E-learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: Obstacles Faced Nursing Students and Its Effect on Their Attitudes While Applying It

Gehan Mohamed Abd El-Hamed Diab,Nahid Fouad Elgahsh

doi:10.11648/j.ajns.20200904.33

Abstract

Background: E-learning is the use of the internet and its related devices for educational purposes without geographical restrictions, especially after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a disruption of education in the classrooms in Egypt and around the world. Teaching and learning via the internet is a novel experience for most teachers and students. Aim: to investigate the effect of obstacles faced nursing students on their attitudes towards e-learning while applying it during COVID-19 pandemic. Design: A descriptive correlational research design. Setting: The study was conducted at Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University, Egypt. Subjects: A stratified random sample technique was employed for the selection of 30% from the students in each of the four academic years enrolled in Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University during the academic year 2019/2020. Tools: Interviewing questionnaire, attitude towards e-learning scale, and obstacles of e-learning questionnaires. Results: The results revealed that overall, 61.6% of students had negative attitudes towards e-learning. There was the highest level of total obstacles present among academic students in the first year were (67.6%) and the lowest level of total obstacles present among academic students in the fourth year was (55.7%) that faced nursing students during using e-learning. the most common dimensions of obstacles to e-learning were infrastructure and technology, technical and management support, and instructors' characteristics (87.1%, 85.2%, and 82.9%, respectively). Conclusions: There was a high statistically significant negative correlation between obstacles facing nursing students, and their attitudes toward e-learning. Recommendations: The Board Directors of the Faculty of Nursing must take the necessary measures to improve electronic learning and teaching during the closure. Also, a systematic strategy should be followed to implement e-learning since it is a new experience for Menoufia University.

Highlights

Nowadays, with the rapid growth of knowledge, a new approach has been developed to provide educational content and facilitate interaction between the learner and the teacher around the world using the computer network known as elearning, and universities around the world attempt to take the maximum benefit out from the technological revolutions and provide a better teaching-learning environment for various Students, teachers, and administrations [1, 2]
From the researcher's review of the literature, no studies were investigating the actual obstacles facing students while using the e-learning system So, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of obstacles faced nursing students on their attitudes towards e-learning while applying it during the COVID-19 pandemic
Regarding the overall attitude toward e-learning among nursing students according to their academic years, the current study showed that the highest percentage among first and fourth-year students had negative attitudes toward using e-learning, while more than half of students in the second year have negative attitudes

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid growth of knowledge, a new approach has been developed to provide educational content and facilitate interaction between the learner and the teacher around the world using the computer network known as elearning, and universities around the world attempt to take the maximum benefit out from the technological revolutions and provide a better teaching-learning environment for various Students, teachers, and administrations [1, 2]. Teachers in different countries began to use e-learning in education and teaching for students during this period. Universities around the world are trying to make the most of the technological revolution and provide a better educational learning environment for different stakeholders [4]. E-learning is defined as "Learning facilitated and supported through the use of information and communications technology". Aim: to investigate the effect of obstacles faced nursing students on their attitudes towards e-learning while applying it during COVID-19 pandemic. Subjects: A stratified random sample technique was employed for the selection of 30% from the students in each of the four academic years enrolled in Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University during the academic year 2019/2020. Conclusions: There was a high statistically significant negative correlation between obstacles facing nursing students, and their attitudes toward e-learning. A systematic strategy should be followed to implement e-learning since it is a new experience for Menoufia University

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion