Teachers Experiences on Remote Learning During the Covid-19 Period

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, and warned about its highly contagious nature. Throughout the first quarter of 2020 many governments closed their schools temporarily in response to COVID-19 spread where more than 1.5 billion enrolled students of all ages from all around the globe experienced interruption of education. This aimed at reducing the chances of humans infecting each other with Covid-19, especially in places humans interact closely including educational institutions. This paper explores the experiences of the teachers on remote learning during the covid-19 period in four counties in Kenya gathered through a survey conducted in February 2021, collecting data by administering both open and closed ended questionnaire. The objectives of this study were to establish:  availability of digital infrastructure for remote learning; the digital teaching and learning resources used by teachers in remote learning and teachers digital pedagogical skills necessary for remote learning. Distance education and online collaborative learning theories are discussed. A total of 116 teachers in both primary and secondary schools in Kenya responded to a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative and qualitative questions, with qualitative data analysed thematically and quantitative data with descriptive statistics. The result indicates that the teachers faced technological and pedagogical challenges teaching through remote learning. This study is intended to provide an early contribution to the understanding of teachers experiences in remote learning during the pandemic, an historical documentation, a point of reference for similar studies in the future and, hopefully, a first step towards collective reflection on possible avenues of development for our educational system build on informed policy decision making.