Post-COVID-19 Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities for E-Learning

Introduction

Significant losses and learning disparities have occurred because of higher education disruptions over the past few years. Generally, educational institutions’ operations have a long history of taking place in disruptive, unreliable environments. A new infection known as Covid-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and as of January 2020, SARS-CoV-2, the type of virus which transmits Covid-19, had been identified and was already disseminating globally (Ali, 2020; Chen et al., 2020; Pullano et al., 2020). Covid-19 was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Many nations-imposed lockdowns and drastically restricted regular activities and advised people to stay at home aside from necessary travel as they anticipated a sharp rise in the severity of coronavirus infections. Physical distance was necessary, meetings could only include a small number of people, and enterprises could only run if they could guarantee their operations were carried out so without physical contact. The lockdowns had a significant impact on higher education because most of the restrictions were imposed with no advance warning. As of April 6, 2020, Covid-19 impacted higher education institutions across 185 nations which affected 87% of students (UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund], 2021). Therefore, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the threat as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to re-examine the concept of education, implement drastic digital technology-based measures, and roll out new mobile learning methodologies and curricula (Shestakova & Morgunov, 2023). In response, educational institutions all over the world promptly cancelled face-to-face classes and switched to internet-based classes. Tests, exams, and laboratory sessions that usually necessitate on-campus presence in person were unable to be completed and had to be either postponed or substituted with equal assessments conducted online. The study demonstrates that from the middle of 2020 to the end of 2022, the only mode of education available was the internet (Butakor et al., 2022; Paudel, 2021; Tilak & Kumar, 2022). Even though the Covid virus has been halted in many countries at the beginning of 2023 due to intensive vaccination campaigns and preparedness measures followed by a return to classroom teaching, e-learning in higher education is still expanding (Shestakova & Morgunov, 2023) . As higher education is aware, this technological revolution in education implies significant changes in teaching methodology, fundamental competencies, and evaluation procedures.

The pandemic has had an impact on every aspect of the field of education, but higher education appears to be particularly hard hit. It is critical to comprehend how educational institutions, teachers, students, and other stakeholders were affected by the pandemic and related lockdowns as well as how they viewed the period of online learning, even though the coronavirus pandemic marked the first significant worldwide disruption of higher education in generations. Although the effects of Covid-19 on higher education are still being felt, it is obvious that the interruption that the pandemic brought about has made it necessary to re-evaluate current approaches to teaching and learning. Therefore, e-learning has become more prevalent, and it has involved a quick change in pedagogy from face-to-face instruction to online courses, individual to virtual instruction, and seminars to webinars. Most of the time, it was up to teachers and other educators to decide how to modify their lessons to best achieve learning goals. Despite some assistance and direction from educational institutions, a variety of pedagogical strategies ended up being quickly adjusted for the online context. The quick transition to e-learning and the broader turmoil in social and economic life, however, presented challenges for educational institutions as well as for teachers, students, and other stakeholders. Aristovnik et al. (2020) assert that although students across the world were happy with the help given by the teaching staff throughout the pandemic, they believed their workload had risen. Along with emotions of boredom, worry, and irritation, they also reported concern about their future careers and other concerns relating to their academic work.