Keywords

1 Introduction

Technology has changed traditional education to the current form of accessing education, an example being artificial intelligence. Shahzah et al. (2020) define E-learning as technology-based education retrieved through websites, learning thresholds, video conferencing, YouTube, mobile applications, and other various platforms through available websites of melded education tools. Also, virtual learning is sharpening scholars’ understanding, also the educational staff and professional and industry people abilities via the internet. Currently, a majority of the complex learning universities are offering virtual programs for their scholars both around and off campuses, making education accessible to everyone despite your location, provided you have a laptop or mobile device with internet connectivity. In the current world, the eminence of teaching and excellent infrastructures such as computers and IT up-to-date apparatus reception are now in great ultimatum. Higher-level education facilities such as universities are shifting their schooling designs with the use of intelligent capital. Shahzah et al. (2020) explain that universities closed down due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and most lecturers and students were happy to shift to online education. However, the sudden change from face-to-face learning to virtual education was faced with various challenges that hindered the smooth and fluent submission of learning resources among learning institutions.

The online tutelage milieu comprises of two parts of intermingling styles: the scholar, trainer, and content, and the second comprises of know-hows and approaches of interlinking. Shahzah et al. (2020) explain that Covid-19 positively and harmfully impacted the online education aspect of learners’ lives to a temperate level. Improving social lives among students in online education is believed to be the core benefit of online learning all through the restriction period.

1.1 Effect of Covid-19 on University Education

In the current times, virtual learning constructs a more noteworthy impression on all kinds of students, as much as the freelance and permanent in the higher education institutions, and it is becoming very helpful to students since a majority of them are working in companies easing their schedules due to time constraints (Shahzah et al. 2020). COVID-19 theatrically restructured the way worldwide education is conveyed. Sums of learners were impacted by educational institutions’ closure due to the endemic that has led to the greatest’ shipment’ in the history of education. Imposing a 24-h restriction changed students’ lives, specifically at home, where they spent significant amounts of time. The results of this research show that remaining at household assisted students clearly restructure their priorities. The retro was a good time for spiritual replications and gaining equanimity, and enabling them to enjoy more time with their families. Feelings of solitude and being away from their communal associates, on the other side, were confirmed as negative impacts, implying that a passionate aspect of scholars’ life lacked throughout their curfew experience. As a precaution, all venues where daily social activities take place have shut.

With the pandemic, all university facilities have been faced with various psychological, physical, and economic challenges, resulting in disorders in the running of these facilities. Browning et al. (2021) explain that university students are increasingly renowned as an exposed populace, going through higher levels of fretfulness, despair, drug abuse, and disorder eating equated to the general populace. Therefore, with the drastic change in the nature of their educational familiarity, changes such as sheltering in place throughout the corona plague created a more significant encumbrance on the students’ mental health. Based on research conducted in the United States, college students contributed immensely to the population of the citizens stalwartly hit by COVID-19 due to ambiguity regarding academic progress, personal careers, and their societal life during their college life (Browning et al. 2021). Previously, we knew that university students rarely had psychiatric and counseling services, which is critical and essential to warrant immediate health interventions that would have helped curb the issue among students. However, according to (Browning et al. 2021), generally, U.S. students seemed not to have been affected toughly academically by the COVID-19 pandemic as elsewhere in the world. As a matter of fact, they portrayed a normal satisfaction with most of the survey elements. Moreover, compared to other parts of the world, American students were among the first to expose their confidence in having competent computer literacy such as attending online classes and satisfaction with the support of the teaching practitioners.

The pandemic crisis substantiated the concerns of international institutions, an example being the United Nations, which stresses the prominence of the resourceful delivery of educational curriculums to shun from digital and social inequalities. Cessation of movement among citizens that required people to stay at home the whole day while also going on with the studies under unfamiliar environments had an impact among university students interpersonal and intrapersonal live in both pedagogically and publically (Alghamdi 2021). Another significant challenge posed on higher education learning is the students living accommodation. Almost all universities globally offer accommodation to students, even if not to all due to the capacity differences. However, with the enlisted health guidelines, it was difficult for university students to accommodate students with the previous capacity before the pandemic in their dormitories. Hence it posed a greater traumatizing scene to most students who never got dormitory slots within the school and had to rent with the school environs, and it was pretty expensive for them.

Younger students tend to experience greater fear since students in the age bracket of 18 and 24, irrespective of their educational grade, tend to be more angst about their educational forthcoming and their capability to pay for their university learning equated to older students. Also, due to the barrage of Covid-19 news, younger students who are addicts to societal media platforms get exposed to risk texts compared to older scholars.

More than a hundred partakers were enlisted cross-sectional from the targeted sample at seven significant state universities in spring. From the large population invited to play a part in the survey, 2,534 reactions with data on a majority of the relevant variable. According to Browning et al. (2021), there is anticipation that the assessment would be tough to tight-fistedly and systematically capture the broad array of impact from the COVID-19 on scholars with qualitative measures. Also, there was an unrestricted questionnaire that enquired respondents how the pandemic changed them and how they were feeling and what was on their minds. The current study's corresponding author conducted unstructured personal interviews about their early experiences with the COVID-19 epidemic in terms of new interview data. In February 2020, ten individuals aged 18 and over got gathered for these interviews. Enrollment happened in low- and high-risk areas across the America, including Washington's metropolitan areas and countryside areas in Tennessee, Iowa, and South Carolina. During the pandemic, the dialogues taken the outlooks of the interviewees.

E-learning.

The educational problems that the world is facing issues with as a byproduct of the virus have become highly burdensome. In spite of efforts at gradual normalization in learning, it seems that any semblance of normal will take some time to get to be a reality. Learners, instructors, school administrators, and parents all got tangled up in an educational process in which the fundamentals of face-to-face education had to get converted to digital environments in a short period of time. The benevolence of information technology's impact on numerous aspects of lives currently cannot be contradicted. According to Olum et al. (2020), e-learning has been implemented in many settings to speed up the furtherance of medical training. Nonetheless, the crisis led to stress among the world population, disrupting education globally. In order to facilitate all students so as to carry on with their studies and achieve personal career goals, there was a need to implement online classes for students in all learning institutions. However, research conducted on university students across the U.S.A indicated that over half of scholars were concerned about the lack of social interfaces in the virtual learning environment. At the same time, about 10% had issues with the online learning setting (Olum et al. 2020). With the evolution of technology and the presence of copious parties to facilitate higher education, the majority of universities and educational institutions have shifted to conniving and hurling e-learning programs for students. (Olum et al. 2020). Various studies have shown that virtual learning is a beneficial tool for attaining educational requirements, expressly in developing nations.

With the great potentials brought forward by digital learning, some students sometimes opt to drop out of school (defer) and become indisposed to embark on their studies, which acts as a significant drawback to their literacy evolving. However, due to the pandemic's constraints, some students tend to drop out of school since they lack sufficient funds to continue with their classes. During the pandemic, so many people lost their jobs. As a result, they experienced poor financial status that could not support the access of internet connectivity and gadgets such as the computer to stream live classes (Abbasi et al. 2020). Nonetheless, as a result of the high recognition of students to enroll in online learning and the role of refining the eminence of education, the quality of learning impacted students can improve immensely.

2 Research Methods

2.1 Search Strategy

This systematic review used in this analysis adopted the recommendations of Dhingra et al. (2020). A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Bloomberg CityLab, revealing a database of studies on e-learning in universities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study was narrowed down to when the pandemic began to now and what impact it has had on learning among universities globally. Additionally, the search strategy was based on identifying the keywords, for example, motivation, academic success, university, and covid-19.

2.2 Study Identification

All journals, including cohort studies, review, and case studies were eligible if they highlighted more than ten cases of interview on students concerning their experience with the new form of learning. After removing the duplicates by comparison of DOI, all abstracts from identified publications were examined for eligibility.

2.3 Study Selection

The original study search brought forward to the identification of 150 studies with complete data. However, all this was made possible through automated electronic searches on various database platforms. Automated search engine generated 3762 results out of which settled for 150 studies that could be screened and selected the once for use in the case study. From the remaining studies, 20 of them were nullified since they did not meet the minimal requirements for the study. However, the remaining 70 were screened through the eligibility criteria and out of that, 21 failed to meet the eligibility criteria. The Fig. 1 below shows the PRISMA 2021 flow diagram for updated system reviews (Liberati, A. et al. 2009).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

PRISMA flow diagram of studies in the systematic review.

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2.4 Description of Studies

Among the research studies, the initial study conducted an investigation in a dentistry college regarding their perception and opinions regarding e-learning during the lockdown compared to the prior physical learning. Two of the inclusive resources highlight the students’ motivation towards online classes in respect to internet connectivity and its accessibility during Covid-19 pandemic. While the third one encompasses its study on some of the activities and issues revolving around the capability of different students attending to classes, and some of the issues within United States learning process and third-world countries. The last two research are based on how tiresome it has become for students to undertake to their assignments from online classes and the challenges associated with practical learning courses.

3 Results

Through the search engine it revealed 150 publications. However, duplications were removed and 33 publications were left. While undertaking in-depth screening of the left articles 15 were feasible. The PRISMA flow diagram illustrates the elimination of publications. Some of the publications did not provide sufficient information for the review but they aided in sufficient information to give context to the topic in matter. Table 1 shows a summary of the findings.

Table. 1. Summary of the findings.
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3.1 Risk of Bias in the Selected Study

The risk of bias was summarized in Review Manager (RevMan 5.4.1), and the feedback indicated that the overall risk of bias was moderately low.

From the data collected, various information was present that was highly noticed. For example, persons known to have got infested with COVID-19 had an increased probability of being at risk of psychological impacts. According to Dhingra et al. (2021), students who had information of either one or more of their relatives was infected had higher chances of suffering from psychological compared to students who had no knowledge of anyone infected with the virus. Also, based on gender, women were at a greater peril of mental distress during the contagion as they were liable to depression and anxiety conditions compared to the male species of students as much as men were prone to get infected with the disease compared to the female.

Universities would be well-served to discourse the conceptual wellbeing issues of their all-inclusive student body, given the enormous fraction of scholars consigned to the high psychosomatic influence profile. Virtual group workout and consideration/mindfulness gatherings, liability partners and bodybuilding challenges, and telemedicine/therapy appointments are some of the activities that have endorsed mental well-being at the University of Connecticut, University of Kentucky, and Northeastern University (Browning et al. 2021). These group interactions may effectively reduce anxiety and the sense of remoteness that the students in this study felt. Scholars with clinical anxiety levels can gain from digital therapies. Since COVID-19 is likely to trigger persistent mental pain, colleges should emphasize aiding students in promoting proper mindsets rather than avoiding stress. Contemporary discoveries that intellectual and behavioral circumvention (i.e., evading contexts where disclosure is plausible and unpleasant beliefs about the contagion) was the utmost unswerving prognosticator of amplified anxiety and melancholy signs throughout the endemic. Stressful circumstances are getting addressed using cognitive reappraisal. Students are encouraged to focus on the “silver linings” and developing prospects in their educational experiences.

Universities can strive to evolve mechanisms that allow for safe social engagement among students. During their undergrad days, many students seek out social attention. However, as this study's findings indicated, students' opportunities for mingling decreased significantly throughout COVID-19's early stages. Our student participants consistently expressed dismay for missing “stepping out” and massive achievement events (e.g., graduation, last sporting occasion). In other research, students conversed online with close household members or colleagues no less than once a day to keep their mental health through the initial surf of the COVID-19 virus.

E-learning.

A cross-sectional expressive study gets piloted among students undertaking in varied fields of medical science university to try and find out what some of the students felt about the new learning technique facing out face-to-face learning that was already a norm. According to Abbasi et al. (2020), sampling gets piloted using the stratified arbitrary sampling method to capture all the faculties in the research and avoid biased results. Students were selected randomly and provided with an online questionnaire, partial responding to the questionnaire, and discontent with assistance were the measures for omission from the research.

Data captured was composed using a three-part questionnaire that included demographic and background information based on age, gender, year of study, and class performance prior and during the pandemic while also considering their experience in joining online classes before Covid-19. In total, 420 students got recruited for the research (100 percent partaking rate), with 310 of them being female (73.8 percent), 208 having a single (49.5 percent), and 199 being sophomores (47.4 percent). The age of the participants was 21.14 (1.25) years on average (standard deviation). The mean (standard deviation) of the participants’ average point grade from the previous year was 16.12 (1.48) out of a prospective 20 with regards to the table (Yekefallah et al. 2021) (Table 2).

Table. 2. Demographic and background appearances and relationship with satisfaction with virtual learning in scholars.
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3.2 Data Analysis and Review

From the data collected and analyzed, the outcomes signposted that there was a noteworthy relationship between gratification with online learning and variables of sex and previous experience of joining online classes prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Additionally, the age bracket had a tremendous impact on the satisfaction of attending online classes. According to Yekefallah et al. (2020), they explain that with an increase in age, the level of gratification was similarly increasing, and there was no affiliation between male and female scholars, based on gender, in the aspect of e-learning. The variations in the arithmetical populace of the research and the use of various techniques to measure the performance of education are the factors for this discrepancy. The optimistic worry of women for men and society's culture and the boundless existence of women in societies might get cited as factors for this gender divide. Females consent to e-learning because their limitations do not preclude them from accessing many sciences. Furthermore, the researchers found that 59 percent of them were displeased. Yekefallah et al. (2021) explain that Students’ satisfaction with the evaluation technique portrayed that self-assessment gave students the chance to assess and do a recap of what they have learned and their perceptive and metacognitive approaches. Also, students grasped their strong point and weaknesses. There was a deep and optimistic connection between the lecturers’ oral and non-verbal behavior and the prospect of using automated content to complete training.

Under the scholars’ point of view in the digital learning course, the efficacy of the educational contented, the layout of a page to the desired level, the efficiency of teaching-learning activities, and assisting scholars to the desired level, and the springiness of online learning course have been moderate. However, e-learning can deliver prospects for scholars to acquire self-assessment methods courtesy of information technology, their level of relations, and feedback becomes minimal (Abbasi et al. 2020). From the research, it is quite important to mention that efforts have to be made to expand the value of virtual learning and the factor distressing it due to the pervasiveness of Covid-19. Distance learning may be held for the longest period ever since no one has any idea when the pandemic will come to a halt. Abbasi et al. (2020) argue that inattentiveness to these suitcases can lessen the eminence of edification and scholars’ level of acquaintance which would consequently, due to the unwelcome gratification with online learning, has generally reduced.

3.3 Motivation

Online courses are an impeccable option for eventful people with numerous burdens on their time. However, the tractability of distance learning brands it ideal for people held up with activities to have an adjusted learning schedule when they are off their work or during personal time. However, Sah Allam et al. (2020) explain that lack of self-discipline regarding the personal drive to learning influences readiness level owing to environmental disruption such as working obligation and massive home environment is a crucial challenge to online distance learning. Also, having friends’ interruption during online learning sessions by inviting coursemates to join the online conversation, including chatting or even blathering, significantly impacts enthusiasm level and self-discipline. Hence, the student who lacks willpower and experiences lower stimulus can fall into the abrasion group of students that affect their school performance in distance learning.

Sah Allam et al. (2020), talks of researchers who examine student online learning readiness, reported that computer internet literacy level has a more significant impact among students. Actually, so many students are ready to espouse online learning technology, although it has to counterpart with high competency in the literacy level. However, as much as so many students are into online distance learning, most of them lack the basic computer skills that hinder them from the e-learning platform, making the implementation ineffective and thriving backward. An arduous study on student virtual learning attitudes reported higher computer internet levels correlated with higher online learning attitudes. Also, the enthusiasm to explore computer tools and have the capability to use internet applications could reduce the sign of technology stress among scholars, mainly in venturing into online distance learning avenues. Sah Allah et al. (2020).

Having a self-drive towards distance learning enhances the verge of studying responsibility to become an independent learner, captivating as compared to traditional face-to-face learning and embedded sense of personal autonomy. Lassoued et al. (2020) explain that a scholar with a self-directed learning element possesses high self-disciplined, self-independent learning and high self-confidence to complete a duty in an online distance learning. However, the majority of students, especially during the pandemic period, may have difficulty presenting high performance on online distance activities during a pandemic outbreak since the means of study tends to seem peculiar to them and work solely, completing assessments with minimal or no contact with the lecturer, and unable to control their stress resulting to low triumph that affects their final results in studies.

Motivation is the key for anyone determined to see the other end of the tunnel to excel in this form of learning since various milestones in the journey face it. Sah Allah et al. (2020) defines it as the engine of learning and go ahead to describe it as the fuel of human understanding. The numerous activities that generate learning byproducts demand time, money, and commitment. With all this, there is an urge to be some kind of motivation to make the process run effectively. With regard to the principle of abilities and human learning on the role of stimulus, for any student to avail themselves to a learning lesson, there has to be incentive or drive force raise. For a student to sit down for a class, be it online or physical, they have to be strongly motivated for higher academic achievements, and this is through establishing good study habits. Integration technology in learning does not positively enhance students’ level of motivation (Sah Allah et al. 2020). Online learning requires a student to have high internet connectivity while great effort and commitment for it to take place.

For the success of e-learning, lecturers need to understand students’ motivation, while on the other side, students themselves need to adapt and shift from face-to-face learning into an online class. Sah Allah et al. (2020) states that the success or failure of online education is typically related to student motivation. Therefore, the lecturers have an obligation to keep in mind that motivation must get natured in students. This is by elaborating to students how the online environment may be exploited and embolden interaction and teamwork among the students themselves to strengthen learning motivation. Also, creating study groups so that students do not study in isolation while still making friends by meeting other students as much as the social distance is upheld to prevent the virus from spread within the students and lecturers. Also, the professionals themselves need to be uplifted since they cannot work with students while they are not scythed up. According to research on distance education readiness El Refae et al. (2021), high education teachers show an optimistic attitude and enthusiasm to teach university scholars even with special needs like hearing despite the risk and challenges in learning equipment like pedagogy. Hence, with the pandemic being slated to stay with us until a protective vaccine is found, it is crucial to understand how the lecturers who are prime implementers of the learning accustomed to this switch and what encounters they face while adapting to the growth, and how well they are for the times ahead of us.

As much as online learning came as a solution to curb the supper of the Covid-19 virus among students and the whole world, it is faced with some challenges that have an impact on the delivery of what various university courses entail. So many courses undertaken at the university level get incorporated with practical classes in laboratories, especially ones that are quite difficult to undertake through e-learning. According to Plitnichenko (2020), practical classes require a face-to-face interaction of the student with the equipment involved while with the assistance of a technician and lecturer to facilitate the proper running of the experiments. It gives the students a much clear understanding and exposure of what they are learning about, getting a much valuable grasp of the class content. Hence, as much as containment measures have to be upheld, online learning cannot effectively facilitate practical classes for the student since virtual is unfit for practical courses. With that, it is up to the university as an institution to coordinate how practical classes will be conducted within the available laboratories and determine how much capacity each laboratory can hold, given the number of students in the university.

Connectivity is the second most significant challenge facing e-learning since it is also dependent on it entirely. Plitnichenko (2020) argues that millions of people worldwide experience technical challenges due to the extreme usage rate of online learning systems, video streaming apps, and other learning tools due to overloading, which leads to poor video and audio quality. To be precise, internet connectivity is a crucial challenge worldwide and especially in third-world countries. Internet connectivity determines the quality of teach students access from these classes attended. With that, so many countries have not invested enough in the internet connectivity; hence this acts as a drawback to the growth of online learning. Plitnichenko (2020) explains that the critical issue is not just having a computer but getting a computer with internet connectivity since the speed of connection acts as a limiting factor. In order to address the issue, it is in high demand for various heads of state to uphold internet connection as one of the basic needs since it is becoming of great importance to our daily lives activities. Poon (2020) explains that Wi-Fi connectivity ought to be regarded the same as power and running water due to the monetary and profitable implications. It was felt as if people were so many years from that.

4 Conclusion

Online is the future of where the world is heading to. Hence we have to move with the new trend that is approaching us. According to Swan (n.d.), the 21st century is rapidly becoming digitized, providing a valid reason for academics to be more aware of the specifics of their cohorts and learners and get ways to engage with and sustain isolated students. The reflection presented throughout this paper provides an overview of why e-learning should be embraced and given full support. With the pandemic being amongst us, preventing it from spreading is a better solution than curing, implying that e-learning is the resorted option left for academic institutions to run education with the condition at hand.

The transition towards e-learning has been a difficult task not only to students but also to the facilitator across the world, and it has manifested itself in various avenues. Turner (2020) says that students describe the situation as having more workload to handle and being a significant reason why they struggle to stay on top of their school work during the transition. In addition, a large population of students is still inclined to face-to-face learning systems making online studies a hard-to-get approach to adapt to. However, e-learning is the only option left to handle many people at one time since the social distance is a crucial issue.

Students have varied perceptions concerning e-learning, some being positive while others negative, which wildly contradict them, although they still have to attend classes and submit assignments. However, mobile is one of the most common devices among students for e-learning compared to laptops and tablets since it is cheaper and more easily portable than having a computer with you. Abbasi et al. (2020), explains that a study carried out on university students proved that 66% of the students use mobile devices for e-learning, which sound similar to that of a large percentage preferring having mobile device compared to having laptops for studies. This implies that online learning in universities could increase double if students gained an access to a reliable and convenient internet access since almost all have a smartphone that supports access to various websites and other learning platforms in the internet world.

In a nutshell, education is the backbone of a nation hence regardless of what happens education has to continues as it was a much as possible. Also the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the education sector but learning institutions have the obligation to continue devising suitable ways to ensure learning activities continue without much deterrent. Additionally, based on the majority of articles we have reviewed it is quite clear education cannot proceed while using the traditional method and a change had to be initiated. E-learning has proven to be the newest learning process that we have to go with since medical practitioners have not clarified when Covid-19 will come to an end, and learning has to continue. Hence various learning institutions should invest in their digital platforms in collaboration with the Heads of state and provide convenient internet access to their students to facilitate proper university learning. Finally, learning institutions can implement some of the recommendations that we have highlighted as they would be helpful while revising some of their policies.