Remote Teaching for Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

COVID-19 lockdown has necessitated the shift to E-learning and remote teaching in order to continue education programmers. Unlike the contexts where this shift was possible, in Libya, all schools and universities have been closed and their all education programmers have been completely interrupted. This happened because both e-learning and remote teaching were not officially recognized in the Libyan education system before the corona virus pandemic. This inspired the researcher to investigate the views of 82 Libyan higher education instructors about the opportunities and challenges of implementing remote teaching. This involves identifying their attitudes towards remote teaching, their online technical skills and abilities and their perspectives about the barriers they may face in this process. The data which was collected through a close-ended questionnaire revealed the participant instructors’ positive attitudes towards remote teaching with good online and technical skills. Some contextual, technical and administrative barriers were reported. The ministry of education is recommended to start planning for official recognition and introduction of remote teaching in Libyan higher education institutions.