Adapting to Online Learning in Higher Education System during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Universities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

With the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, university education is almost entirely done through the online system, since traditional education cannot be continued. Hence, it has become very important to find the best models and learning platforms for online teaching and the problems students are facing in this process. And also checking the possibilities and students' perspectives on moving to an online system are important. Therefore, there is a need to research and find out whether these objectives are being met. The data were collected through an online survey and which covered the public and private universities in Sri Lanka, and the conclusion is based on the more than 900 responses received from undergraduates. The study discovered that university students most commonly use smartphones and laptops for online education and are connected to the Internet through smartphones via hotspots. The University Learning Management System (LMS) and Zoom also became popular learning platforms among them for conducting online lectures. The study also discovered that a high percentage of students liked to use these types of online learning in the future after the commencement of the university via the university LMS and Learn-Zoom free versions. But, the problem with access to the Internet due to the lack of internet coverage in certain areas is the main challenge they are faced with. However, the research advises that it is time to resolve the issues realized by the above findings for the benefit of future online learning and to carry out such educational activities without interruption.