Challenges of Online Teaching During COVID-19 in the Context of Higher Education: From Teachers’ Perspectives

Research Article
Open access

Challenges of Online Teaching During COVID-19 in the Context of Higher Education: From Teachers’ Perspectives

Jing Wen 1*
  • 1 The Open University of China    
  • *corresponding author jingwen_ouc@163.com
Published on 14 September 2023 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/8/20230160
LNEP Vol.8
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-97-3
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-98-0

Abstract

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, most of the world’s teaching activities had to shift online in a few days or weeks, and this sudden and unprecedented teaching practice brings significant challenges to teachers. However, there are numerous empirical research studies conducted to understand the challenges of online teaching; these relatively decentralized and independent studies involve teachers and students across different countries, and a review paper is needed to summarize these challenges to form a new theoretical framework. Therefore, this paper aims to review the challenges teachers face in online teaching during Covid-19 in the context of higher education. The results demonstrated four dimensions of challenges teachers faced during online teaching in the higher education context: technological, pedagogical, psychological, and managerial. Challenges and obstacles from four dimensions hinder college teachers’ success in online teaching during Covid-19. The results help us better understand the challenges that teachers encountered when teaching online during Covid-19 in the context of high education, thus providing sufficient assistance for educational institutions, school managers, and relevant key stakeholders to carry out online teaching practices smoothly in other emergencies in the future.

Keywords:

challenges, higher education, online teaching, Covid-19

Wen,J. (2023). Challenges of Online Teaching During COVID-19 in the Context of Higher Education: From Teachers’ Perspectives. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,8,291-298.
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References

[1]. UNESCO. With one in five learners kept out of school, UNESCO mobilizes education ministers to face the COVID-19 crisis. 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2023 from https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/one-five-learners-kept-out-school-unesco-mobilizes-education-ministers-face-covid-19-crisis

[2]. Y. An, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, J. Yang, J. Conan, W. Kinard, L. Daughrity, Examining K-12 teachers’ feelings, experiences, and perspectives regarding online teaching during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Educational Technology Research and Development 69(5) (2021) 2589-2613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-10008-5

[3]. R. G. Arora, A. Chauhan, Faculty perspectives on work from home: Teaching efficacy, constraints and challenges during COVID' 19 lockdown, Journal of Statistics & Management Systems 24(1) (2021) 37-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720510.2021.1875567

[4]. E. Okyere, M. Salusalu, R. Goundar, K. Marfoh, Online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic in fiji: Challenges, facilitators and improvement strategies, Qualitative Research Journal 23(1) (2023) 62-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-03-2022-0041

[5]. B. V. Wee, D. Banister, How to write a literature review paper? Transport Reviews 36(2) (2016;2015;) 278-288. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2015.1065456

[6]. V. J. García-Morales, A. Garrido-Moreno, R. Martín-Rojas, The Transformation of Higher Education After the COVID Disruption: Emerging Challenges in an Online Learning Scenario, Frontiers in Psychology 12 (2021) 616059–616059. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616059

[7]. G. Roy, R. Babu, M. Abul Kalam, N. Yasmin, T. Zafar, S.R. Nath, Response, readiness and challenges of online teaching amid COVID-19 pandemic: the case of higher education in Bangladesh, The Educational and Developmental Psychologist 40(1) (2023) 40–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2021.1997066

[8]. V. Ahmed, A. Opoku, Technology supported learning and pedagogy in times of crisis: The case of COVID-19 pandemic, Education and Information Technologies 27(1) (2022;2021;) 365-405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10706-w

[9]. L. Mishra, T. Gupta, A. Shree, Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic, International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1 (2020) 100012–100012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012

[10]. S.-W. Liang, R.-N. Chen, L.-L. Liu, X.-G. Li, J.-B. Chen, S.-Y. Tang, J.-B. Zhao, The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Guangdong College Students: The Difference Between Seeking and Not Seeking Psychological Help, Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020) 2231–2231. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02231

[11]. C. Carolan, C. L. Davies, P. Crookes, S. McGhee, M. Roxburgh, COVID 19: Disruptive impacts and transformative opportunities in undergraduate nurse education, Nurse Education in Practice 46 (2020) 102807–102807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102807

[12]. S. Krishnamurthy, The future of business education: A commentary in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.034

[13]. V. T. Le, N. H. Nguyen, T. L. N. Tran, L. T. Nguyen, T. A. Nguyen, M. T. Nguyen, The interaction patterns of pandemic-initiated online teaching: How teachers adapted, System (Linköping) 105 (2022) 102755–102755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102755

[14]. I. F. Adi Badiozaman, A. R. Segar, Exploring online teaching competence in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic: insights from Sarawak, Malaysia, Journal of Further and Higher Education 46(6) (2022) 766–779. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.2002284

[15]. J. Huang, Successes and challenges: Online teaching and learning of chemistry in higher education in china in the time of COVID-19, Journal of Chemical Education 97(9) (2020) 2810-2814. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00671

[16]. F. Hadjeris, Revisiting sustainable development goal 4 in the context of COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of online teaching in algerian higher education institutions, Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 3(1) (2021) 160-168.

[17]. A. Hashemi, Online teaching experiences in higher education institutions of Afghanistan during the COVID-19 outbreak: Challenges and opportunities, Cogent Arts & Humanities 8(1) (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2021.1947008

[18]. J. Loughran, Pedagogy: Making Sense of the Complex Relationship Between Teaching and Learning, Curriculum Inquiry 43(1) (2013) 118–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12003

[19]. N. Almazova, E. Krylova, A. Rubtsova, M. Odinokaya, Challenges and Opportunities for Russian Higher Education amid COVID-19: Teachers’ Perspective, Education Sciences 10(12) (2020) 368–. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10120368

[20]. M. Kavaric, A. Kavaric, R. Djokovic, Challenges in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: Higher education survey in Montenegro, Innovations in Education and Teaching International ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print) (2021) 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2021.2013287

[21]. T. Abid, G. Zahid, N. Shahid, M. Bukhari, Online Teaching Experience during the COVID-19 in Pakistan: Pedagogy–Technology Balance and Student Engagement, Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 14(3) (2021) 367–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-021-00325-7

[22]. H. Younis, S. Elbanna, Teaching in times of crisis: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, Innovations in Education and Teaching International ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print) (2022) 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2022.2060850

[23]. S. Dhawan, Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis, Journal of Educational Technology Systems 49(1) (2020) 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239520934018

[24]. M. W. L. Yeung, A. H. Y. Yau, A thematic analysis of higher education students’ perceptions of online learning in Hong Kong under COVID-19: Challenges, strategies and support, Education and Information Technologies 27(1) (2022) 181–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10656-3

[25]. Y. K. Dwivedi, D. L. Hughes, C. Coombs, I. Constantiou, Y. Duan, J. S. Edwards, B. Gupta, B. Lal, S. Misra, P. Prashant, R. Raman, N. P. Rana, S.K. Sharma, N. Upadhyay, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on information management research and practice: Transforming education, work and life, International Journal of Information Management 55 (2020) 102211–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102211

[26]. K. F. Hew, C. Jia, D. E. Gonda, S. Bai, Transitioning to the “new normal” of learning in unpredictable times: pedagogical practices and learning performance in fully online flipped classrooms, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 17(1) (2020) 57–57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00234-x

[27]. N. Dietrich, K. Kentheswaran, A. Ahmadi, J. Teychené, Y. Bessière, S. Alfenore, S. Laborie, D. Bastoul, K. Loubière, C. Guigui, M. Sperandio, L. Barna, E. Paul, C. Cabassud, A. Liné, G. Hébrard, Attempts, Successes, and Failures of Distance Learning in the Time of COVID-19, Journal of Chemical Education 97(9) (2020) 2448–2457. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00717

[28]. C.-L. Chang, M. Fang, E-Learning and Online Instructions of Higher Education during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) Epidemic, Journal of Physics Conference Series 1574(1) (2020) 12166–. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1574/1/012166

Cite this article

Wen,J. (2023). Challenges of Online Teaching During COVID-19 in the Context of Higher Education: From Teachers’ Perspectives. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,8,291-298.

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Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Psychology and Humanity Studies

ISBN：978-1-915371-97-3(Print) / 978-1-915371-98-0(Online)
Editor：Muhammad Idrees, Faisalabad Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga
Conference website: https://www.icsphs.org/
Conference date: 24 April 2023
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.8
ISSN：2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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References

[1]. UNESCO. With one in five learners kept out of school, UNESCO mobilizes education ministers to face the COVID-19 crisis. 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2023 from https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/one-five-learners-kept-out-school-unesco-mobilizes-education-ministers-face-covid-19-crisis

[2]. Y. An, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, J. Yang, J. Conan, W. Kinard, L. Daughrity, Examining K-12 teachers’ feelings, experiences, and perspectives regarding online teaching during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Educational Technology Research and Development 69(5) (2021) 2589-2613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-10008-5

[3]. R. G. Arora, A. Chauhan, Faculty perspectives on work from home: Teaching efficacy, constraints and challenges during COVID' 19 lockdown, Journal of Statistics & Management Systems 24(1) (2021) 37-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720510.2021.1875567

[4]. E. Okyere, M. Salusalu, R. Goundar, K. Marfoh, Online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic in fiji: Challenges, facilitators and improvement strategies, Qualitative Research Journal 23(1) (2023) 62-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-03-2022-0041

[5]. B. V. Wee, D. Banister, How to write a literature review paper? Transport Reviews 36(2) (2016;2015;) 278-288. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2015.1065456

[6]. V. J. García-Morales, A. Garrido-Moreno, R. Martín-Rojas, The Transformation of Higher Education After the COVID Disruption: Emerging Challenges in an Online Learning Scenario, Frontiers in Psychology 12 (2021) 616059–616059. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616059

[7]. G. Roy, R. Babu, M. Abul Kalam, N. Yasmin, T. Zafar, S.R. Nath, Response, readiness and challenges of online teaching amid COVID-19 pandemic: the case of higher education in Bangladesh, The Educational and Developmental Psychologist 40(1) (2023) 40–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2021.1997066

[8]. V. Ahmed, A. Opoku, Technology supported learning and pedagogy in times of crisis: The case of COVID-19 pandemic, Education and Information Technologies 27(1) (2022;2021;) 365-405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10706-w

[9]. L. Mishra, T. Gupta, A. Shree, Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic, International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1 (2020) 100012–100012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012

[10]. S.-W. Liang, R.-N. Chen, L.-L. Liu, X.-G. Li, J.-B. Chen, S.-Y. Tang, J.-B. Zhao, The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Guangdong College Students: The Difference Between Seeking and Not Seeking Psychological Help, Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020) 2231–2231. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02231

[11]. C. Carolan, C. L. Davies, P. Crookes, S. McGhee, M. Roxburgh, COVID 19: Disruptive impacts and transformative opportunities in undergraduate nurse education, Nurse Education in Practice 46 (2020) 102807–102807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102807

[12]. S. Krishnamurthy, The future of business education: A commentary in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, Journal of Business Research 117 (2020) 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.034

[13]. V. T. Le, N. H. Nguyen, T. L. N. Tran, L. T. Nguyen, T. A. Nguyen, M. T. Nguyen, The interaction patterns of pandemic-initiated online teaching: How teachers adapted, System (Linköping) 105 (2022) 102755–102755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102755

[14]. I. F. Adi Badiozaman, A. R. Segar, Exploring online teaching competence in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic: insights from Sarawak, Malaysia, Journal of Further and Higher Education 46(6) (2022) 766–779. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.2002284

[15]. J. Huang, Successes and challenges: Online teaching and learning of chemistry in higher education in china in the time of COVID-19, Journal of Chemical Education 97(9) (2020) 2810-2814. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00671

[16]. F. Hadjeris, Revisiting sustainable development goal 4 in the context of COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of online teaching in algerian higher education institutions, Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 3(1) (2021) 160-168.

[17]. A. Hashemi, Online teaching experiences in higher education institutions of Afghanistan during the COVID-19 outbreak: Challenges and opportunities, Cogent Arts & Humanities 8(1) (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2021.1947008

[18]. J. Loughran, Pedagogy: Making Sense of the Complex Relationship Between Teaching and Learning, Curriculum Inquiry 43(1) (2013) 118–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12003

[19]. N. Almazova, E. Krylova, A. Rubtsova, M. Odinokaya, Challenges and Opportunities for Russian Higher Education amid COVID-19: Teachers’ Perspective, Education Sciences 10(12) (2020) 368–. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10120368

[20]. M. Kavaric, A. Kavaric, R. Djokovic, Challenges in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: Higher education survey in Montenegro, Innovations in Education and Teaching International ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print) (2021) 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2021.2013287

[21]. T. Abid, G. Zahid, N. Shahid, M. Bukhari, Online Teaching Experience during the COVID-19 in Pakistan: Pedagogy–Technology Balance and Student Engagement, Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 14(3) (2021) 367–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-021-00325-7

[22]. H. Younis, S. Elbanna, Teaching in times of crisis: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, Innovations in Education and Teaching International ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print) (2022) 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2022.2060850

[23]. S. Dhawan, Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis, Journal of Educational Technology Systems 49(1) (2020) 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239520934018

[24]. M. W. L. Yeung, A. H. Y. Yau, A thematic analysis of higher education students’ perceptions of online learning in Hong Kong under COVID-19: Challenges, strategies and support, Education and Information Technologies 27(1) (2022) 181–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10656-3

[25]. Y. K. Dwivedi, D. L. Hughes, C. Coombs, I. Constantiou, Y. Duan, J. S. Edwards, B. Gupta, B. Lal, S. Misra, P. Prashant, R. Raman, N. P. Rana, S.K. Sharma, N. Upadhyay, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on information management research and practice: Transforming education, work and life, International Journal of Information Management 55 (2020) 102211–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102211

[26]. K. F. Hew, C. Jia, D. E. Gonda, S. Bai, Transitioning to the “new normal” of learning in unpredictable times: pedagogical practices and learning performance in fully online flipped classrooms, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 17(1) (2020) 57–57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00234-x

[27]. N. Dietrich, K. Kentheswaran, A. Ahmadi, J. Teychené, Y. Bessière, S. Alfenore, S. Laborie, D. Bastoul, K. Loubière, C. Guigui, M. Sperandio, L. Barna, E. Paul, C. Cabassud, A. Liné, G. Hébrard, Attempts, Successes, and Failures of Distance Learning in the Time of COVID-19, Journal of Chemical Education 97(9) (2020) 2448–2457. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00717

[28]. C.-L. Chang, M. Fang, E-Learning and Online Instructions of Higher Education during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) Epidemic, Journal of Physics Conference Series 1574(1) (2020) 12166–. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1574/1/012166

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