An Analysis of Teachers’ Perceptions Concerning Issues and Challenges with Online Teaching during Covid-19 in the Universities of Malakand Division

Abstract

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly forced the educational institutions worldwide to switch over to online mode of teaching and learning to avoid traditional face to face teaching. In this critical situation, one of the challenges was to ensure quality of teaching and learning in universities. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of university teachers about the challenges and factors influencing implementation of online teaching in universities. A four factor structure model instrument was used to collect data from 242 university teachers. Descriptive statistical calculations were carried out based on Mean Score, Standard Deviation to find out the perceptions of teachers about the strongest and least strong factors influencing online teaching during Covid-19 pandemic. The results revealed that lack of access to learning content was one of the strongest factors affecting online teaching and challenge faced by teachers followed by poor internet connectivity being the second and students’ lack of readiness along with incompetence of teaching faculty while dealing with technological skills to implement the online teaching. The study showed a mixed results based on gender comparison related to the issues and challenges of online teaching.  It is suggested that the university teachers may be provided relevant need training online instruction. There is a need to improve internet connectivity problem in universities. The students may also be provided access to internet connectivity to access online educational materials and resources. Further research is suggested to test the findings in other contexts using more robust methods.