Online Learning and the Role of Technologies During COVID19 Pandemic “Higher Education Lebanon Case
Abstract: Online learning is quite different than a traditional classroom environment. For online learning to be offered successfully, it is crucial to know that it requires different set of skills from instructors as well as students. During this difficult phase (the pandemic of Covid19 Virus) that the world is going through, educational institutions across the world are obliged to go online in an attempt to offer educational instructions to students. Some may succeed but others may fail, this depends on many factors such as educational institutions readiness for online learning, the infrastructure, accessibility, delivery methods, instructors’ and students’ willingness, social, economical and so many others factors. In this paper the authors describe briefly the impact of the current situation in general, with a focus on the Lebanese Higher Education and the Lebanese University. Teaching online via technologies to deliver instructions to university students at the Lebanese University are identified, experiences and evidence-based scenarios are also discussed. Barriers and limitations that are faced by the Lebanese University instructors and students during this pandemic are described, and finally a set of categorized recommendations for efficient effective and seamless online learning method is proposed.
Presider: Michael Pollak, Educational Technology, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria