E-Learning: Boon or Bane to Higher Education during COVID-19 at MENA Region

Dr. Sharif Abu Karsh

E-Learning; COVID-19; Bane; Boon; Mena; Impacts of COVID-19.

The sudden effect of the corona pandemic in many nations has seriously harmed the physical, social, and mental well-being and the global economy. Higher education is the bedrock of every nation that the Pandemic has ravaged. The entire educational system has unexpectedly moved to digital, creating a serious challenge for both students and teachers to adapt to. Is it a challenge, a boon, or a bane for counties in the MENA region to have their higher education systems turned upside down? The complexities of online education will be discussed in this report. The study employed qualitative techniques, which were accomplished through desktop review. The result indicates that eLearning is both boon and bane on higher education in countries in the MENA region. As a result, we can conclude that the eLearning education system should be geared up, and internet accessibility in the MENA region should be strengthened.

[1] Binti Shahidan, N., Binti Ariffin, N., Ishak, M. F. H., & bin Sabilan, S. Online Teaching: Readiness Among Lecturers In Higher Learning Institutions. [Retrieved from Google Scholar] http://conference.kuis.edu.my/ispen/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/ISPEN20_23.pdf
[2] Chang, C. L., & Fang, M. (2020, June). E-Learning and online instructions of higher education during the 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) epidemic. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1574, No. 1, p. 012166). IOP Publishing.
[3] Drucker, P. F. (1999). Beyond the information revolution. The Atlantic Monthly, 284(4), 47-57
[4] Ferri, F., Grifoni, P., & Guzzo, T. (2020). Online Learning and Emergency Remote Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges in Emergency Situations. Societies, 10(4), 86
[5] Hechinger, J., & Lorin, J. (2020, March 19). Coronavirus forces $600 billion higher education industry online.” Bloomberg BusinessWeek,. [Retrieved from Google Scholar] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/colleges-are-goingonline-because-of-the-coronavirus
[6] Johnson, N., Veletsianos, G. & Seaman, J. (2020). US faculty and administrators’ experiences and approaches in the early weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Online Learning, 24(2), 6-21.
[7] McCormack, T. J., Lemoine, P. A., & Richardson, M. D. (2020b). Online teaching and learning in global higher education during COVID-19. International Education and Research Journal, 6(10), 33-35.
[8] Mishra, L., Gupta, T., & Shree, A. (2020). Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, 100012.
[9] Naciri, A., Baba, M. A., Achbani, A., & Kharbach, A. (2020). Mobile learning in higher education: Unavoidable alternative during COVID-19. Aquademia, 4(1), ep20016.
[10] Patra, S., & Sahu, K. K. (2020). Digitalisation, online learning and virtual world. Horizon Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 2(S), 45-52.
[11] Raju, P. R. K. (2019). E-learning boon or bane. An HRD perspective. Retrieve on, 24.
[12] Richardson, M. D. (2020). The Impact of Online Learning in Global Higher Education during Covid-19. [Retrieved from Google Scholar] https://www.academia.edu/download/65886913/02_Michael_D._Richardson_Online_IERJ20183252167904.pdf
[13] Shamir-Inbal, T., & Blau, I. (2021). Facilitating Emergency Remote K-12 Teaching in Computing-Enhanced Virtual Learning Environments during COVID-19 Pandemic-Blessing or Curse? Journal of Educational Computing Research, 0735633121992781.
[14] Sihem, H. (2018). Tunisia. E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, 407-432.
[15] Škavić, F. (2020). Social Impact of Digital Technologies Employed By Countries In The Wake Of The Covid-19 Pandemic (Doctoral dissertation, University of Zagreb. Faculty of Economics and Business. Department of Informatics.).
[16] Sharif M. Abu Karsh (2018).New Technology Adoption by Business Faculty in Teaching: Analyzing Faculty Technology Adoption Patterns, Education Journal. Vol. 7, No. 1, 2018, pp. 5-15.
[17] Unger, S., & Meiran, W. (2020). Student attitudes towards online education during the COVID-19 viral outbreak of 2020: Distance learning in a time of social distance. International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 4(4), 256-266
[18] 18. Vegas, E. (2020, April 14). School closures, government responses, and learning inequality around the world during COVID-19. Retrieved from brookings.edu: https://www.brookings.edu/ research/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/