Challenges of applying e-learning facing faculty members in public universities during COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction. The impact of the Corona pandemic in various countries of the world is still present on most aspects of life, albeit to varying degrees. The higher education sector, including universities and higher education institutions, was not immune from this, there are universities that have faced the challenge of the pandemic by developing innovative ways and solutions to continue academic and research activity in them; such as e-learning, virtual scientific conferences, and working in remote research groups. This study aimed to reveal the e-learning challenges facing faculty members in Jordanian Public Universities during Coronavirus Pandemic from their perspectives. Methods. The study involved 226 faculty members chosen randomly from four Jordanian public universities for the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020. To study the e-learning challenges facing faculty members in universities, a questionnaire was developed and it included sixty-four items divided into seven domains as follows: (the challenges of planning and designing for e-learning), (technical challenges to the use of e-learning techniques), (challenges of e-learning management), (the challenges of scientific research via the Internet), (financial and administrative challenges for e-learning university), (general professional challenges for a faculty member in the domain of e-learning), and (the challenges of evaluating e-learning). Research results. It was revealed that the descending order of challenges as follows: scientific research (mean (M) = 2.78; standard deviation (s) =1.198), challenges of e-learning techniques (M = 2.72; s = 1.120), financial and administrative challenges (M = 2.38; s = 0.841), professional challenges (M = 2.37; s = 0.717, evaluation (M = 2.27; s = 0.082), management (M = 2.27; s = 0.882), planning and design of e-learning (M = 2,26; s = 0.788. The results showed a high percentage of the faculty members attended training to deal with technology. No statistically significant differences were found in challenges due to gender (M = 2.33, s = 0.684), academic rank, and experience (M = 2.47, s = 0.693). The results showed that there were differences attributed to the type of college and in favor of the humanities colleges, and differences attributed to the university, and in favor of Tafila Technical University. Conclusion. The coronavirus crisis has cast a shadow over the education sector. As it prompted universities and educational institutions to close their doors to reduce the chances of its spread. This aroused great concern among those involved in this sector. All this prompted educational institutions to switch to e-learning, as an alternative that has long been talked about and controversy over the necessity of integrating it into the educational process. However, faculty members in universities faced several challenges in the use of e-learning, and the researchers studied these challenges facing them from their point of view and made some recommendations.