Teaching and learning during COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and got a rapid spread in more than 200 countries around the globe in a very short time. Soon, the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 12th March 2020. To prevent its widespread, WHO/Europe considered that social distancing and quarantine measures needed to be implemented in a timely and thorough manner. Some of the other measures that countries might be considered include closures of schools and universities, implementation of remote working policies, minimizing the use of public transport in peak hours, and deferment of nonessential travel. The study presented here focused on the online teaching and learning experience due to closures of schools and universities in Saudi Arabia to continue academic activities as maximum as possible to save student's time. Students and instructors were surveyed, interviewed, and were involved in discussions to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of the current system for planning better solutions for teaching and learning specifically in academia. © 2020 Institution of Engineering and Technology. All rights reserved.