COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND E-LEARNING AS INNOVATION TO SUSTAIN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

With the plethora of challenges presented by covid-19 pandemic brought about approaches to contend the menace. It was due to this the paper examined covid-19 pandemic and elearning as innovation to sustain public university education in Rivers State. The paper was anchored to achieve two objectives such as: to find out the imperative for the use of Elearning among universities in the Era of Covid-19 Pandemic in Rivers State; to identify the challenges of E-learning among universities in the Era of Covid-19 Pandemic in Rivers State. The theory of Anthony Giddens on Time-space distanciation was used to link Covid-19 and E-learning. Two universities in Rivers State were selected for the study using qualitative approach. The findings showed that there was progress in the use of e-learning technology and that it led to advancement of teaching and learning systems in the educational system among public universities in Rivers State. Also, it showed some challenges that affected elearning such as network problem, epileptic power supply and ICT gadgets among others. There is need for universities to ensure the adoption of E-learning to assist and serve as an alternative to the unconventional classroom teaching and learning in case of an emergency period such as COVID-19 pandemic.