Post COVID-19 challenges of online teaching in higher education institutes: Teacher’s experiences and satisfaction

Abstract

The study examined factors related to teachers’ satisfaction and their perspectives of the benefits and challenges of the online mode of teaching in colleges and universities during the time of the pandemic. The cross-sectional study utilized a Google form that was delivered to college and university teachers through social media platforms and the snowball sampling technique was used. The questionnaire elicited basic demographic and teaching experience information, views regarding online teaching experience, satisfaction with the same, online platform used, limitations, and advantages. The main outcome measure was the level of satisfaction with online teaching. The study was cleared by the ethical committee of the institute. The participants included 422 teachers (58.1 percent males). Overall, 36.9 percent reported being satisfied with their online teaching experience. Satisfaction was related to the educational stream taught, and medical and science faculty reported a significantly lower level of satisfaction with the online platform (χ²=13.41, P=.037). Only 11.8 percent of the teachers concurred that online teaching led to superior learning among students and nearly half (49.8 percent) opined that it led to inferior learning. Collaborative efforts of the government and academic teaching institutions are needed to facilitate the adoption of a meaningful alternative to the conventional mode of teaching and learning.