Effects of e-learning in colleges of Education in Ghana (case study on Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education and Mccoy College of Education)

Abstract

E-Learning is an electronic technology to access any online educational curriculum outside of the conventional or traditional classroom. In an attempt to contain and control the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the President of Ghana instituted social distancing protocols and directed the closure of schools on the 16th of March 2020. To ensure the continuity of teaching and learning, the president of the Republic of Ghana directed the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communication to ensure that they rollout distance and remote learning programmes for all students. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of e-learning on the Colleges of Education in Ghana using the Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya and Mccoy College of Education as case study. The study was a descriptive study which employed a quantitative approach using semi-structured questionnaire designed in Google form to collect data online. The researcher used snowball sampling to recruit a total of 100 students and 101 tutors for the study. The data collected was analysed using SPSS and presented in descriptive statistics. It was found that 47.0% of the e-learning is done with Zoom and the time allocated for eLearning is not enough. Also, there is no enough demonstration during e-lessons (mean values less than 3.0)and lack of computers, mobile phones, etc. To solve the challenges, ensuring a friendly user interface will help solve the challenges in e-learning (mean = 4.13) and tutors may start using e-learning with the assistance of their associates. Also, ICT courses should be made compulsory for tutors to undertake them. The study concludes among others that the time allocated for eLearning is not enough due to the demand of the courses outline. The study therefore recommends among others that there is the need for innovative teaching strategies, course design specific to online education, and the development of good online teaching skills by tutors and these are significant components of quality and effective online education.