Relearning e-Learning: How COVID-19 has caused re-evaluation of ICT revolution in Education

by Evelyn Dan Epelle

WASHINGTON – Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the world can make reference to various points in time using phrases such as ‘pre-pandemic’ or ‘post-pandemic’ era – but given that we are neither in the pre-pandemic nor post-pandemic era, now is not the time to dish out directives, particularly from leaders overseeing the field of Education intersecting the revolutionary world of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs).

In the middle of a pandemic, without adequate research and insight into strategies earmarked for adoption, missteps are highly probable and would attract dire consequences for adaptors.

Such is the case for Nigeria where the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reportedly fired back at the Federal Government through a notice appraising Nigerians of the challenges involved in the implementation of the Ministerial directive to effectively resume academic activities across Nigerian Universities via online teaching and learning.

In a leaflet issued by the ASUU-UI Publicity Committee, the union said the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu needs to understand that “E-learning is not the same as computer vending and supplies. It is not as simple as computerization, supplying of computers and accessories, or simply connecting institutions to the internet”. The leaflet, which contained a series of points marked from one to sixteen, elucidated challenges faced by Nigerian Universities and why the ministerial directive is perhaps dead on arrival.

ASUU, which was formed in 1978, covers academic staff in all of the Federal and State Universities in Nigeria where historical evidence of infrastructural depletion in Education exists in notoriety. Apart from the non-payment of academic staff remuneration which is currently the bone of contention between ASUU and the Federal Government, Nigerian university students can easily attest to the usual timeout enjoyed from consistent ASUU strikes, amounting to a cumulative period of three years since 1999.

With a stay home order in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, the resultant lockdown has impeded on-campus activity for universities nationwide, and the average Nigerian university student – who is already accustomed to staying home during extended ASUU strikes – is now cut off completely from learning once again

The Muhammadu Buhari-led government, in its ginormous 2020 budget dubbed “Budget of Sustaining Growth and Job Creation” had allocated the sum of N691.07 billion constituting 6.7% of the total national budget for education. With a 0.35% fall from the 2019 budget allocation, Nigeria is yet to show enthusiasm for growth in the area of education and learning to date.

For a developing country that lacks adequate infrastructure in this area, and given the prevailing pandemic situation, looking to developed nations of the world that boast of advanced online learning infrastructure and capacity for instructional continuity to copy and paste working strategies is highly encouraged – but not without caution.

Revolution in a parallel universe

Educational data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2018 show that the United States spent approximately $30,000 per student, which was 93% higher than the average for OECD countries, a statistic drawn from across nations around the world.

According to news reports on Investopedia, funding sources for the large education budget of the US include monies from federally guaranteed student loans from the Department of Education and private funds from tuition paid by parents/students – which are not federally guaranteed. In its place as the world destination for quality higher education, the United States has also deemed it necessary to allocate funding to research institutions in the middle of a pandemic as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The Donald Trump-led government secured over $2 trillion on March 27 indirect economic assistance for American workers and families, small businesses, and industries. The top three world best universities and notably US higher education giants; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and Harvard University intimated notices of the available funding.

Harvard, which currently ranks 2nd in the US best national universities leaderboard already boasts of dedicated e-Learning infrastructure in its campuses and following the call for nationwide lockdown, switched to e-Learning in a heartbeat with other research institutions like Stanford, Georgetown, and John’s Hopkins following almost immediately.

Although Harvard shockingly rejected the allocated CARES Act fund from the US government, the institution reinforced its commitment to accommodate student needs in the harsh COVID-19 e-Learning climate, while strategically evading any targeted political focus. “We will inform the Department of Education of our decision and encourage the department to act swiftly to reallocate resources previously allocated to Harvard” a statement posted April 22 on the official Harvard University website read.

It is interesting to note, however, that across the Atlantic, more than 60% of Nigeria’s population are below the age of 24. A failure to deliver resources or seats to accommodate the demand for quality higher education as obtainable in the US will surely cripple the nation’s future. Already a substantial number of would-be university students have turned their backs on Nigeria’s jerking educational system, opting for learning opportunities outside Nigeria and notwithstanding the greater expense, including damning the cultural differences experienced from living and studying outside one’s own country of origin.

A report by the World Education Service (WES) shows that Nigeria exports the most students overseas than any other country on the African continent and the outbound mobility data show a rapid rise in the ‘chasing foreign education’ statistic.

e-Learning Technology is not fail-proof

Just like ASUU-UI elaborated, a typical week of e-Learning for any graduate student randomly selected at Georgetown for example involves approximately 10 hours of online learning via Zoom, a video calling application which the University now leverages full-time for teaching, learning, and collaborating.

With the absolute dependence on electricity, internet connectivity, mobile devices, and application software for enabling virtual connections, the challenges faced by students in the United States with respect to e-Learning differ disproportionately from the realities of their academic counterparts in developing Nigeria.

In the pre-pandemic era, Georgetown operated full-time and part-time on-campus learning with distance learning (online) as a flexible option for working-class or out-of-country students. Also set in place is the instructional continuity system which triggers automatically, peradventure a bad weather day induces unfavorable conditions that might prevent students from receiving classes on-campus.

On a typical snow day, rainstorm, or in the event of the mild flu, students can stay home and still learn – since classes would hold flexibly online. With the current COVID-19 situation, online learning for students in the United States has rapidly shifted from being a flexible option or backup plan to become the main option and central plan.

Even with advanced eLearning capabilities and availability of the broader basic social infrastructure, additional recourses have also been provided for students in support of the changing climes. Free application software subscriptions for hundreds of thousands of students, free VPN for study abroad students, and unlimited access to a dedicated online Library for academic research are available in US schools.

Evidently, some challenges still manifest on various fronts for students in the United States and may vary from student to student:

• A physical library with cues that mentally switch on ‘learning mode’ where students go to study quietly for extended hours is now lost. Students who depend on Library study hours will face new challenges with setting up a dedicated study location to mimic a library at home.

• Note taking on paper which reinforces learning for some students as opposed to using a light pen on an e-book where clear mark-ups and highlights – which is very distinct from the feel of pen on paper – is now less practiced. This will cause some students to struggle with assimilating their readings as grappling with heavy use of PowerPoint or another note-taking technology is imminent.

• Learning from home cannot be equated to learning out of a classroom. A traditional classroom is designed specifically for learning such that, coordinated rows and columns of seats and a blackboard serve as cues to trigger a flair for learning. In a bedroom or living room space, sleeping or drifting is also not so far-fetched as each room in a home is designed for dedicated functions other than learning.

• Distractions from playing with kids will burden students who double as nursing parents and those who share accommodation with family or non-family members.

It is already evident that students who are not self-driven and independently desire to succeed at learning nonetheless will most likely fail at it in this pandemic-stricken semester. Institutions are already collecting survey responses from students and teachers in a bid to synthesize and understand the challenges, as well as make iterations to the e-Learning environment.

This will unburden students who risk failure from grading as the flexibility to the present grading system given the unexpected COVID-19 outbreak is logical. A trending post on Twitter succinctly captures one example of an unexpected challenge.

Described in the field of communications as the clash of the frontstage and backstage; a student reportedly receiving lectures online from home, failed to notice his unclad mother walking out of the bathroom to the glaring view of his classmates while e-Learning online via Zoom. Such are the events occurring when one is less cognizant of their physical environment, while virtually present online, like many students e-Learning are now experiencing.

Education in Nigeria: The harsh reality of things

Although Nigeria has announced a rather plausible strategy that allows the government to execute a novel idea, like its a plan to meet students where they are most likely found during this lockdown – on Television – doubts arise in the area of its implementation.

With the persisting stint of poverty, insecurity, and nationwide power outage, one wonders how such an idea would thrive, and if miraculously implemented, how a Nigerian student might successfully take to learning via Television given the lethargy from immobility in the coming weeks of enforced lockdown.

Now is indeed a good time to strategically remodel Nigeria’s educational infrastructure, in order to accommodate the changes brought by COVID-19 and address the failures of the Federal Government and ASUU toward the education of its citizens in the pre-pandemic era.

Working strategies for location-specific Nigeria must also include revision of its age-long academic curriculum, prioritizing e-Learning adaptation instructions and other social-behavioral intelligence as seen in US schools it is now attempting to clone. These strategies must be reinforced prior to adopting the e-Learning option for students and teachers, to whom online learning is largely foreign.

Utilizing this forced recess hours brought about by the pandemic to plot working strategies for online learning should be the aim of the developing nation if it plans to successfully port to e-Learning as it presupposes according to the ministerial directive.

Only the stroke of a magic wand will catapult Nigeria from where it is in terms of infrastructure to where it needs to be in order to successfully thrive in the notably uncertain post-pandemic era.