Sustaining Inclusive, Quality Education during COVID-19 Lockdowns

John Dermott Alexander Withers and Cecilia Sik-Lanyi
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John Dermott Alexander Withers: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprem, Hungary
Cecilia Sik-Lanyi: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprem, Hungary

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-25

Abstract: With the sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing countries to close schools, the education of students worldwide had become a major challenge. Schools were forced to switch to online education, as that proved to be the only feasible option considering the adverse circumstances. The purpose of this research is to facilitate a quick transition to distance education should another lockdown be implemented. This is achieved by performing a literature review to determine how online education is regarded by students, along with what its advantages and challenges are. A survey has also been administered, with the purpose of assessing the usability of certain web conferencing platforms used in online education. The findings and results indicate an improving attitude towards degrees and courses acquired by online education, whilst also including the pitfalls and challenges teachers currently face during online education. The results of the survey suggest that certain web conferencing platforms appeal to the students more, with Big Blue Button being the platform most respondents rated favourably in the survey. Student feedback indicates that the transition to online education was successful, albeit somewhat challenging.

Keywords: distance education; online education; higher education; COVID-19; ICT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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