Lecturers’ Online Instructional Experiences during Post-COVID-19 in Selected Universities in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya: A Phenomenological Inquiry

Abstract

Most public and private schools suffered unprecedented challenges during COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic was caused by an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). It disrupted contact among people and more so delivery of education. The experience exposed a serious lack of preparedness and crisis in delivery of learning, forcing schools to adopt online modes of instruction. It became clear that most lecturers were not prepared for online education. Therefore, there is need to look critically into the experiences of university lecturers during and after this period so as to inform policy in education. This study was carried out to reflect on this phenomenon with a view to drawing valuable lessons from the lecturers who taught online at the time of the pandemic. The specific objectives of the study were: to undertake a reflection on how COVID-19 influenced lecturers’ mode of instruction; to establish the attitudes of lecturers towards online instruction as new normal, and to explore lecturers’ experiences of disruption by COVID-19. The study used a qualitative approach called Hermeneutic phenomenology, an interpretative method that puts together several activities in its data analysis. To begin with, a narrative design was used to generate primary data. Here, data was collected using face-to-face interviews with 20 lecturers from 3 selected universities in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Participants were asked to read and comment on the items of interview to ensure everything was clear. The process of data collection took place from February and March 2023. All interviews took not more than 30 minutes. The findings were coded by experts in qualitative research and themes identified. Narrative description has been employed to present the findings.