Abstract:
Somewhere in the beginning of March 2020, State
Government suddenly announced the closure of all
educational institutions as a preventive measure to restrict
the spread of novel coronavirus. It has been over five months
since the government has completely shut down the
educational institutions. Recently there is an announcement
that Universities will reopen in the mid of September 2020.
As the days pass by with no instant solution to stop the
outbreak of covid-19, the educational processes came to a
standstill due to closure of the universities and colleges. In
order to restore the ongoing process of learning majority
universities in Pakistan have now quickly shifted to elearning.
This pandemic has transformed the old methods
of teaching with the new technology driven methods.
E-learning according to a research is electronically enabled
learning.1 It includes the use of information and
communication technologies to get access to online teaching
or learning resources. Simply the digital technology driven
learning is called e-learning. Few researchers have further
narrowed down the definition by referring any learning that
is enabled by web or internet.2, 3
Researches have described two modes of e-learning
‘synchronous’ or ‘asynchronous’ depending upon the timing
of interaction. The synchronous timing allows interaction
between instructor and learners or between learners.4 The
asynchronous timing also allows interaction with the
instructor or between learners at different times.5
The adoption of e-learning among university students has
several advantages and limitations. Benefits of e-learning
are: