Online Instruction in Ethiopian Universities: Current practices and future prospects

Abstract

Advancement of technology and increasing interest from instructors and students has brought the popularity of online instruction in higher educational institutions across the world. Hence, higher educational institutions around the globe have been using this mode of teaching-learning to delivery courses, but developing world including Ethiopia have been encountering various challenges in implementing online instruction. Some local studies have been conducted for the improvement of online teaching and learning, but there is no comprehensive and depth study conducted on online teaching-learning process at national level as the country is at infant stage. Consequently, this study investigates the current practices and future prospects of online instruction in universities in Ethiopia. To this end, descriptive survey design was employed whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from six universities identified through clustering and purposive sampling techniques. The quantitative data were collected through 5 point Likert scale questionnaire from instructors and students of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Chemistry departments identified through simple random sampling. Then, qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews from an expert of Ethiopian Ministry of Education and universities management on different positions and through focus group discussion from selected students and instructors of the departments under the study. After the analysis, the finding of study shows that online education in Ethiopian universities during the pandemic was partially effective for graduate students and totally not effective for undergraduate students. The main challenges that hindered the effective implementation of online instruction are absence of national wide online education policy, shortage or lack of online infrastructure, lack of pedagogical knowledge and skills of online technology, shortage of ICT experts, lack of bidding system for digital materials, less focus given to online instruction and lack of motivation towards online education. Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that the Ministry of Education should take prime initiative for the effective implementation of online education and universities and instructors should also play their roles in implementing online education effectively. Besides, it is recommended that online education delivery method should be integrated with face-to-face method for its effective implementation in the future.