EMERGENCY REMOTE EDUCATION AT A KAZAKHSTANI PRIVATE UNIVERSITY: IDENTIFYING E-LEARNING COMPETENCIES AND MEASURING STUDENT PREPAREDNESS FOR COMPELLED DISTANCE LEARNING

Abstract

For the last year, education has changed a lot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local universities were forced to shift from a traditional on-campus mode of lesson delivery to distance learning. In a short period, students were isolated from social lives and were stuck in front of computer screens to take courses through the internet. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to determine students’ most required e-learning competencies for compelled distance learning at first, and then, based on identified necessary competencies, to study students’ actual preparedness for that. The identification of the aforementioned e-learning competencies for their subsequent correlation with the academic performance during distance learning, might become a starting point in the further investigation of the problem. If so, I planned a mixed method case study with a holistic approach to investigate this issue. I conducted focus group discussion with 10 university stakeholders in the face of students, teaching staff, and administration members. Also, I send anonymous web-based surveys to the whole students’ population and teaching staff at one private university in Kazakhstan, receiving 1436 responses from students and 43 from teachers. The research questions that lead this study are: (1) What are the students’ primary e-learning competencies required for effective performance during compelled distance learning? (2) To what extent students from one private university in Kazakhstan rate their preparedness for compelled distance learning? (3) To what extent does teaching staff from one private university rate students' preparedness for compelled distance learning? (4) Is the relationship between e-learning competencies and students’ academic performance significant? (5) Is there a difference in the preparedness level of students of different genders, faculties, and years of study for emergency remote education? Findings showed that students of one private university in Kazakhstan are well-prepared for emergency remote learning. Both students and teachers highlighted difficulties related to balancing work, social life, family and remote studies. Furthermore, students reported all time-management related competencies equally challenging. Along with that, it was found that there is a significant correlation between e-learning competencies and academic performance, which means that students who possess well-developed e-learning skills tend to have higher GPA results during online semester. Connectedly, significant differences in preparedness for distance learning were found between males and female students, where females indicated their competencies comparatively higher than males. Based on the results of the study and the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, it is suggested to consolidate training for learners prior to the beginning of the academic year to advance satisfaction with a distance learning environment.