The adoption of the first online teaching and learning in the Ethiopian postgraduate classes during COVID-19: From public university instructors’ perspectives in the Amhara Region

Abstract

Online teaching and learning focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information to students who reside in different geographical locations. After the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching and learning became a popular strategy in all higher learning institutions around the world to continue the interrupted teaching and learning process while keeping physical distance. There is, as yet, a dearth of research on the adoption of online teaching and learning in postgraduate classes in Ethiopia. This study aimed to explore the adoption of the first online teaching and learning in Ethiopian post-graduate classes during COVID-19 at public universities in the Amhara Region. To do this, a descriptive survey design with a mixed research approach was employed, and data were collected through online classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews. In doing so, 283 instructors participated in the study through comprehensive sampling from three public universities in the quantitative phase and 15 instructors, serving as members of the Academic Council, were selected purposively in the qualitative phase. Combined data analysis revealed the existence of online teaching and learning practices with differences in adoption. Universities in Amhara Region should give attention to instructors’ online teaching and learning practices in postgraduate programs.