Reimagining online statistical education for accelerated teaching and learning; a perspective from West Africa

Abstract

Electronic learning (e-learning) swiftly became the essential mode of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher Education Institutions had to immediately migrate all in-person classes online. This posed some learning challenges to a lot of students especially those residing in more remote locations with inadequate online learning devices and poor internet facilities This study documents the online learning experiences of some undergraduate Statistics and Actuarial Science students from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, during COVID-19 lockdown. The responses revealed that majority (42.2%) of the students’ preferred in-person learning, some preferred online (18.6%), and hybrid method (39%). Internet access was through MTN (60%), Vodafone (24%) and Airteltigo (14%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis was employed to identify determining factors for student preferred mode of teaching and results showed internet service provider, place of residence, gender and program of study as significant.