Conventional to online education during COVID-19 pandemic: Do develop and underdeveloped nations cope alike

Atika Qazi; Khulla Naseer; Javaria Qazi; Hussain AlSalman; Usman Naseem; Shuiqing Yang; Glenn Hardaker; Abdu Gumaei

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105582

Conventional to online education during COVID-19 pandemic: Do develop and underdeveloped nations cope alike

Child Youth Serv Rev. 2020 Dec:119:105582. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105582. Epub 2020 Oct 13.

Authors

Atika Qazi¹, Khulla Naseer², Javaria Qazi², Hussain AlSalman³, Usman Naseem⁴, Shuiqing Yang⁵, Glenn Hardaker¹, Abdu Gumaei³

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Lifelong Learning, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam.
² Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
³ Department of Computer Science, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁵ School of Information Management and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, China.

Abstract

Background: Educational institutes around the globe are facing challenges of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Online learning is being carried out to avoid face to face contact in emergency scenarios such as coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Students need to adapt to new roles of learning through information technology to succeed in academics amid COVID-19.

Objective: However, access and use of online learning resources and its link with satisfaction of students amid COVID-19 are critical to explore. Therefore, in this paper, we aimed to assess and compare the access & use of online learning of Bruneians and Pakistanis amid enforced lockdown using a five-items satisfaction scale underlying existing literature.

Method: For this, a cross-sectional study was done in the first half of June 2020 after the pandemic situation among 320 students' across Pakistan and Brunei with a pre-defined questionnaire. Data were analyzed with statistical software package for social sciences (SPSS) 2.0.

Results: The finding showed that there is a relationship between students' satisfaction and access & use of online learning. Outcomes of the survey suggest that Bruneian are more satisfied (50%) with the use of online learning amid lockdown as compared to Pakistanis (35.9%). Living in the Urban area as compared to a rural area is also a major factor contributing to satisfaction with the access and use of online learning for both Bruneian and Pakistanis. Moreover, previous experience with the use of online learning is observed prevalent among Bruneians (P = .000), while among friends and family is using online learning (P = .000) were encouraging factors contributed to satisfaction with the use of online learning among Pakistanis amid COVID-19. Correlation results suggest that access and use factors of online learning amid COVID-19 were positively associated with satisfaction among both populations amid COVID-19 pandemic. However, Bruneian is more satisfied with internet access (r = 0.437, P < .000) and affordability of gadgets (r = 0.577, P < .000) as compare to Pakistanis (r = 0.176, P < .050) and (r = 0.152, P < .050).

Conclusion: The study suggested that it is crucial for the government and other policymakers worldwide to address access and use of online learning resources of their populace amid pandemic.

Keywords: Access and use differences; COVID-19; Lockdown; Online learning; Satisfaction.