Page 61 - Proceedings-edit-2021_09_20-final

© Proceedings of the Ruhuna Quality Assurance Sessions 2021 (RUQAS 2021)
st
21 September 2021

impact of e-learning on pass marks of subjects. Although students prefer both online and conventional
teaching, teachers are not satisfied with e-learning. These findings would help to solve issues in e-

learning as well as to improve the quality of e-learning of the faculty.

Keywords: Distance-education, Video Conference, Covid-19, E-learning, Assessments

Introduction

e-learning is an active learning process that empowers students allowing better learning experience and

enhances co-creation abilities. With the help of available information technology tools, e-learning can
be conducted either online or offline. In the learning process, there are three components needed to be

considered: teaching, learning and assessments. All of these components can be addressed effectively

with the aid of modern information technology tools. However, e-learning is not a popular mode of
teaching in higher education systems in Sri Lanka except in the application tools like learning

management systems (LMS). However, in parallel to the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire education
system of the country was partially paralyzed, and consequently, e-learning tools came into practice to

make adoption of remote learning (Lockee, 2021). Among those tools, the majority of the higher
education systems use LMS, web conferencing, collaboration tools, course authoring software and

virtual reality (Hayashi et al. 2020). As this is a new experience for all, both teachers and students face

an array of issues and difficulties that interrupt the e-learning process (Chakraborty et al. 2020). As it
is difficult to depend solely on conventional teaching and learning under strict health guidelines of

Covid-19, e-learning practices became compulsory in the education sector.

Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology (FMST) is one of the faculties of University

of Ruhuna, offering two undergraduate degree programs namely BSc Honours in Fisheries and Marine
Sciences degree and BSc Honours in Marine and Freshwater Sciences degree. Although both degree

programs were initially interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the faculty was able to restart its
academic program and to complete one semester of both degree programs by adopting e-learning

facilities. Similar to other universities, the Faculty of FMST was not fully prepared for this sudden
transition, but gradually adapted to the e-learning process. During this transition period, there were

many concerns on technology, timetable, administration, and communication etc. Thus, the present

study was designed to investigate the obstacles and issues faced by students and teachers during this
transition period, and to evaluate the impact of e-learning on student performances in order to improve

the quality of the e-learning process of the Faculty of FMST.

44