Instructors Experience of using Cloud Computing Based Applications in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

With the recent global spread of the COVID-19 (also known as the corona virus) pandemic, several governments have attempted to control its transmission through preventive and precautionary measures. Education is one of the factors that has been impacted by the pandemic. As a result, to limit the spread of the virus, many countries adopted distance education instead of traditional education to ensure the continuity of the educational process. Cloud computing is a technology that offers numerous advantages in the field of education. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was one of the countries that had decided and continues to use various cloud platforms for distance education. In this study, we look at how effective cloud computing platforms are in the learning process in Saudi Arabian schools. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the teacher’s ability to access different cloud computing services, as well as their ease of use and utility, by evaluating the effectiveness of these platforms as a mode of teaching before and after the pandemic. A total of 559 male and female schoolteachers’ data was collected using self-administered questionnaires in Al-Bahah region and was analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software. The analysis of this study expanded our understanding on the possibility of using educational platforms across schools in the kingdom. The findings also revealed that the use of cloud platforms during the pandemic increased by 28% in the region which have now become integral part of education. Furthermore, the findings revealed that teachers frequently encountered difficulties in implementing cloud-based educational processes, particularly in rural and mountainous areas.