Combat New Normal Life and Remote Emergency Learning During Pandemic Crisis: A Perspective from Public Universities Students

Abstract

The Bangladeshi education system has resorted to a virtual emergency mode of learning in order to sustain teaching and learning practices in educational institutions, providing a quick fix to the challenges. From the perspective of public university students, the researcher employed a qualitative study approach to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on tertiary education in Bangladesh. The primary data was collected via a well-designed online questionnaire, which was completed by 150 persons. Public universities in Bangladesh use virtual platforms to deliver online classes. University facilities and infrastructure, a robust national data infrastructure, appropriate computer devices, and excellent and affordable data services for students are all required for online instruction. The goal of the study is to determine the practicality and applicability of online education, as well as how students deal with the risk of Covid-19. This research identified a number of unanticipated disruptions in students' learning, as well as a drop in excitement and study hours, difficulty with student-teacher interactions, and a variety of physical, emotional, and financial issues associated to academic studies. According to the research, the most typically mentioned issues by students include network and facility-related hurdles, as well as personal and socio-psychological challenges. A lack of technological infrastructure, a high cost of internet, a slow internet connection, a family's financial difficulty, and student mental strain were also recognized as important impediments to online education by the majority of students. The study presented several recommendations to policymakers based on the findings to help them overcome the challenges of online classrooms in the future.

Keywords: Emergency virtual learning, online class, network, psychological stress, academic fear, Covid-19, Tertiary level.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-24-10

Publication date:August 31^st 2021