An Emergency Switch to Distance Learning in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from an Internationally Accred
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
An Emergency Switch to Distance Learning in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from an Internationally Accredited Undergraduate Pharmacy Program at Qatar University Farhat Naz Hussain 1 & Reem Al-Mannai 1 & Abdelali Agouni 1 Accepted: 2 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The world is experiencing an unprecedented public health emergency owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. To control virus spread, many countries temporarily suspended classes. In this context, the availability of e-tools and distance learning platforms in higher education institutions has proven very useful to facilitate the emergency switch to distance learning to ensure continuity of the educational process. We discuss here the experience of the College of Pharmacy at Qatar University in responding to suspension of classes using available educational technologies. Furthermore, we provide some reflection points for optimal implementation of technology-enhanced learning into distance education for future academic years. Keywords COVID-19 . Distance learning . Educational emergency . Pandemic . Technology-enhanced learning
Introduction In the past decade, the use of various technologies to support the process of teaching and learning has rapidly developed in higher education, with several technologies and e-tools being currently employed to facilitate teaching and promote active learning in classroom settings [1]. The use of technology to enhance the learning experience for students is becoming an integral part of the teaching strategies followed by instructors worldwide, encouraging collaboration, active learning and a student-centred learning experience [2]. Besides supporting students’ learning inside and outside of classroom settings and facilitating the delivery of various innovative teaching methods such as flipped classrooms [2], the availability of a variety of technological tools, such as live teaching platforms and lecture capture systems, also supported the use of distance learning within higher education. Many institutions worldwide are using online or a blended learning approach especially with the fast
* Abdelali Agouni [email protected] 1
College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
growth of massive open online courses (MOOCs) [3, 4]. Motivations for offering programs via the distance learning approach vary dramatically and include financial and logistical reasons such as constrained classroom availability and to facilitate access to programs to full-time employed students. The number of students enrolled in distance learning higher education programs is increasing and, in some programs, outpaces the traditional teaching enrollment [5]. In the past months, the world has experienced an unprecedented public health emergency owing to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that started in China and rapidly spread to most countries across the globe [6–8]. Many countries around the world have decreed unprecedented preventive measures to control the spread of
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