Distance education is a new experience for us in developing countries, but it was the only alternative to continuing the educational process in light of the epidemic and healthy urbanization to preserve the health and lives of students and professors, and to be fair, despite it being a new experience, but it somewhat succeeded in The delivery of academic courses to the students, and of course, this depends on the selection of the various and effective methods by the professors. But with regard to practical subjects and laboratories, I do not agree that it was able to achieve the same result with theoretical subjects because the practical subjects need to be trained on devices and other materials, so there is still a gap in this area. But on the other hand, distance education was an inevitable decision to continue the educational process, and I think that the intense effort made by the teachers has given its results somewhat.

Whereas, it has been demonstrated that distance learning is an effective means of education for many people, e.g. the Open University in the UK; it is not necessarily the best option for all - many students do not engage well with remote leaning.

I am not sure how the 'intended purpose' is being defined here, but for the reasons of providing some kind of answer, I will make an assumption that the purpose is, at least, to 'maintain the standard of education in learning institutions'.

It is far too soon for any studies to have effectively shown that distance learning during the pandemic has done this. There would have to be fair comparison with the before and after states of education and we remain in the midst of the pandemic.

Even afterwards, any analysis of the effectiveness of, for example: distance primary school tution, must take many factors into account. The schools rolling out the distance learning measures are, on the whole, inexperienced in doing so and the teachers are equally inexperienced. The capability of the technologies must also be considered - a child in a home without suitable equipment and broadband would not be able to partake fully of the distance learning provision. This is not in itself a fault of the distance learning provision.

In short, distance learning has proven itself to be a very effective means of learning and an effective independent teaching method. This is demonstrated across the world in schools, colleges and universities as well as online learning sites such as Udemy, Coursera, Khan Academy and Codeacademy.

iT WAS VERY VERY USEFUL AND GOOD FOR STUDENTS.

From my experience in teaching for university students, it was very useful to teach distance education.

Best regards

Distance learning has proven to be the best alternative solution to solve the problems facing the world today (covid-19 ) that prevent the completion of the traditional education process.

It can be applied with the simplest technology available to countries. It only needs those who strongly support its implemntation , especially in the current situation

Distance learning obviously a good teaching method especially amid of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has opened a new door in our education sectors. But it has some limitations indeed. Lab and field oriented, practical class through e-learning is not effective.

Thank you so much dear Aisha Hamed, happy to receive your recommendation.

Gentle researchers I share a little pre-print technical report about the possible evolution of post COVID19 school. I hope this is useful for this topic. Have a nice week. --sv-- Technical Report Post-COVID19 pandemic school ecosystem: AR/VR classrooms as ...

Nobody knows. But we have to do online teaching to keep things moving at all levels and keep teachers, and students engaged. We also need to assess the online experience and what did we learn and how it can be improved.

Dear Monther M Elaish, this is a good discussion. I agree with Samy Azer, Salvatore Vicidomini, Md. Abdur Razzak Choudhury, Aisha Hamed, Nasser Said Gomaa Abdelrasheed, and Steven Markham that, considering the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, I could immediately say yes. It is not possible for schools to reopen at this time. On the other hand, given social and economic inequality, we still have many children without access, which would need to create the conditions for all children to have the opportunity. In terms of content, are they being learned? We still need to assess whether it has worked, as we had many impromptu situations for the remote transition. But this was a viable and safe way for us to try to keep in touch with students, to maintain care and attention, to enable intellectual activities so as not to become overjoyed and under the traumatic effects of this situation of isolation. Depending on expectations, I would say it has been good to connect with students.

This was one of the key aims of my research;-

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343577207_Learning_under_lockdown_The_impact_of_COVID-19_learning_restrictions_on_students'_learning_experience

Learning under lockdown: The impact of COVID-19 learning restrictions on students’ learning experience.

During school closures, distance learning was an important alternative for us graduate school students to finish and comply our requirements.

Not properly, very new thing for the students and as well teachers. It took some time to adjust. Now we both are on par to use technology to attend the classes and deliver the class

The answer depends on a very critical variable which is the readiness of the educational institutions, students and teachers to switch to online learning. For the institutions in which technology is being integrated in the learning process, distance learning did achieve the intended purpose. Teachers and students were familiar with the online tools and the used them efficiently to cover the rest of the curriculum. Whereas in other institutions where the use of technology is limited, students found it hard to cope with online learning and teachers were not familiar with the existing tools.

Distance learning came in handy during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The abrupt closure of learning institutions in Kenya had a lot of implications majorly halting of classroom teaching/ learning. This could be referred to as education in emergency situations. For instance, the case of international students at the university who had to travel back to their home countries had to be cleared with. This called for a swift response to ensure that learning processes continued despite the challenges of distance. The measures put in place by the faculty ensured that distance learning took place from teaching to the examination processes which turned out successful. To bridge the gap, distance learning could prove as the sole alternative to link learners with their teachers for effective education to continue taking place at this period. The main challenge in relation to distance learning that should be addressed currently is ensuring inclusive education to cater for the needs of all learners in diversity.

I think it did to some extent, and in many postgraduate studies it can replace actual attendance.

Distance learning was and is still the better option for learning during this COVID-19 pandemic because of the lockdown restrictions and other limitations. An assessment of learning from students considering the changes in skills, knowledge, and attitude (KSA) will help to determine whether the intended purpose was achieved. It is one thing to deliver lectures and it is another thing for these to inform changes in KSA of the recipients.

GM

In my opinion, we have two times before and after CV19, e-learning is and will be the best way to teach

Best regards

Ingrid García

No no country at the global level prepared her Education institution to manage Distance learning

It depends on different country. In some countries education is completely online, some other adopted blended learning, and some more only traditional method. If all of a sudden everywhere makes online learning means it may affects on learner's to grasp and to adjust. Some arrangements to be made before implement any changes.

I agree with Sudha N Natesh about making some arrangement before implementing suitable changes

it depends on several things like the skills of students and teachers, educational institutions infrastructure

It has been successful, however can be and will be improved with time

I really think it depends on many factors such as

- the country/state we are talking about

- how developed that country/state is

- the degree of digitalization of schools and homes

- how open minded the teachers and students are

- etc

I can only talk for my country which is Romania. Here, the remote education system was very hard to implement in some areas which are known to be poor. Also, there were cases where the families were too poor to buy tablets/laptops for their kids and the state was late to supply them. Those were the isolated worst scenarios.

Generally speaking, the remote education was welcomed and it was better than nothing. However, there are many old teachers that barely know how to manage an e-learning platform and require assistance. The young ones have no problem at all. What i see is that, as with everything new, there is a lot of room for improvement. With time, even the most anti-technology teachers will adapt and provide more entertaining classes on-line.

The least problems were encountered in universities and the reasons are obvious.

Overall, i would give remote-learning a solid 6/10 in my country because there is still room for improvement.

I agree with Ion Bogdan Mănescu about the factors that must be taken into account when evaluating the impact of distance teaching. You can add another important factor which is the training of teachers to use e-learning platforms with their important features and services

Agree with prof Yacine Lafifi training of teachers to effectively use digital e learning platforms is a must

I think that distance or e- learning has largely filled the defect created by the suspension of traditional education due to the lockdown caused by Covid-19 Pandemic. Definitely, distance learning, with it's borad application world wide, has its pros and cons.

Yes, it played a pivotal role in learning continuity during Covid. There are many questions regarding its effectiveness and coverage but it's positive outcome cannot be ignored.

Not completely it proving just complete formalties

Distance education is a new experience for us in developing countries, but it was the only alternative to continuing the educational process in light of the epidemic and healthy urbanization to preserve the health and lives of students and professors, and to be fair, despite it being a new experience, but it somewhat succeeded in The delivery of academic courses to the students, and of course, this depends on the selection of the various and effective methods by the professors. But with regard to practical subjects and laboratories, I do not agree that it was able to achieve the same result with theoretical subjects because the practical subjects need to be trained on devices and other materials, so there is still a gap in this area. But on the other hand, distance education was an inevitable decision to continue the educational process, and I think that the intense effort made by the teachers has given its results somewhat.

I find it has, in many ways, been a positive experience - giving students more time to contribute effectively in small group breakout rooms, spend more time researching subjects through online resources and given students an awareness of how to use technology to communicate. I further think there has been a benefit in this new form of teaching for students and teachers with disabilities, but that's perhaps a discussion for another post.

Very best wishes to all - James.