Students’ Perception of the Effectiveness of Technology Assisted Online Education During COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Purpose: The whole calendar year 2020, as well as early indications, suggest, the year 2021, would be challenging for the global community. The COVID-19 pandemics spread through the world, affecting all facets of human endeavor, from industrial development to academic calendar re-adjustments at all educational institutions around the world. Stakeholders and administrators of academic institutions have no choice but to use internet technology, and therefore online learning, to continue academic activities in all institutions around the world. This paper aims to determine if students in higher educational institutions are happy with technology-assisted Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic. The study used an online survey to find out how students are coping with online education, which has been around for years but is still not widely used, and how happy they are with it.

Methodology: Convenience sampling was employed to collect data for the analysis because it is a non-probability sampling methodology. The aim of using this method is to come up with hypotheses and conduct exploratory research on the topic. It also addresses budget and time constraints. As participants in this research, students from higher education institutions responded to the survey. Higher education students are preferred because they have already been exposed to technology, online platforms, and the ability to adapt, which is the essence of remote learning.

Findings/Result:  The study's findings show that adding online education was a good decision since the majority of students surveyed supported it in this epidemic since it allowed them to complete their studies.  In terms of satisfaction with online education, the study discovered that there is a gender divide. Students are self-sufficient in terms of the devices they use to take online classes, with a large percentage of students attending online classes using their smartphones. Synchronous delivery options, such as live classes, are not preferred by online educators. Female students spend more time on online education activities than male students. Finally, the study discovered that the most significant barrier to students participating in online education is a lack of internet connectivity in both rural and suburban settings.

Originality:  This study examines how satisfied students are with technology-assisted online education at higher education institutions. The results of this study would be very useful to the administrators of higher education institutions in making potential emergency decisions about the planning of online learning services for students from various backgrounds.

Paper Type:  Exploratory data analysis (EDA). This type is used to comprehend and summarize the contents of a dataset, usually to answer a particular query or to prepare for more sophisticated statistical modeling in subsequent stages of data analysis.