Covid-19 is affecting nearly each segment of the economy.

The widespread
coronavirus has completely disrupted various sectors, including: transport
equipment manufacturing, chemical industries, health services, etc and the
education sector is no exception. The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many
educational institutions to switch their teaching mode to online rather than
face-to-face teaching. It is important for educational institutions to understand
the factors that influence student satisfaction and increase willingness to study
courses online in the future. Hence, the main purpose of this research is to
identify the opportunities and challenges of online learning during the Covid-
19 crisis and some steps universities can take to improve the online learning
environment.

It is true that online learning comes with many disciplinary challenges for
student. During the pandemic, Students reported a lack of social engagement
opportunities during online lessons, they often felt isolated and had no sense
of community, which affected their motivation to learn. Online learning from
home leads to the loss of extracurricular activities and school club events.
According to McCarthy (2020), “Educational institutions are also the focal
points of social activities and interactions. If educational activities are
suspended, many children and young people will miss social interaction-based
activities that are necessary for growth and learning“. Therefore, online
education is boring and unattractive. Students cite the lack of community,
technical issues, and confusing instructional goals as the biggest barriers to
online learning. However, online courses focus more on the theoretical part of
learning and have less interaction between teachers and students. It omits the
practical aspects of learning and encourages passive learning. As a result,
students find this to be a less effective method of learning than in class.

Moreover, Online learning also brings difficulties for teachers. The quality of
online exams is questioned because there is no effective solution to prevent
cheating in exams. It's not uncommon for students who do not perform well in
exams. Hence, when something like this happens, the authorities have no way
to confirm whether the test answers really came from the students and not
the result of an unfair play. Teachers can prevent cheating from taking place,
whether by strict supervision or by threatening to fail students who do not
follow the rules, there is no way to ensure that every student will comply with
the rules. Consequently, the inefficiency of using online exams as a means of
measuring each student's ability is quite obvious.

Nevertheless, every challenge there has a hidden opportunity. Online learning,

however challenging it seems, can be turned into an opportunity for personal
growth in terms of academic competence and relationships. Firstly, some
student acknowledged the benefits of online learning, including easy access to
materials, the fact that they can record video lectures and re-watch the lessons
at any time, note-taking on paper or personal laptop as well as flexibility in
time and place. As a result, when internet problems or health problems occur,
students are not afraid of losing their knowledge, but can watch the lecture
video again. Secondly, schools can create various group in social media that
can be used to keep students in touch with their tutors and teachers. So,
students have an environment to express their feelings and problems to
others, in order to find help more easily and quickly by joining groups in:
whatsapp, Facebook and so on. Therefore, students will find sympathy from
their peers, thereby helping each other regain motivation in the online learning
method. This idea is supported by research since, in a study by Ali and Ahmad
(2011), it was concluded that “just like conventional learning, there is
satisfactory interaction in distance education among instructors and learners,
the content is well-designed and up-to-date, the instructors are committed,
and trained with the skills and possess the required knowledge”. Therefore,
students who seize the opportunity of online learning will overcome all
obstacles that this method presents to them.

To overcome the difficulties of online learning, universities have created a

number of measures to provide the best new learning environment for
students. The first solution is to build a professional roadmap for students,
which can easily shape the direction of learning development in university. For
instance, University administrators can make plans for online or distance
learning, taking into account school conditions. Certain quality requirements
for course resources, online teaching and learning ground rules, student
performance evaluation, and other measures to ensure quality of learning.
Thanks to the good roadmap for students, the school refines the quintessential
and really necessary knowledge, so that students can easily grasp and practice
lessons in difficult contexts. Another solution is that the university creates
online discussion spaces, where students have the opportunity to contribute
their opinions, listen to the views of others and have a multi-dimensional
perspective on an issue. A part of students has the habit of typing out their
thoughts easily instead of expressing them out loud to everyone. This type of
learning gives students the opportunity to develop critical thinking, allowing
students time to form their own thoughts on their argument and state it in the
most natural and comfortable way possible. Teachers can create discussion
activities on safe and highly secure tools, such as: lms, teams, social media and
etc. This allows schools to create new content in fun and innovative ways while
engaging students in the process. Finally, There is no doubt that almost every
education system in the world is facing new teaching realities, which means
that it is very difficult to attract and support students to actively and
passionately learn at home. But if changing learning materials to become more
interactive, instead of documents containing too much theory and making
students feel overwhelmed in absorbing new knowledge - this is an effective
measure for online learning. Moreover, schools should research and delve
deeply into digital materials, an extremely important factor determining
whether this learning method is successful or not. Thanks to these measures, it
is easier for students to adapt to the learning environment and achieve high
academic results.

In short, online learning not only brings difficulties but also good opportunities
for us to develop it, there are many universities and educational organizations
offering optimal solutions to help students and teachers adapt online
environment during the pandemic. Many students have suffered from social
isolation or some of them are crammed with too much theory instead of
practice through classroom activities, at the same time , it is difficult for
teachers to deal with cheating in the exam. However, there are opportunities
hidden behind difficulties and the university can know how to take advantage
of those opportunities.Thanks to online learning very adaptable nature and
suitable in difficult cases of the education industry, this method of teaching
and learning will continue to develop strongly in the future.

(1123 words)
References:
McInnerney, J. M., & Roberts, T.S. (2004). Online learning: Social interaction
and the creation of a sense of community. Journal of Educational Technology &
Society, 7(3), 73– 81. Available from Web of Science® [ accessed 22 August
2022 ]
Muilenburg, L. Y., & Berge, Z. L. (2005). Student barriers to online learning: A
factor analytic study. Distance Education, 26(1), 29– 48. Available from
https://doi.org/10.1080/01587910500081269 [ accessed 22 August 2022 ]
Ramij, M., & Sultana, A. (2020). Preparedness of online classes in developing
countries amid covid-19 outbreak: A perspective from Bangladesh. Afrin,
Preparedness of Online Classes in Developing Countries amid COVID-19
Outbreak: A Perspective from Bangladesh (June 29, 2020). Available from
Google Scholar [ accessed 22 August 2022 ]
Yates, A., Starkey, L., Egerton, B., & Flueggen, F.(2020). High school students’
experience of online learning during Covid-19: The influence of technology and
pedagogy. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 9, 1– 15. Available from
https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2020.1854337 [ accessed 22 August 2022 ]
Cristian A., Vatsal N., & Shwetlena S. (2020). The remote learning paradox:
How governments can truly minimize COVID-related learning losses. Available
from https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/remote-learning-paradox-how-
governments-can-truly-minimize-covid-related-learning-losses [ accessed 22
August 2022 ]
Adedoyin, O. and Soykan, E., 2020. Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: the
challenges and opportunities. Interactive Learning Environments, pp.1-13.
[ accessed 22 August 2022 ]

Maatuk, A., Elberkawi, E., Aljawarneh, S., Rashaideh, H. and Alharbi, H., 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic and E-learning: challenges and opportunities from the
perspective of students and instructors. Journal of Computing in Higher
Education. [ accessed 22 August 2022 ]