Learning Remotely during a Pandemic: Are Students in a Developing Country Fully Equipped with Tools for Swift Changes?

Eranda Perera and Kelum A. A. Gamage
Additional contact information
Eranda Perera: Faculty of Engineering, Sri Lanka Technological Campus, Padukka 10500, Sri Lanka
Kelum A. A. Gamage: James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-20

Abstract: Many higher educational institutes are forced to the online mode of lecture delivery without fully understanding students’ perspectives of remote study during COVID-19, and the resource limitations of students to engage successfully in remote learning. The present study aimed to understand this gap and the students’ perspective. We collected and analysed the devices, which used by the students to connect to remote learning in a developing country. It was found that the majority of students are dependent on the laptop-smartphone combination to engage in remote learning, particularly the students in rural areas. The results highlighted the importance of smartphones in the online learning experience, considering their affordability, relatively long battery life, inbuilt internet capabilities, and portability. Although students indicated their willingness for remote learning, they clearly recognised the need for face-to-face teaching return to avoid some of the challenges and disadvantages they face as a part of remote learning.

Keywords: higher education; online learning; students’ perspectives of remote learning; learning technology; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8635/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8635/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8635-:d:607309

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().