- Title
- Second-year students’ perceptions of e-learning during the Covid-19 era: a survey of social sciences and humanities Students at Fort Hare University
- Creator
- Nkonyeni, Sixolile https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6765-6459
- Subject
- Computer-assisted instruction
- Subject
- Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
- Date Issued
- 2023
- Date
- 2023
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/29780
- Identifier
- vital:78913
- Description
- Higher education institutions worldwide were significantly affected by the COVID nineteen epidemic. Lockdown measures were implemented all around the globe to control the infection forcing universities to swiftly adapt alternative measures to ensure uninterrupted academic progress. Students had to adapt to a new educational setting due to the rapid move to remote learning sometimes without the necessary preparation for online education. Their participation in distance learning systems and technologies suffered as a consequence. This research aimed to examine how students perceived remote education in the pandemic phase. The study aimed to understand their perspectives identify the platforms they used ascertain their level of readiness and explore the difficulties they encountered. This research offers important insights about the pandemics influence on the students by exploring the experiences of students transitioning from high school to university in an online setting. The Technology Acceptance Model TAM commonly known as TAM was utilised in the study to investigate the effect of modern technologys perceived ease of use PEOU and perceived usefulness PU on behavioural intention to use BI and ultimate system utilisation. The post positivist principle guided the research. A sixteen item questionnaire was used to gather data at the University of Fort Hares Alice campus. A sample size of two hundred second year students from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities was determined using Raosofts Sample Size Calculator. SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data which included statistical analysis and frequency distributions. The studys results showed that the students had a positive perception of online education. Blackboard was used for sharing information and assessments while emails were used for communication. Microsoft Teams was utilised for lectures and assessments and WhatsApp was used for information sharing. Students demonstrated moderate to high self efficacy in online learning and had basic skills necessary for implementation however their readiness in terms of technological skills such as presentations screen sharing and other advanced skills was low. The most common difficulties students experienced when learning online included inadequate internet access unreliable power supplies a lack of focus insufficient ICT skills and expensive data plans. After the COVID nineteen epidemic the research suggested hybrid learning to address these issues and support the universitys mission of change and rejuvenation. The study also suggested continuing the rollout of laptops and zero rated data packages for students while establishing training sessions aimed at bridging the digital skills gap among first year students.
- Description
- Thesis (MLIS) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (186 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University Of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
- Hits: 20
- Visitors: 16
- Downloads: 3
Collections
UFH Department of Library & Information Science
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | NKONYENI SIXOLILE DISSERTATION.pdf | 59 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |