Exploring the critical challenges and factors influencing the E-learning system usage during COVID-19 pandemic

TLDR

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, universities face challenges in adopting e‑learning platforms such as Blackboard, yet there is no consensus on the critical factors that determine successful usage, creating a knowledge gap. This study investigates the critical challenges and supporting factors for e‑learning system usage during COVID‑19. The authors conducted thematic analysis of interviews with 30 students and 31 experts from six universities in Jordan and Saudi Arabia using NVivo software. The study provides actionable recommendations for policymakers, designers, developers, and researchers to enhance e‑learning system adoption during the pandemic.

Abstract

The provision and usage of online and e-learning system is becoming the main challenge for many universities during COVID-19 pandemic. E-learning system such as Blackboard has several fantastic features that would be valuable for use during this COVID-19 pandemic. However, the successful usage of e-learning system relies on understanding the adoption factors as well as the main challenges that face the current e-learning systems. There is lack of agreement about the critical challenges and factors that shape the successful usage of e-learning system during COVID-19 pandemic; hence, a clear gap has been identified in the knowledge on the critical challenges and factors of e-learning usage during this pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to explore the critical challenges that face the current e-learning systems and investigate the main factors that support the usage of e-learning system during COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed the interview method using thematic analysis through NVivo software. The interview was conducted with 30 students and 31 experts in e-learning systems at six universities from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study offer useful suggestions for policy-makers, designers, developers and researchers, which will enable them to get better acquainted with the key aspects of the e-learning system usage successfully during COVID-19 pandemic.