Keyword

1 Introduction

The spread of “COVID-19” around the world has negatively affected all aspects of life, especially the education process. Education during the Corona pandemic period was a great challenge for both teachers and students. To meet this challenge, attention must be paid to developing students’ scientific skills in the various fields of science and technology. This requires focusing on technology education because of its crucial role in developing and building the educational process during the pandemic [1].

The educational development initiatives have been implemented in Jordan for years now, and were represented by education development projects toward a knowledge economy, along with the accompanying development of curricula in general, and the development of teachers’ capabilities professionally and technologically, but all that was not quickly reflected during the emergence of the pandemic [2]. In the e-learning process, there are many students in school, but they are not obtaining the basic skills they need in the working field, and the World Bank index shows the percentage of students who cannot read or understand at the age of ten, the percentage of these students in low- and middle-income countries before the outbreak of the Coronavirus reached about 53%, and if we do not take an action, this pandemic may lead to an expansion in that percentage [3].

One of the ways to overcome the repercussions of the Corona pandemic is to use distance learning. One of the ways to overcome the repercussions of the Corona pandemic is to use distance learning, where distance education has been linked to the educational process in the presence of emergency situations, and distance learning tools have become an integral part of the entire educational process at the level of education using modern technologies such as multimedia that makes the educational process more realistic and interesting through audio-visual interaction and supportive videos related to the curriculum and its themes [4].

The outbreak of the Corona epidemic forced decision makers to take some measures to limit its spread, such as Lockdown and a shifting to e-learning in schools and universities as an alternative to face-to-face (traditional) education; where the Ministry of Education in Jordan created the educational platform “DARSAK”, which was a platform for e-learning in public schools, that relied on broadcasting lessons for different curricula using TV channels and Web-based platforms, while private schools used other education platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and social media services (WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) by which the teachers and the students interact directly and simultaneously.

Shifting to e-learning was sudden and unexpected, so some challenges and obstacles were observed during the e-learning implementation process, which led to a decline in the efficiency of the educational process. From this point of view, this study was focusing on clarifying the problems and obstacles that faced the e-learning process and identifying the extent of their impact on the overall educational process in private schools in Amman Governorate (private schools were included in this study because public schools depended on the “DARSAK” platform to record and broadcast lessons digitally and did not rely on interactive live broadcasts in teaching using the platforms that allow this).

This study aimed to a set of goals, namely,

First: Shedding light on the impact of the Corona pandemic on education in private schools.

Second: Keeping up with researchers and their trends in measuring the effects of the Corona pandemic on several sectors, including education.

Third: Providing decision makers with the necessary ideas and proposals to deal with the Corona pandemic in the context of education.

Fourth: To highlight the obstacles and problems that resulted from the sudden shift from face-to-face education to e-learning.

Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, several studies around the world tried to measure the effect of shifting to e-learning on students and learning process. For example, in Malaysia a study aimed to assess the success of E-learning portals, the research contrasted the use of E-learning portals by male and female students. The study’s goal was to see whether there was a difference in accessibility between male and female E-learning portals from the students’ viewpoint. Service quality, system quality, information quality, user satisfaction, system utilization, and E-learning portal success were all included in the research. The empirical data of 280 students who engaged in Google surveys from various Malaysian colleges was examined using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The outcomes of the research show that in Malaysian universities, males and females have varied levels of utilization of E-learning portals [5]. In the same context, Liang, L., et al. study’s goals were to examine youth mental health in China following COVID-19 and to research youth mental health issues. The research included 584 youth students who completed the COVID-19 cognitive status question, the GHQ-12, the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and the Negative Coping Styles Scale were used. COVID-19’s impact on youth mental health was assessed using univariate analysis and univariate logistic regression. Results show that 40% of the sampled students had psychiatric issues, with 14% having PTSD symptoms. Thus, viral disorders like COVID-19 may have an enormous impact on young people’s mental health [6]. Moreover, to investigate the consequences of Australia’s system-wide disruption, Gore, J., et al. evaluated student performance in a sample of matched schools in 2019 and 2020. According to the report, there are no significant variations in student accomplishment increase indicated by progressive achievement exams in mathematics or reading between 2019 and 2020. There were no significant differences seen for Indigenous pupils or students from rural areas [7].

2 Methodology

In this section, we will discuss a comprehensive description of the study methodology, the study population, sample, and the procedures that were followed in the study.

A questionnaire consisting of (10) qualitative questions was used. It was developed by reviewing previous studies and choosing the most suitable questions to test the study hypotheses. This questionnaire was distributed to the study population, which was the private schools in Amman governorate. The study population consists of (50) male and (37) female teachers working in private schools in Amman governorate, and those schools were randomly selected using the simple random method. A questionnaire consisting of (10) paragraphs was developed to achieve the objectives of this study, as the questionnaire’s paragraphs focused on measuring the effectiveness of e-learning during the Corona pandemic and measuring teachers’ expectations and attitudes regarding e-learning in the future. The study included the Corona pandemic as an independent variable and effectiveness, expectations, and readiness of educational systems as a dependent variable. The extent of the study was determined spatially in the Amman governorate. The time extent of the study was for the academic year of 2020–2021.

Below is the list of questions used in this study questionnaire:

  1. 1.

    What is the degree of effectiveness of distance education practices in your school?

  2. 2.

    Does the effectiveness of distance education practices in your school differ according to the teacher’s gender (male, female) and teaching experience (less than 10 years, and 10 years or more)?

  3. 3.

    What are schoolteachers in your school beliefs about distance learning?

  4. 4.

    Is there a correlation between the effectiveness of distance education practices and the beliefs of schoolteachers about distance learning?

  5. 5.

    How successful was the distance learning experience during the last semester (2020–2021)?

  6. 6.

    What are the factors affecting the success of the distance education experience during the last semester (2020–2021)?

  7. 7.

    What is the effective and proper way to be followed to use technology in education?

  8. 8.

    What is the readiness of the existing educational systems to implement distance education?

  9. 9.

    What are the teachers’ expectations regarding the electronic curriculum used during the last semester (2020–2021)?

  10. 10.

    In your opinion, what are Teachers’ suggestions for teaching methods after the end of the Corona pandemic?

3 Results

The results of the study and the field survey of the selected schools showed that the effectiveness of e-learning in the study sample ranged from low to medium effectiveness, as the opinions of the study community focused on e-learning that it has advantages in one hand, such as saving time and effort and providing new methods of teaching, on the other hand it has constraints such as the lack of seriousness and commitment in learning for students and parents in terms of following up their children. The results showed that the evaluation of the effectiveness of e-learning depends on the teacher in terms of finding the best method for delivering information to students, searching for it, and activating learning resources. It also depends on the student in terms of his seriousness in taking responsibility in the absence of face-to-face learning at school and that he must focus on the method of collecting, receiving, understanding, and retaining information, and from the point of view of the primary grade’s teachers, students of the first three grades cannot acquire writing and reading skills except with the help of parents. The effect of the gender of the teacher and the number of years of experience for the teacher (less than or more than 5 years) on the effectiveness of e-learning in the study population was studied. It plays a key role in raising and enhancing the effectiveness of e-learning, but this depends on the diligence and seriousness of the teacher in dealing with e-learning and on his technical skills.

Teachers’ opinions and beliefs about e-learning varied, as the first category (which represents the majority) thought about e-learning negatively because it is not feasible and requires more effort compared to face-to-face education, as it needs devices, equipment, and a high-quality internet connection, while the second category thought about e-learning positively, they described it as better than face-to-face education, especially at the secondary school grades, and that it saves the school’s financial costs. According to the study survey, there is a positive and negative relationship between the effectiveness of e-learning and the teachers’ beliefs about it, where the positive relationship was that the effort expended by the teacher will be less and that it is better in terms of financial cost. The presence of credibility in evaluating students and the students’ dependence on parents in answering tests and technical problems in terms of equipment and availability of internet connection, negatively impacts the effectiveness of e-learning and reduces it significantly, and they see that face-to-face education is better than e-learning because these problems appeared in conjunction with the emergence of e-learning.

The results of the study indicate that the extent of e-learning success was insignificant for several reasons that were mentioned, such as the lack of seriousness of students and parents in dealing with e-learning, in addition to the fact that a small percentage of students relied on themselves in studying and performing exams, and therefore the results of students in the tests were not reliable and does not reflect their abilities and the extent to which they benefit from the educational process. In another context, some opinions indicated the success of distance education because it was able to fill the gap caused by the sudden stop of the face-to-face educational process.

The opinions of the study sample varied about the factors that contributed to the success of e-learning, one of the most crucial factors is to select a teacher’s staff which they are capable to use e-learning technology and immerse it in the educational process. Also providing the required equipments and software in addition that parents should provide a good study environment for their children and urge them to rely on themselves in performing their homework and exams in addition to the necessary tools such as computers, mobile tablets, and internet connection. Based on the results, teachers suggested more than one successful and effective way to use distance education, where the opinion of the majority of them was that capacity-building of students to use distance education technologies is necessary, in addition to finding an effective evaluation mechanism to test students’ abilities and the extent to which they benefit from the educational process, some also have suggested that students should keep the camera turned on while attending remote lessons as an example of commitment, attention, and discipline during the class, this will reflect better and real results for the students’ levels.

In the context of the readiness and capacity of the current systems to implement distance education, the views of the study sample varied between that the readiness is weak in terms of low quality of Internet connection and the lack of computers or mobile phones for each student in the same family, which reflects the low-level economic and social situation of the family in addition to the lack of technology and equipment for teachers that facilitates them to broadcast and record lectures and create educational content with high quality and efficiency on one hand. On the other hand, there were opinions showing that the readiness of systems to implement distance education had improved in the academic year 2021–2022 compared to the previous academic year 2020–2021, due to the experiences gained by dealing with e-learning technologies which enhanced the capabilities of both students and teachers in implementing and using E-learning technologies. The study sample formed a variety of expectations and goals related to the curriculum used in e-learning, the most prominent of which was that in each school there should be experts in preparing a stimulating learning environment and building technical capabilities for students and teachers, in addition to trying to overcome the obstacles faced by face-to-face curricula when it’s shifted into electronic curricula. Promoting the “Educational-Loss Support” initiative launched by the Ministry of Education aimed at bridging the scientific gap among school students that was caused by the sudden shift to distance teaching.

The study collected many results regarding teachers’ suggestions for new and innovative methods for applying e-learning even after the end of the Corona pandemic. It was also suggested that e-learning could act as a supportive system to face-to-face education, which raises the efficiency of the teaching process in general, and some suggestions indicate that e-learning should be applied to literary subjects such as geography, Languages, and history, in addition to suggestions for providing the necessary equipment for the teacher to prepare educational content properly and communicate more effectively. Finally, some teachers suggested that e-learning can be applied in extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain and snow.

4 Conclusion

According to the results, e-learning had many pros and cons, the most prominent of its cons were the lack of credibility in the tests, technical obstacles, poor infrastructure, and the lack of equipment needed to implement e-learning, in addition to the lack of seriousness and commitment in dealing with education by students. The most prominent advantages of e-learning were that it was a suitable alternative for students to continue their education during the Corona pandemic, saving time and effort for teachers, saving costs for schools, and providing better options for delivering information and scientific content to students, eventually. The study concluded that e-learning is more suitable for students in the intermediate and secondary school stages.

5 Recommendations

  • E-learning should be integrated with face-to-face education, especially in literary courses such as geography, history, and languages.

  • The e-learning implementation requires the availability of tools such as computers, smartphones, and an internet connection, which constitutes an additional financial burden on parents. Therefore, the study recommends that the state or the Ministry of Education should provide computers or tablets with acceptable prices to reduce the financial burdens on parents.

  • Developing and improving the infrastructure and enhancing internet quality to ensure its accessibility and efficiency to all populated areas in Jordan.

  • E-learning can be used in specific periods, such as “Ramadan”, to reduce the efforts made by student and teacher and to facilitate the teaching process during those periods.

  • Conducting workshops aimed at building the capacities of teachers, students, and parents regarding e-learning tools and platforms.

  • Conducting more research and studies to measure the impact of the Corona pandemic on other sectors and communicating these results and proposals to officials and decision makers.