Effects of COVID-19 Crisis to Instruction in Colleges - Free Paper Sample

COVID-19 has a significant effect on the quality of college education. Institutions had to change their method of instruction to suit the government regulations of lockdown measures. The new delivery methods that colleges opted for were significantly insufficient and resulted in poor teaching and learning. Although colleges continued delivering by turning to Information and communication technology to provide the programs online, the quality of education reduced significantly. A college education could also lack students in the future as students come from high schools that have also closed down to control the virus's spread. Therefore, the disease has dramatically impacted the quality of the students who enter higher learning institutions and the productivity of instruction methods.

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As soon as countries recorded the first COVID-19 cases, they resolved to close down their economy to control the virus's spread. The lockdown also meant that schools and colleges were to close (Dorn et al., 2020). Once the physical teaching and learning stopped in the colleges, they turned to online education, which involved sending lecture notes through the internet. The students who had already enrolled for courses in higher learning institutions did not stop learning (Dorn et al., 2020). Still, the quality of the delivery method considerably deteriorated as some countries lack advanced technologies. Therefore, the nature of online teaching and learning was deficient in less developed countries, while in states with more advanced technology, content delivery remained quality.

The quality of online content delivery has also become very different between urban and rural populations. The students who live in urban areas enjoy access to sound ICT systems, unlike those in rural areas. This trend has resulted in inequality in instruction effectiveness between communities living in rural areas and urban areas (Dorn et al., 2020). The difference has also been evident between the rich and the poor, since the poor lack access to E-learning methods, while the wealthy students can enjoy such facilities. Such inequalities make the effectiveness of college education remain uncertain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown have made colleges utilize their ICT resources fully, some institutions cannot deliver the content online effectively. Collages with a well-developed ICT infrastructure were able to continue teaching effectively (Chen et al., 2020). On the other hand, colleges that lacked such infrastructure found it challenging to strive during the pandemic. The collages that could fully deliver online also had challenges as they targeted the well-up class of students who might be rarely available for online courses (Chen et al., 2020). The difference has negatively impacted college education in most developed countries as it made the education system less effective.

When colleges and universities turned to online teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 crisis, online content delivery's effectiveness became questionable. It is not clear how video recording a lecture and sending lecture notes to students can be effective (Holmes et al., 2020). The preparation of the materials and the tutors have not been adequate due to a lack of time (Holmes et al., 2020). The tutors' unpreparedness and the hastily made materials of online teaching have resulted in low-quality online teaching. Therefore, the quality of education in underdeveloped and less-developed countries has deteriorated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some disciplines require scientific experiments for learning to be effective. Such subjects include sciences and some arts, which are very crucial both in developed and developing countries. These subjects' instruction method is hard to carry effectively through online learning and teaching (Holmes et al., 2020). The teaching of such subjects has significantly become ineffective during COVID-19 crisis times. Some colleges have even opted to close down the technical courses' teaching to avoid inconveniences of quality, especially in sciences.

The closure of schools due to COVID-19 has made colleges turn to online teaching, learning, and assessment. E-learning has a tremendous negative impact on academic integrity. It is now not easy to monitor the fairness of assessment processes since students are doing their exams online, and some might cheat in the exams. Although some institutions have used surveillance to monitor the examinations, interested parties have raised significant concerns about the students' privacy during the assessment sessions (Özer, 2020). Some students have even protested against the surveillance system that institutions are using during the pandemic to monitor the academic assessment process.

The lack of tutor-student contact after schools' closure has put the teaching and learning processes in great concern. Students from poor backgrounds have suffered as they may not be able to learn through the Internet, and therefore, E-learning is not as effective as physical teaching and learning (Özer, 2020). Learning has also become expensive and uneconomical as one must have devices that can access the internet and connect to the internet.

Although most institutions had turned to E-learning to close the gap that occurred when the colleges closed after the lockdown, the system's effectiveness in catering to individual student needs is unachievable (Özer, 2020). Different students have different needs depending on their learning abilities, but distance learning is mostly unable to cater to various needs. When students are learning through videotelephony, the tutor takes care of the students' general needs and forgoes the individual ones.

Conclusion

COVID-19 has very devastating effects on the effectiveness of instruction in college education. The pandemic has made most colleges close down and opt for E-learning. This learning system's impact has lowered the quality of education significantly, making some programs completely unable to proceed. Inequality and unevenness of the delivery have also considerably influenced the education system's quality during the pandemic. The integrity in academics has also deteriorated substantially due to the online testing system. Generally, COVID-19 has very devastating effects on the effectiveness of college and general instruction.

References

Chen, T., Peng, L., Yin, X., Rong, J., Yang, J., & Cong, G. (2020, September). Analysis of User Satisfaction with Online Education Platforms in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In Healthcare (Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 200). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8030200

Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime. McKinsey & Company. https://fresnostate.edu/kremen/about/centers-projects/weltycenter/documents/COVID-19-and-student-learning-in-the-United-States-FINAL.pdf

Holmes, E. A., O'Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., ... & Ford, T. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1

Özer, M. (2020). The contribution of the strengthened capacity of vocational education and training system in Turkey to the fight against Covid-19. Journal of Higher Education, doi, 10, 1-7. http://www.yuksekogretim.org/Port_Doc/YOD_2020002/YOD_2020002002.pdf