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 Pandemic affected all sectors worldwide including education sector changing the students learning environment at a large scale. In the education sector, governments had to close schools and universities around the world and turn into online mode of delivery. The sudden transformation to online learning demands educators and institutions to develop more innovative teaching methods in supporting students during this growing crisis. It is pertinent that this is the era of large-scale online learning, where education is delivered remotely utilizing various digital platforms. To this end, this move presented many challenges to students, educators, families, administrators, and government regulations. In this paper, we conduct an oriented and well-rounded survey that captures all aspects of distance learning verticals as perceived by educators in order to study online delivery aspects, including teaching models, communication media, and teaching best practices in distance learning. The paper will answer subtle and comprehensive questions related to student satisfaction and success, technical needs and challenges, teaching models, educator mobility, etc. across different universities in the UAE. In particular, the paper tries to identify best model to use given many key issues related to the adoption of e-learning during COVID-19. Overall, the survey results showed almost all participants agreed that online learning during the COVID-19 is a very good alternative solution to Face-to-Face approach. However, teaching models do vary in promoting students’ participation and students’ engagement. All participants agree that absence of the proper infrastructure at home will hinder the operation especially in courses with hands-on components. Finally, the educators questioned the credibility of online assessments despite the enforced exam integrity tools and methods. The paper concluded with many recommendations for continuous development of the distance learning systems during and after COVID -19.
Keywords: COVID-19, distance learning, online education, technology adoption, education models, higher education