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Faculty Members’ Attitudes and Practices: How They Responded to Forced Adoption of Distance Education?

Faculty Members’ Attitudes and Practices: How They Responded to Forced Adoption of Distance... In 2020, the world faced a sudden change and general disruption that included all aspects of life because of the corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic. It has made the whole world adopt general and comprehensive emergency measures that have affected every sector, including health, business, and especially education. In order to continue the education process, educators have responded by adopting distance education. This paper explored the attitudes, practices, and emotions of faculty members in a college of education toward the forced adoption and educational transformation to distance education during the corona pandemic. A coding approach was used to analyze 20 reflective articles, which revealed main themes related to difficulties and challenges. The findings highlight skills and experiences that were gained. Hence, the findings promote that faculty members understand professional practices and behaviors in using distance education as an emergency solution for supporting the education process. Keywords COVID-19, distance education, pandemic, professional practices, difficulties and challenges, coding approach described in his statement, “Never before have we witnessed Introduction educational disruption at this scale. Partnership is the only In 2020, the world faced a general disruption and the need way forward” (p. 1). Y. Wang et al. (2021) evaluated the level for quick actions involving all aspects of life because of of anxiety and its effecting elements during the corona pan- COVID-19 (Y. Wang et al., 2021). It made the whole world demic among teachers in Henan, China; they found that 59% adopt general and comprehensive emergency measures that of the teachers were very worried, and more female teachers have affected every sector, including health, business, and were very worried than male teachers. In the same context, education (Al Lily et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020; Baber, Al-Sukayt et al. (2020) assessed the level of anxiety and its 2020; Daruwala, 2020; Kaur, 2020; McCarthy, 2020; Wnuk effecting factors through the corona pandemic among stu- et al., 2020; Yang & Forney, 2013). dents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; they reported that 35% of the It was imperative to adapt to and address this pandemic, students suffered average to high levels of anxiety. There overcome all difficulties, search for and investigate ways to was only one way to continue the educational process, which adapt, and use all capabilities in line with the environment was a transformation to distance education through elec- and existing conditions. Reducing direct contact, eliminating tronic platforms (Al Lily et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). large gatherings, and emphasizing social distancing between Interestingly, distance education was not pioneered as a individuals were some of the first precautionary processes to result of the COVID-19 pandemic; its roots and the broad reduce and prevent the spread of the virus (Al Lily et al., concept date back around 150 years (Dumford & Miller, 2020; Baber, 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; Hung et al., 2020; Y. 2018; Sikand, 2017). As indicated and confirmed by many Wang et al., 2021). Although education is an important part of every community, a decision came to suspend school attendance. The educational field faced the impact of the sus- King Faisal University, Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia pension of school attendance, which completely halted the Corresponding Author: direct educational process (Mayo, 2020; McCarthy, 2020; Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie, Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum Viner et al., 2020). This was a shocking and sudden step, and Instruction, King Faisal University, Al-Hasa 31982, Saudi Arabia. Email: malsebiee@kfu.edu.sa which UNESCO (2020) Director-General Audrey Azoulay Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open studies, distance education has created opportunities to In addition, Abu Adma and Al-Sharif (2010) discussed the expand education and provide access to a large number of extent to which distance education systems can be applied to distance learners, as the spatial and temporal boundaries of meet the challenges facing educational institutions in light of the educational process have diminished (Dumford & Miller, the requirements of the information technology era at Taibah 2018; Taylor et al., 2020). For example, Dumford and Miller University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They found that (2018) revealed that it is necessary to use distance education, faculty members supported the application of distance edu- especially in cases of weather fluctuations, to prevent sus- cation to meet the challenges facing educational institutions pension of the educational process. It was worth mentioning in different situations. Thus, the study recommended that that Goguen (2020) called distance education a “friend to educational institutions move away from traditional educa- [the] environment,” as it helps to reduce building, electricity, tion and secure the infrastructure necessary to be incubators stationery, and printing consumption, as well as environmen- for distance education with equipment and technical tal pollutants caused by transportation. In the same context, capabilities. Moore et al. (2011) supported distance education as a way to Therefore, we found that most studies and research related change the current view of nature and the components of to distance education have covered, addressed, or focused on educational facilities; they promoted the idea that the educa- the pros and cons of distance education and the learners’ ben- tional process can take place anywhere without walls in the efits. Such studies include those of Brik (2017), Al-Bitar era of technological sovereignty. (2016), Al-Subaie (2015), Aql (2014), Abdul Hafeez (2010), However, some studies address problems in the use of Mohan (2010), and Al-Zahrani (2019). At the same time, we distance education for various reasons. For instance, W. found that some studies dealt with the distance education Wang et al. (2020) and Hodges et al. (2020) confirmed the issue during the COVID-19 pandemic from cultural, psycho- existence of a physical gap between the teacher and the logical, or economic aspects (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021; learners due to the application of distance education, which Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). However, to our knowledge, there is had a role in limiting the building of relationships between a lack of studies and research on the topic of distance educa- these two basic elements in the educational process (Cakula tion and professional practices during the COVID-19 pan- et al., 2016). Some studies noted that distance education demic from the perspectives of faculty members, such as that would not yield completely positive results without a very of Al-Thuwaini (2010), Al-Hawamdeh (2010), and high degree of self-discipline (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Al-Kharbasha (2010). Hence, to bridge the gap between the Augner et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2016). Moreover, many stud- lack or absence of studies that capture the attitudes and per- ies (Abd-Alrazaq et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; Ha & Stoel, spectives of faculty members in Arab universities on the 2009; Meuter et al., 2003; Sellberg & Susi, 2013; Tarafdar COVID-19 pandemic and education, this study explored the et al., 2013; Yin et al., 2014; Yoon, 2002; Wahlund et al., attitudes, behaviors, practices, and emotions of faculty mem- 2021) have presented the negative side of technology and bers in the College of Education toward the forced adoption distance education from psychological, educational, social, of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. behavioral, emotional, and economic aspects. In the same context, the university has practiced distance In contrast, some studies have dealt specifically with the education since 2009—for over 11 years. However, it has been possibility of applying distance education in Arab countries. limited to some courses in specializations in the College of For example, Ibrahim et al. (2016) aimed to find the readi- Humanities specified by the university, and limited to the best ness of the colleges of education in Khartoum State to use male faculty members, except final exams that were taken distance education and the extent of faculty members’ knowl- face-to-face in educational buildings on campus. Despite this edge of requirements for this type of education. This study experience in distance education during the COVID-19 pan- revealed that the application of distance education was one demic, the majority of the College of Education’s faculty of the future aims for the colleges of education, and the fac- members adopted traditional delivery styles for the educa- ulty members had positive trends toward using distance edu- tional process elements, such as lectures, assessment methods, cation. This study revealed that the application of distance assignments, and exams (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021). education was one of the aims of future Colleges of Education However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption and the faculty members have positive trends toward using of a traditional style of teaching has resulted in disturbance the distance education. Moreover, Al-Mawla et al. (2018) and confusion for faculty members, and the educational pro- aimed to identify distance education competencies among cess was disrupted during the first period of the pandemic. the faculty members of the College of Education at the This was particularly noticeable when the situation suddenly University of Khartoum in Sudan. They found that the fac- completely changed and the distance education system was ulty members’ distance education competencies were aver- compulsorily adopted without preparation as the official tool age, and that the competencies for designing electronic for running the educational process. This was due to the learning resources were weak. Therefore, they recommended majority lacking experience in distance education, which training faculty members in the use of distance education until then was limited to very basic use of the Blackboard competencies. system. Alsubaie et al. 3 This study aimed to explore and highlight the attitudes Methodology and Data and reactions of faculty members in College of Education Research Context and Sample toward the forced adoption of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic from various perspectives. Thus, this This is qualitative phenomenology study, which was uti- study targeted selected faculty members of the College of lized to capture and explore the attitudes, practices, and Education to answer the study’s main question: What were emotions of faculty members in the College of Education the faculty members’ attitudes and reactions in College of toward the forced adoption of distance education during Education to forced adoption of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This methodology was chosen the COVID-19 pandemic? since it allowed the researchers to get an in-depth under- The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 pres- standing of participants’ reactions and attitudes and to ents the theoretical ground of the study, section 3 describes understand and describe the individual experience of the methodology and data, section 4 presents the findings each participant (Creswell, 2004, 2013). To achieve this and discussion, section 5 presents the conclusion, and sec- aim, 20 faculty members from this college participated in tion 6 presents the recommendations in light of the findings. this study. The faculty members were female and of three Arab nationalities (Saudi, Egyptian, and Syrian). Of these 1 was a professor, 14 were assistant professors, and 5 Theoretical Ground of the Study were lecturers. They represented the different departmen- According to the article entitled that was done across Europe, tal majors: curriculum and instructions, educational lead- “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever” ership, education and psychology, special education, and (Li & Lalani, 2020), it was noted that families from higher kindergarten. In addition, the participants had varying social classes provided a better environment for homeschool- levels of experience with technology in general, and the ing for their children. It was determined that in Denmark, distance education system in particular. most families from higher social classes borrowed more books from the library during this period of pandemic and Data Collection and Measurement therefore the performed better success chances (Hodges et al., 2020). However, the same situation cannot be seen for This study was conducted in the second semester of the the lower social classes. This is proof of inequality that 2020 academic year in Saudi Arabia. To answer the study results from distance learning. question, a qualitative approach was used (Creswell, 2013; In the same context, according to theories of self-regu- Willis, 2008). According to the nature of the study, reflec- lated learning, show the effect of independent study meth- tive notes were used as documents to collect study data. ods, such as using online learning. Students who perform The participants were asked to write reflective notes poorly during this period because of unequal opportunities to describing their behaviors, practices, emotions, and atti- access efficient online learning are more likely to develop a tudes toward the educational process of distance education negative self-perception and might, for example, show lower within the previously defined themes adapted to this skills in technical subjects (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). context. Therefore, there is a need to develop adaptive education for Females were selected to participate because they had not online learning practices to bridge the gap between the afflu- previously practiced distance education, unlike their male ent and poorer groups of students. colleagues, who may have had previous experience with the Alshehri et al. (2020) researched how regular teaching distance education system. converted to fully online teaching in higher education in To answer the study question, the participants’ reflective Saudi Arabia during COVID-19. They found many chal- notes (in which they reviewed their experiences in using dis- lenges associated with this transition for universities, faculty tance education the during COVID-19 pandemic), were ana- members, and students, especially since distance education lyzed. The notes were considered an information-rich dataset was mandatory. Educators needed to learn effective methods and provided a valuable opportunity to monitor and observe of presentation while students had to be more engaged and their experience in detail. The reflective notes included the adapt to emergency remote education (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt following themes: & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). Emergency remote education was an interim online solution to continue teach- - Difficulties, challenges, and behaviors associated with ing during the COVID-19 pandemic. It could not be classi- presenting the educational process in the distance edu- fied as distance education since it did not have a systematic cation system. design and planning model. It also did not depend on the - Gaining skills, practices, and behaviors from the expe- collaborative environment of linked elements, or on compre- rience of using the distance education system. hensive dimensions of all areas of distance education (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). These As a precautionary procedure, and to achieve social distancing, theories set the research basis for this study. we considered it necessary to obtain written or audio-recorded 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Findings for Study: The Main Themes With Their Sub-Themes. Difficulties and challenges, associated with presenting the educational process Gaining skills, experiences, and behaviors from in the distance education the experience of using the distance education Difficulties related to faculty member Self-skills and experiences Difficulties related to female students Technological skills Difficulties related to time Social skills Difficulties related to technology Difficulties related to duties and assignments Difficulties related to electronic exams information through a social media communication platform Findings and Discussion and email. Hence, reflective notes were received via WhatsApp The Study Findings and Discussion and email (17 written reflective notes and 3 audio-recorded notes). Moreover, a qualitative approach was used in the analy- Here, the findings that resulted from the analysis of the par- sis, which was based on the process of examining and organiz- ticipants’ reflective notes are presented according to the two ing the collected data to understand and interpret the main themes and nine sub-themes, as illustrated in Table 1. phenomenon studied (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). The data were transcribed and classified into major themes and sub- Theme 1: The difficulties and challenges associated with pre- themes using the guidelines of Saldana (2013) and according to senting the educational process in the distance education system the following steps: during the COVID-19 pandemic. This theme included the vari- ous difficulties and challenges faced by the participants, and A. Coding the information: The main themes were reported by almost all participants, while presenting the edu- denoted as Theme 1 to Theme 2. The sub-themes cational process in the distance education system during the under each main theme were assigned a sub-sequence pandemic. The sudden and total shift to distance education number that followed the main theme number as were the factors that contributed the most to these difficulties shown below. and challenges. This finding was in line with the results of Al Theme 1 included information that fell under “diffi- Lily et al. (2020, 2021), Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), and Hodges culties and challenges associated with presenting the et al. (2020), which noted that education was affected by educational process in the distance education sys- the COVID-19 pandemic and different before and after the tem.” The six sub-themes of Theme 1 were denoted as COVID-19 pandemic. follows: 1.1 “difficulties related to faculty members,” Only one participant stated that she did not face any dif- 1.2 “difficulties related to female students,” 1.3 “dif- ficulty: “I did not encounter problems or challenges with ficulties related to time,” 1.4 “difficulties related to this. On the contrary, the educational process was carried out technology,” 1.5 “difficulties related to duties and easily” assignments,” and 1.6 “difficulties related to elec- It is worth noting here that when the participants were tronic exams.” asked to mention the difficulties and challenges they faced, Theme 2 included information on “gaining skills, they began to reveal some of the feelings they experienced experiences, and behaviors from the experience of during this exceptional experience. Some described a feeling using the distance education system.” The three sub- of dread about using a new education system that they had themes of Theme 2 were denoted as follows: 2.1 never used before, and one participant said, “Human is the “self-skills and experiences,” 2.2 “technological enemy of what he does not know” (Meuter et al., 2003). skills,” and 2.3 “social and behavior skills.” Another participant explained the reason for her fear of this B. Understanding and highlighting the idea or topic that experience: “At the beginning, I was afraid of the experience combines codes (information). and that I cannot behave well confidently, communicate C. Organizing the codes and grouping them according well, and transfer what I want to my students, but after I to the coding detailed in step A. started the first lecture, I felt that it was easy and did not need D. Identifying the main themes and sub-themes and all this tension. I started my lecture as if the students were naming them. with me and in front of me.” This finding is in line with what E. Summarizing and displaying the main themes and other studies have found—that technostress impacts people’s sub-themes in knowledgably maps. behaviors, feelings, and practices. Technology has been F. Discussing the themes and preparing the report or identified as a main cause of stress and anxiety for teachers recommendations. and students (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Lytras et al., 2021; Alsubaie et al. 5 Table 2. Difficulties Associated With Presenting the Educational Process in the Distance Education: The Findings Got From the Analysis of 20 Reflective Notes. Difficulties related to faculty Difficulties related to female Difficulties related Difficulties related Difficulties related to Difficulties related member students to time to technology duties and assignments to electronic exams Lack of experience with lack of commitment of the Timing of adopting Weak internet The abundance of The phenomenon using distance education presence the virtual session the distance connection duties of cheating education Lack of readiness to use Lake of experience with Lack of time for the Blackboard Difficulty providing The type of distance education system blackboard distance virtual session system immediate feedback questions education system Lack of skill of dealing with Economic challenges Difficulty in uploading The nature of the crises some assignment files practical courses Lack of time management Social challenges skills Multiplicity of instruction sources Lack of benefit from student services Lack of 21st century Meuter et al., 2003; Nimrod, 2018; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; to their behaviors and self-competency toward distance edu- Tarafdar et al., 2007; Tekinarslan, 2008; Thatcher & Perrewé, cation technology, from presenting lectures or exams to time 2002). management skills to everything related to the educational Another participant expressed her feelings about going process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following dif- through the experience in a different way: “Honestly, in the ficulties and challenges were revealed in the reflective notes. beginning the news of distance education was more difficult Lack of experience with using the distance education sys- for me than the seriousness of the spread of this disease, but tem at this depth was considered one of the most prominent later I thought that I was supposed to face this reality that I difficulties and challenges faced by participants. All 16 par- believed very difficult, and that it was not within my capa- ticipants were in agreement on this. It caused a disturbance bilities to deal with technology or the distance education. at the beginning of the transition period to distance educa- However, soon this pressure began to relieve little by little tion. One of the participants expressed, “Since my appoint- and I felt that it was just psychological pressure, because I ment at the university, and I have been teaching face-face in was facing a world almost unknown to me. So, I started look- the university halls, I had not ever thought of resorting to ing here and there in the Internet and the instructions that distance education, or we one day will need to direct virtual were sent to us and asking around me those who have previ- sessions, but in light of these exceptional circumstances ous knowledge or experience in the subject, and the knots of with the Corona virus, I found that my colleagues and me the long journey began to unlock in front of me one after the suffered from the difficulty dealing with distance education other.” In the same context, another participant said, “The because we did not know how deal with it before, especially pandemic occurred and the study was transformed into dis- with Blackboard system. That was normal feeling at the tance learning. It created confusion in the beginning due to beginning, but with the days and practice I found myself the lack of sufficient experience to deal with the simple sys- enjoyed dealing with this type of education, and I was afraid tem, but soon we started working hard and trying to over- of preferring it to the traditional (face to face) education.” come the initial difficulties that we faced.” This finding This finding was in line with studies that had noted tech- about participants’ feelings and behaviors is in agreement nostress influences people’s emotions and practices because with the results of studies by Abd-Alrazaq et al. (2020), technology has been identified as a source of stress and anx- Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), Ayyagari et al. (2011), Ceyhan and iety for users it, especially for one who didn’t have knowl- Gürcan (2000), Daruwala (2020), Fenza et al. (2021), Meuter edge about it before (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al. (2003), and Y. Wang et al. (2021), which indicated that et al., 2020). anxiety is one of the negative impacts of using technology The lack of readiness to use this type of education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. due to them not needing it before the pandemic was indicated Table 2 presents the difficulties and challenges faced by by six participants. They preferred the traditional education the participants in this study. These were classified into the (face-to-face) system in halls, and they did not have the need sub-themes listed below. to use distance education previously. Therefore, they did not care or think about learning to use the technology beforehand, Difficulties related to faculty members. This sub-theme dealt had no prior training, and were not prepared to use the dis- with the difficulties encountered by the participants related tance education system. This finding was in line with those of 6 SAGE Open Tran et al. (2017) and Yu et al. (2017), who stated that many during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab societies, where people lacked experience in using technology before the pan- some of students could not commitment and attend all the demic. It also supported the results of Al Lily et al. (2020) and virtual sessions because they did not have personal devices Hodges et al. (2020), which noted that the COVID-19 pan- to use in anytime, and at the same time they share it with demic forced teachers to use distance education even though other of family members. they were unprepared, and this was a challenge. At the same The students’ lack of experience with the Blackboard dis- time, this finding aligns with those of studies that indicated tance education system was identified as an issue. The major- that the COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity to spread a ity of participants (n = 18) indicated that this was one of the culture of digital literacy and reshape beliefs, attitudes, and difficulties that led to stress and confusion for them while behaviors toward technology and distance education (Hung using the distance education system. One participant said, et al., 2020; Kunzmann, 2020; LaValle et al., 2011; Mora “The problem completely parallel to my ignorance of this et al., 2017; Ross et al., 2013). Thus, it is now important to technology was the students’ ignorance of using it also.” In provide all workers with 21st century skills, especially those addition, some participants mentioned that the students’ did related to the use of technology. not know how to submit assignments, join the virtual ses- The lack of skills for dealing with crises was a challenge sions, participate in the discussion rooms, or do electronic for three of participants in terms of finding channels through exams in the system (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021). This finding which to communicate with the students and finding alterna- was in line with the recommendation of Al-Sukayt et al. tives and appropriate solutions to technical problems. This (2020), which encouraged the consideration of different stu- result was consistent with Fenza et al.’s (2021) study, which dents’ circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed an absence it is essential to spread the culture of digital literacy among and lack of necessary skills in individuals, such as crisis teachers and students, especially during the COVID-19 pan- management skills and emergency handling skills. demic (Hung et al., 2020; Johnson et al., 2021; Kunzmann, A lack of time management skills under the conditions of 2020) and to support those who lack experience with the rel- distance education during the pandemic was one of the most evant technology (Tran et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2017). notable difficulties associated with faculty members. One of Economic challenges were considered one of the chal- participants indicated her dissatisfaction with her inability to lenges outside the limits and capabilities of faculty members control and allocate time and prioritize tasks associated with and students. They include the inability of some students to students’ enquiries, the timing of her lectures, and her house- buy or access computers or laptops to use for attending lec- hold, family, and social responsibilities. This finding is in tures in virtual classrooms and submitting assignments in line with studies that reported that the COVID-19 pandemic Blackboard. This impeded the progress of the educational showed the importance of gaining the behaviors and skills process and the ability of faculty members to provide all stu- needed to adapt to and foster various circumstances (Fenza dents with content at the same time, which made them search et al., 2021). for alternative platforms or applications, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Zoom. Four of the participants reported that Difficulties related to female students. This sub-theme dealt some students had access to only one computer or device that with the difficulties and challenges related to female students was shared with all family members. This finding was in line that the participants faced while using the distance education with the study of Al Lily et al. (2020), which stated that the system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The identified dif- sudden transition from the direct education system to dis- ficulties and challenges related to female students are listed tance education represented an economic burden on the fam- below. ily, which may not be able to provide computers for every The lack of commitment of the presence of the female stu- learner in the family. This led to clashes between learners in dents during direct lectures in virtual sessions was one of the the family who used the device, which caused them anxiety most prominent difficulties and challenges faced by the 16 and stress (Al-Sukayt et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021). participants. It had a negative effect on the delivery of the Social challenges were an indirect cause of female stu- educational process. There was a lack of interaction among dents’ reluctance to join discussions in direct lectures in the students in the discussions in the virtual sessions. According virtual classroom. As one of the participants observed, some to one participant, “The small number of attendees of stu- female students preferred to participate in the discussion via dents perhaps because of their knowledgeable, technologi- the “chat” function instead of the audio. This matter impacted cal, economical, and social circumstances or situations; one participant’s behaviors and practices: “The reluctance of subsequently this led to spend a more time from me to answer students to interact by voice in the direct lecture in virtual the questions of absentees, regarding their assignments and classrooms may effect on my performance and behavior in exams.” This finding agrees with those of Al Lily et al. the teaching, also. I felt like I talk with myself.” In contrast, (2020, 2021) and Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), who reported that the same issue led two participants to direct sudden oral the economic and family conditions of students were among questions to particular students, which resulted in the rest of the strongest challenges and difficulties that education faced the students being focused and paying attention. The reason Alsubaie et al. 7 for this reluctance to participate may be related to culture, preparation, was one of the most prominent difficulties and social phobia, or unfamiliarity with the distance education challenges faced by 17 of the participants. A lack of previous system by the students, particularly females. This finding experience with the Blackboard distance education system was consistent with other studies that noted that the female’s made it difficult for some participants to use it initially. sense of fear of voice participation in direct virtual class- It should be noted here what four participants said about rooms was probably due to the sensitivity of the social cul- the university’s role when things were rapidly changing and ture to the voice and image of women in Arab societies (Al the circumstances were challenging. The university pro- Lily et al., 2020, 2021). vided: training courses on the use of Blackboard immedi- The multiplicity of instruction sources for students caused ately after the decision was made to suspend classes on great difficulty for eight of the participants when using the campus; a technical support team; and scientific departments distance education system, and it was difficult for them to with instructions, publications, and recorded educational address it with some students. As one of them explained, the films that contained complete explanations of the Blackboard students did not care about receiving or following up on system. A participant said, “undoubtedly the distance educa- instructions from official university sources and channels. In tion is the best alternative solution during the Corona pan- addition, the lack of benefits from student services was a dif- demic, the university is considered the pioneer in this regard ficulty revealed by three participants. For example, students based on its previous experiences in this field, luckily I did not benefit from the services provided by the university’s joined a workshop for 2 days, 2 weeks before the study sus- administration, such as communication with technical sup- pension, this workshop is one of the enrichment program that port teams, news and announcements on the university’s the university offers to the faculty members. The good thing official channels, or follow-up services advertised via the about this program is that it was held in the computer lab and Blackboard system and university mail. Because the students this is what made us apply what we learned at the same time, did not use these services, it was difficult to communicate established in my mind method of blackboard applications. with them through these channels. This became an additional This is what gave me experience in the system and helped me burden for course professors who needed to use these chan- as a coordinator of the department to transfer my wonderful nels to collect information and respond to students’ inquiries. experience to the members of my department, who have no Hence, professors were not able to respond due to a lack of experience and who need some inquiries regarding its use.” adequate knowledge about these inquiries. This finding is in This finding is consistent with studies that support people agreement with the results of study by Alawamleh et al. who lack the skills needed to use technology (Tran et al., (2020) which indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has a 2017; Yu et al., 2017). In addition, this actually shows the negative effect on communication between students and importance of training for the support people in the educa- their instructors via distance education. There was a lack of tional institutes so that they can provide the similar support clear communication system among them and university to students. administrators and people who provided services, thus caus- Furthermore, there was a lack of time for virtual sessions. ing some chaos, burdens, and stress. These were limited to 1 hour each, which created a race Lack of 21st century skills in learners was a challenge against time to cover the material for 10 participants, with related to female students. Three of the participants stated one saying, “Presenting the lecture at the specified time was that students need to develop effective communication skills not sufficient to present the educational process with all its and the ability to adapt, take responsibility for self-learning, elements, as time is not sufficient for students to participate, and work to acquire skills. These factors were noted as being discuss, or ask interactive questions, and it was not sufficient fundamental for continual education in this century and for for the pre, interim, or final evaluation. Thus, I was so wor- human growth and self-development to meet future chal- ried and tense.” This finding aligns with the studies of lenges. This finding aligns with Alshehri et al. (2020), who Al-Abdullatif et al. (2020), Fenza et al. (2021), and Y. Wang stated that instructors and students have to be aware of that et al. (2021), which indicated that using technology was one learning via distance education was not choice like before, of causes of stress and anxiety for users. especially during COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, they have to improve their communication skills and learn the Difficulties related to technology. This sub-theme moni- effective methods and adopt the appropriate ways for self- tored the technological difficulties and challenges faced by learning to well deal with technology. the participants as they used the distance education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study revealed the Difficulties related to time. This sub-theme covers the fol- significance of these difficulties, in particular, as communi- lowing difficulties and challenges related to time identified cation between all parties depended on technology. The fol- by the participants. lowing difficulties were encountered. The timing of adopting the distance education system as A weak internet connection was a difficulty that signifi- an official tool for the educational process during the pan- cantly impacted the educational process from proceeding in demic, as well as the suddenness and lack of planning and the desired manner. A total of 15 participants stated that poor 8 SAGE Open internet connection in some areas where students resided, Difficulties in uploading and downloading some assign- such as villages and rural areas, prevented the students from ment files in the system, such as files that contained films or receiving the academic lectures in their entirety. The issues audio, prompted two participants to receive duties and included repeated sudden interruptions to connectivity and a assignments by email. One participant reported that this lack of network availability due to family and economic rea- delayed grading. It is worth mentioning here the humanitar- sons. This finding was similar to that of Al Lily et al. (2020), ian role of faculty members who spared no effort in over- which showed that internet and technology interruption was coming all the difficulties and challenges to complete the one of the most prominent problems faced by students and educational process to the fullest. Hence, it was nice to note families in Arab societies in distance education during the that those with experience supported those who were unfa- COVID-19 pandemic. The participants’ reflective notes miliar with the technology (Tran et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2017). showed their human side in their interactions with their stu- This finding was in line with the studies of Taylor et al. dents, and their appreciation of the circumstances that were (2020) and Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), which recommended that beyond their control as they worked to find solutions for stu- teachers find the best methods and assignments to make the dents who missed lessons. This was also confirmed by transition from traditional education to distance education Al-Sukait et al. (2020), who proposed considering different acceptable and easy, especially when students have not expe- students’ circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. rienced this type of education before and are worried about The Blackboard system posed technical difficulties and the pandemic. challenges for 16 participants that were beyond their control, such as malfunctions, sudden stops, and system suspension. Difficulties related to electronic exams. The participants In addition, there were technical problems when using the reported facing difficulties related to electronic exams system, such as an inactive microphone, weak or low sound, when evaluating the learning outcomes of their courses sudden sound interruption, removal of students from the vir- during the COVID-19 pandemic. The difficulties are out- tual session and not allowing them to enter again, and lined below. removal of students from the virtual session before the The phenomenon of cheating caused concern to 16 of the scheduled finish time. Furthermore, this system did not sup- participants. They reported that the probability of cheating port some educational programs and was slow in download- on electronic exams in the distance education system far ing some content during the direct lecture in the virtual exceeded the rate of cheating in the traditional system. Also, sessions, which took a lot of the lecturer’s time. This led par- they expressed their fear of the spread of questions. This ticipants to create other lectures through alternative channels finding was confirmed by Al Lily et al. (2021), who noted to make up for what they had missed, resulting in them that cheating on exams was easier in distance education situ- becoming exhausted (Al Lily et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; ations than in traditional education. Samuel et al., 2020). The type of questions constituted a challenge and diffi- culty for 11 of the participants. One said, “The distance edu- Difficulties related to duties and assignments. In this sub- cation system characterized from a limited diversity of theme, difficulties related to duties and assignments are questions, or in other words it limits the use of essay ques- highlighted and outlined below. tions that have a role in capturing the students’ comprehen- The abundance of duties was one of the difficulties that sion. The majority use the certain types of questions, such as burdened both professors and students. Four of the partici- multiple choices, false or true, or others to suit our level of pants asserted that the abundance of duties resulting from the beginning in dealing with electronic exams; in addition large number of students posed a burden and put pressure on because of the ease of correction this type of questions, the the course professor in terms of correcting and grading. difficulty of correcting the essay questions because of our Another participant shared, “One of the most important lack of experience in dealing with the electronic forms.” things that bothered me and confused my behavior and per- Also, the lack of use of essay-based exams in the distance formance was the students complaining about the large num- education system may be due to the fear of technical prob- ber of duties.” Moreover, 14 participants had difficulty lems, such as interruption of connection and the loss of infor- providing immediate feedback through the distance educa- mation during the specified exam period, which may cause tion system, especially in courses of an applied and practical stress and anxiety for teachers and students (Abd-Alrazaq nature, such as those that required students to design and et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020; Hung et al., 2020; LaValle develop lessons or undertake practical education (educa- et al., 2011; Meuter et al., 2003; Tarafdar et al., 2007; Yoon, tional internship), which require immediate feedback. These 2002; Zhang et al., 2017). findings were consistent with the study of Visvizi et al. The nature of the practical courses did not correlate well (2020), which noted that it was important that the use of with the use of electronic exams. Seven participants stated technology and its tools be consistent with the capabilities that because their courses were practice-based (e.g., educa- and expectations of users to benefit from it easily and tional internship), it was not appropriate to use electronic effectively. exams for assessment. Alsubaie et al. 9 Theme 2: The skills and experience gained from using the dis- out that: “This experience provided me with an opportunity tance education system. This theme included a set of experi- for effective communication and mental and emotional con- ences, behaviors, and skills that faculty members who vergence with my students and the ability to deal with them participated in this study gained as a result of using the dis- according to their different personalities and circumstances.” tance education system during the pandemic. These have In addition, cooperation between faculty members been classified as follows. emerged as a factor that contributed to solving technical, educational, and psychological issues. One participant said, Self-skills and experiences. The circumstances of the “From the nice things that I came out with from this experi- COVID-19 pandemic resulted in faculty members gaining ence, the value of cooperation, whether with colleagues at several skills. One participant mentioned that skills had been work or students, I felt that we all go through the same expe- “discovered.” Such skills may have been latent and did not rience, the same tension. I loved cooperation between peo- appear until she was forced to test herself. ple, it was a beautiful thing, as it gained me knowledge of The participants identified a set of personal skills that how people have dealt with this epidemic, that was, they included: time management during a crisis, dealing with cri- have gained knowledge of how they were keen to study and ses and emergencies, rapid decision-making, development of complete it, whether students or university employees. scientific research skills, and self-discovery. For example, Thank the colleagues and the university administration for one of the participants said, “Facing fears of experimenting these wonderful efforts.” with the unknown is a positive point in my favor in this These findings clearly show the extent of the faculty experiment, because it made me have to rely on myself and members’ awareness of and capability to seize opportunities learn how to use the distance education system, which I had and benefit from them, as well as their ability to keep pace no previous experience in dealing with, as it was the unknown with rapid change and quickly learn new teaching skills. This thing.” In the same context, five of the participants expressed was confirmed by Al Lily et al. (2020, 2021), who noted that what they had gained, such as “breaking the fear barrier and the COVID-19 pandemic presented opportunities that could trying new things, which in many cases are a source of anxi- be exploited in different ways. ety and fear. I has penetrated and braked the fear of technol- In this time of uncertainty and rapid change, the adminis- ogy.” Two participants mentioned the great opportunities trative capabilities and crisis management skills of the they had during the implementation of distance education to College of Education faculty members were a reflection of develop their research skills and have more time for practical their professional competencies, which were adapted to the research; the circumstances of the pandemic provided them new situation. The adoption of the distance education system with time to devote themselves to scientific research and had a significant moral impact—it was a positive response to attend online training courses on scientific research. the pandemic that demonstrated the successes that could be achieved using the energy and competencies within the col- Technological skills. Among the learning outcomes of dis- lege. Therefore, the decision (to implement emergency dis- tance education during the COVID-19 pandemic was that tance education) was calculated to be in favor of the faculty members gained technical skills. A total of 16 partici- administration of the university and its faculty members, pants mentioned improving and benefiting from their basic who facilitated the transition to distance education during the knowledge of technology and their in-depth knowledge of COVID-19 pandemic (Alshehri et al., 2020) Blackboard tools, such as using electronic tests, creating question stores, managing an electronic course, uploading Conclusion and downloading content, creating assignments and ways to save them in the system, and actively using the university The impact of COVID-19 on the attitudes and reactions of email with students. One participant said, “It was a beau- the faculty members in the College of Education who were tiful experience, which I enjoyed developing my technical forced to adopt a distance education during this pandemic knowledge.” was investigated. This study entailed capturing how educa- tors dealt with difficulties and challenges and gained from Social skills. The faculty members gained social value from experience. This paper examines attitudes and reactions to the experience of teaching online during the pandemic, and distance education during COVID-19 by reviewing faculty these appeared within the lines of the participants’ reflective members’ experiences at a College of Education. notes. The value of cooperation was clearly present in this In summary, the findings showed that the university dem- crisis, with one participant saying, “This experience that we onstrated its readiness to deal with crises during the COVID- all lived was an opportunity to cooperate with each other in 19 pandemic. The College of Education faculty members exchange practices and experiences of teaching and technol- showed their sense of responsibility by completing the edu- ogy in using the distance education system.” In the same cational process despite the difficulties and challenges at context, the skill of dealing with a range of personalities and various levels. A significant problem was some faculty mem- circumstances appeared, with one of the participants pointing bers’ lack of experience with the available distance education 10 SAGE Open system (Al Lily et al., 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). Yet, they it has been proven that it can be stressful, and they might professionally overcame these difficulties and completed the need guidance. educational process (Johnson et al., 2021). Some faculty In addition, it is necessary to provide more certified members exhibited a lack of skills when dealing with crises training programs for students on the use of the distance and time management (Al Lily et al., 2020; Fenza et al., education system to encourage them to register and spread 2021). the culture of digital literacy (Johnson et al., 2021; Lytras This study also presented common difficulties relating to et al., 2021). This will ensure that they are conversant with some students, such as a lack of experience dealing with the digital environment and can use any device to access technology and the distance education system, lacking 21st learning materials easily and overcome technological prob- century skills, and economic and social challenges (Al Lily lems. Obligatory programs for the sustainable development et al., 2020, 2021; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). The findings also of faculty members’ skills should be introduced, especially captured the difficulties related to time, technology, and elec- concerning developing digital skills for the 21st century. tronic exams, such as internet problems and the phenomenon This will help equip all those involved in the distance learn- of cheating. However, the results highlighted faculty mem- ing system with relevant skills (Fenza et al., 2021; Yu et al., bers’ skills, most prominently, technological and social skills 2017). Everything in the distance learning system com- (Al Lily et al., 2021). prises the use of digital technology. These skills will help the faculty members perform other activities apart from education. Recommendations For the administrative aspect, a study needs to be con- The findings of this study provide unique insights into how ducted to determine the feasibility of establishing an accred- faculty members view and manage a distance education sys- ited certificate program delivered via distance education in tem. The findings may aid policymakers in creating interven- parallel with programs offered via traditional education in tions to address the crisis results. They may also assist the humanities and other disciplines in Saudi universities. administrators and faculty members in finding the best ways This feasibility study will help determine whether distance to help and support students during and after this pandemic learning is more economical than normal learning (Bond, or in times of emergency (Abbas et al., 2021; Fenza et al., 2020; Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). The results should encour- 2021). In addition, the topic was approached from several age the more economical learning method. It is crucial to angles: the educational, technological, academic, social, per- adopt the distance education system as a contingency plan sonal, and administrative aspects. These all affect the educa- for future force majeure circumstances that may prevent tional process. Therefore, based on the results, we make the classroom-based learning, such as adverse weather condi- following recommendations: tions (Wnuk et al., 2020). Adopting a distance education sys- –From an academic perspective, approve the creation of a tem can solve any crisis that produces difficulties within the blended education system that integrates distance education traditional direct education system (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt & and traditional direct education, improving the educational Sharma, 2020). Some problems may be natural disasters like process. This will help enhance learning activities because floods, which may prevent easy and safe access to educa- almost everyone has adapted to distance learning and now tional institutions. A distance learning system might solve has experienced its convenience and flexibility. Distance this problem to ensure that ongoing learning activities are education improves academic performance and should also carried out effectively. be continued (Alshehri et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021). It It is vital to encourage the adoption of online methods for should be integrated with the traditional direct education sys- the submission of assignments and projects in all courses to tem to improve education in learning institutions and reduce reduce paper consumption and enhance environmental sus- the pressure on the blackboard system. tainability (Dumford & Miller, 2018). Using online plat- –From technological, social, personal, and academic forms to submit assignments will make students more aspects, creative interactive online classes should be planned familiar with the distance learning system, encouraging them to improve the students’ social and emotional development to use digital devices in the future. and their relationships with lecturers and tutors within the Further studies could measure the impact of sudden adop- education system. In the future, a combination of traditional tion of distance education systems in other colleges, espe- and online education systems should reduce the chances of cially with applied fields. Such a study would determine shock and techno-stress (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). Civic whether distance learning could be applied in technical education is also essential to encourage the community to fields. support students to become academically responsible. Digital Declaration of Conflicting Interests literacy should become a priority in the education system. This pandemic has shown the necessity of this intervention The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with within the education system. There should also be psycho- respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. logical support for students using electronic platforms since Alsubaie et al. 11 Funding Al Lily, A., Ismail, A., Abunasser, F., & Alqahtani, R. (2020). Distance education as a response to pandemics: Coronavirus The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support and Arab culture. Technology in Society, 63, 101317. for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Al-Mawla, S., Al-Sharif, M., & Mukhtar., M. (2018). 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Faculty Members’ Attitudes and Practices: How They Responded to Forced Adoption of Distance Education?

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Abstract

In 2020, the world faced a sudden change and general disruption that included all aspects of life because of the corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic. It has made the whole world adopt general and comprehensive emergency measures that have affected every sector, including health, business, and especially education. In order to continue the education process, educators have responded by adopting distance education. This paper explored the attitudes, practices, and emotions of faculty members in a college of education toward the forced adoption and educational transformation to distance education during the corona pandemic. A coding approach was used to analyze 20 reflective articles, which revealed main themes related to difficulties and challenges. The findings highlight skills and experiences that were gained. Hence, the findings promote that faculty members understand professional practices and behaviors in using distance education as an emergency solution for supporting the education process. Keywords COVID-19, distance education, pandemic, professional practices, difficulties and challenges, coding approach described in his statement, “Never before have we witnessed Introduction educational disruption at this scale. Partnership is the only In 2020, the world faced a general disruption and the need way forward” (p. 1). Y. Wang et al. (2021) evaluated the level for quick actions involving all aspects of life because of of anxiety and its effecting elements during the corona pan- COVID-19 (Y. Wang et al., 2021). It made the whole world demic among teachers in Henan, China; they found that 59% adopt general and comprehensive emergency measures that of the teachers were very worried, and more female teachers have affected every sector, including health, business, and were very worried than male teachers. In the same context, education (Al Lily et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020; Baber, Al-Sukayt et al. (2020) assessed the level of anxiety and its 2020; Daruwala, 2020; Kaur, 2020; McCarthy, 2020; Wnuk effecting factors through the corona pandemic among stu- et al., 2020; Yang & Forney, 2013). dents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; they reported that 35% of the It was imperative to adapt to and address this pandemic, students suffered average to high levels of anxiety. There overcome all difficulties, search for and investigate ways to was only one way to continue the educational process, which adapt, and use all capabilities in line with the environment was a transformation to distance education through elec- and existing conditions. Reducing direct contact, eliminating tronic platforms (Al Lily et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). large gatherings, and emphasizing social distancing between Interestingly, distance education was not pioneered as a individuals were some of the first precautionary processes to result of the COVID-19 pandemic; its roots and the broad reduce and prevent the spread of the virus (Al Lily et al., concept date back around 150 years (Dumford & Miller, 2020; Baber, 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; Hung et al., 2020; Y. 2018; Sikand, 2017). As indicated and confirmed by many Wang et al., 2021). Although education is an important part of every community, a decision came to suspend school attendance. The educational field faced the impact of the sus- King Faisal University, Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia pension of school attendance, which completely halted the Corresponding Author: direct educational process (Mayo, 2020; McCarthy, 2020; Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie, Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum Viner et al., 2020). This was a shocking and sudden step, and Instruction, King Faisal University, Al-Hasa 31982, Saudi Arabia. Email: malsebiee@kfu.edu.sa which UNESCO (2020) Director-General Audrey Azoulay Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open studies, distance education has created opportunities to In addition, Abu Adma and Al-Sharif (2010) discussed the expand education and provide access to a large number of extent to which distance education systems can be applied to distance learners, as the spatial and temporal boundaries of meet the challenges facing educational institutions in light of the educational process have diminished (Dumford & Miller, the requirements of the information technology era at Taibah 2018; Taylor et al., 2020). For example, Dumford and Miller University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They found that (2018) revealed that it is necessary to use distance education, faculty members supported the application of distance edu- especially in cases of weather fluctuations, to prevent sus- cation to meet the challenges facing educational institutions pension of the educational process. It was worth mentioning in different situations. Thus, the study recommended that that Goguen (2020) called distance education a “friend to educational institutions move away from traditional educa- [the] environment,” as it helps to reduce building, electricity, tion and secure the infrastructure necessary to be incubators stationery, and printing consumption, as well as environmen- for distance education with equipment and technical tal pollutants caused by transportation. In the same context, capabilities. Moore et al. (2011) supported distance education as a way to Therefore, we found that most studies and research related change the current view of nature and the components of to distance education have covered, addressed, or focused on educational facilities; they promoted the idea that the educa- the pros and cons of distance education and the learners’ ben- tional process can take place anywhere without walls in the efits. Such studies include those of Brik (2017), Al-Bitar era of technological sovereignty. (2016), Al-Subaie (2015), Aql (2014), Abdul Hafeez (2010), However, some studies address problems in the use of Mohan (2010), and Al-Zahrani (2019). At the same time, we distance education for various reasons. For instance, W. found that some studies dealt with the distance education Wang et al. (2020) and Hodges et al. (2020) confirmed the issue during the COVID-19 pandemic from cultural, psycho- existence of a physical gap between the teacher and the logical, or economic aspects (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021; learners due to the application of distance education, which Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). However, to our knowledge, there is had a role in limiting the building of relationships between a lack of studies and research on the topic of distance educa- these two basic elements in the educational process (Cakula tion and professional practices during the COVID-19 pan- et al., 2016). Some studies noted that distance education demic from the perspectives of faculty members, such as that would not yield completely positive results without a very of Al-Thuwaini (2010), Al-Hawamdeh (2010), and high degree of self-discipline (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Al-Kharbasha (2010). Hence, to bridge the gap between the Augner et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2016). Moreover, many stud- lack or absence of studies that capture the attitudes and per- ies (Abd-Alrazaq et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; Ha & Stoel, spectives of faculty members in Arab universities on the 2009; Meuter et al., 2003; Sellberg & Susi, 2013; Tarafdar COVID-19 pandemic and education, this study explored the et al., 2013; Yin et al., 2014; Yoon, 2002; Wahlund et al., attitudes, behaviors, practices, and emotions of faculty mem- 2021) have presented the negative side of technology and bers in the College of Education toward the forced adoption distance education from psychological, educational, social, of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. behavioral, emotional, and economic aspects. In the same context, the university has practiced distance In contrast, some studies have dealt specifically with the education since 2009—for over 11 years. However, it has been possibility of applying distance education in Arab countries. limited to some courses in specializations in the College of For example, Ibrahim et al. (2016) aimed to find the readi- Humanities specified by the university, and limited to the best ness of the colleges of education in Khartoum State to use male faculty members, except final exams that were taken distance education and the extent of faculty members’ knowl- face-to-face in educational buildings on campus. Despite this edge of requirements for this type of education. This study experience in distance education during the COVID-19 pan- revealed that the application of distance education was one demic, the majority of the College of Education’s faculty of the future aims for the colleges of education, and the fac- members adopted traditional delivery styles for the educa- ulty members had positive trends toward using distance edu- tional process elements, such as lectures, assessment methods, cation. This study revealed that the application of distance assignments, and exams (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021). education was one of the aims of future Colleges of Education However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption and the faculty members have positive trends toward using of a traditional style of teaching has resulted in disturbance the distance education. Moreover, Al-Mawla et al. (2018) and confusion for faculty members, and the educational pro- aimed to identify distance education competencies among cess was disrupted during the first period of the pandemic. the faculty members of the College of Education at the This was particularly noticeable when the situation suddenly University of Khartoum in Sudan. They found that the fac- completely changed and the distance education system was ulty members’ distance education competencies were aver- compulsorily adopted without preparation as the official tool age, and that the competencies for designing electronic for running the educational process. This was due to the learning resources were weak. Therefore, they recommended majority lacking experience in distance education, which training faculty members in the use of distance education until then was limited to very basic use of the Blackboard competencies. system. Alsubaie et al. 3 This study aimed to explore and highlight the attitudes Methodology and Data and reactions of faculty members in College of Education Research Context and Sample toward the forced adoption of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic from various perspectives. Thus, this This is qualitative phenomenology study, which was uti- study targeted selected faculty members of the College of lized to capture and explore the attitudes, practices, and Education to answer the study’s main question: What were emotions of faculty members in the College of Education the faculty members’ attitudes and reactions in College of toward the forced adoption of distance education during Education to forced adoption of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This methodology was chosen the COVID-19 pandemic? since it allowed the researchers to get an in-depth under- The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 pres- standing of participants’ reactions and attitudes and to ents the theoretical ground of the study, section 3 describes understand and describe the individual experience of the methodology and data, section 4 presents the findings each participant (Creswell, 2004, 2013). To achieve this and discussion, section 5 presents the conclusion, and sec- aim, 20 faculty members from this college participated in tion 6 presents the recommendations in light of the findings. this study. The faculty members were female and of three Arab nationalities (Saudi, Egyptian, and Syrian). Of these 1 was a professor, 14 were assistant professors, and 5 Theoretical Ground of the Study were lecturers. They represented the different departmen- According to the article entitled that was done across Europe, tal majors: curriculum and instructions, educational lead- “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever” ership, education and psychology, special education, and (Li & Lalani, 2020), it was noted that families from higher kindergarten. In addition, the participants had varying social classes provided a better environment for homeschool- levels of experience with technology in general, and the ing for their children. It was determined that in Denmark, distance education system in particular. most families from higher social classes borrowed more books from the library during this period of pandemic and Data Collection and Measurement therefore the performed better success chances (Hodges et al., 2020). However, the same situation cannot be seen for This study was conducted in the second semester of the the lower social classes. This is proof of inequality that 2020 academic year in Saudi Arabia. To answer the study results from distance learning. question, a qualitative approach was used (Creswell, 2013; In the same context, according to theories of self-regu- Willis, 2008). According to the nature of the study, reflec- lated learning, show the effect of independent study meth- tive notes were used as documents to collect study data. ods, such as using online learning. Students who perform The participants were asked to write reflective notes poorly during this period because of unequal opportunities to describing their behaviors, practices, emotions, and atti- access efficient online learning are more likely to develop a tudes toward the educational process of distance education negative self-perception and might, for example, show lower within the previously defined themes adapted to this skills in technical subjects (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). context. Therefore, there is a need to develop adaptive education for Females were selected to participate because they had not online learning practices to bridge the gap between the afflu- previously practiced distance education, unlike their male ent and poorer groups of students. colleagues, who may have had previous experience with the Alshehri et al. (2020) researched how regular teaching distance education system. converted to fully online teaching in higher education in To answer the study question, the participants’ reflective Saudi Arabia during COVID-19. They found many chal- notes (in which they reviewed their experiences in using dis- lenges associated with this transition for universities, faculty tance education the during COVID-19 pandemic), were ana- members, and students, especially since distance education lyzed. The notes were considered an information-rich dataset was mandatory. Educators needed to learn effective methods and provided a valuable opportunity to monitor and observe of presentation while students had to be more engaged and their experience in detail. The reflective notes included the adapt to emergency remote education (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt following themes: & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). Emergency remote education was an interim online solution to continue teach- - Difficulties, challenges, and behaviors associated with ing during the COVID-19 pandemic. It could not be classi- presenting the educational process in the distance edu- fied as distance education since it did not have a systematic cation system. design and planning model. It also did not depend on the - Gaining skills, practices, and behaviors from the expe- collaborative environment of linked elements, or on compre- rience of using the distance education system. hensive dimensions of all areas of distance education (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). These As a precautionary procedure, and to achieve social distancing, theories set the research basis for this study. we considered it necessary to obtain written or audio-recorded 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Findings for Study: The Main Themes With Their Sub-Themes. Difficulties and challenges, associated with presenting the educational process Gaining skills, experiences, and behaviors from in the distance education the experience of using the distance education Difficulties related to faculty member Self-skills and experiences Difficulties related to female students Technological skills Difficulties related to time Social skills Difficulties related to technology Difficulties related to duties and assignments Difficulties related to electronic exams information through a social media communication platform Findings and Discussion and email. Hence, reflective notes were received via WhatsApp The Study Findings and Discussion and email (17 written reflective notes and 3 audio-recorded notes). Moreover, a qualitative approach was used in the analy- Here, the findings that resulted from the analysis of the par- sis, which was based on the process of examining and organiz- ticipants’ reflective notes are presented according to the two ing the collected data to understand and interpret the main themes and nine sub-themes, as illustrated in Table 1. phenomenon studied (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). The data were transcribed and classified into major themes and sub- Theme 1: The difficulties and challenges associated with pre- themes using the guidelines of Saldana (2013) and according to senting the educational process in the distance education system the following steps: during the COVID-19 pandemic. This theme included the vari- ous difficulties and challenges faced by the participants, and A. Coding the information: The main themes were reported by almost all participants, while presenting the edu- denoted as Theme 1 to Theme 2. The sub-themes cational process in the distance education system during the under each main theme were assigned a sub-sequence pandemic. The sudden and total shift to distance education number that followed the main theme number as were the factors that contributed the most to these difficulties shown below. and challenges. This finding was in line with the results of Al Theme 1 included information that fell under “diffi- Lily et al. (2020, 2021), Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), and Hodges culties and challenges associated with presenting the et al. (2020), which noted that education was affected by educational process in the distance education sys- the COVID-19 pandemic and different before and after the tem.” The six sub-themes of Theme 1 were denoted as COVID-19 pandemic. follows: 1.1 “difficulties related to faculty members,” Only one participant stated that she did not face any dif- 1.2 “difficulties related to female students,” 1.3 “dif- ficulty: “I did not encounter problems or challenges with ficulties related to time,” 1.4 “difficulties related to this. On the contrary, the educational process was carried out technology,” 1.5 “difficulties related to duties and easily” assignments,” and 1.6 “difficulties related to elec- It is worth noting here that when the participants were tronic exams.” asked to mention the difficulties and challenges they faced, Theme 2 included information on “gaining skills, they began to reveal some of the feelings they experienced experiences, and behaviors from the experience of during this exceptional experience. Some described a feeling using the distance education system.” The three sub- of dread about using a new education system that they had themes of Theme 2 were denoted as follows: 2.1 never used before, and one participant said, “Human is the “self-skills and experiences,” 2.2 “technological enemy of what he does not know” (Meuter et al., 2003). skills,” and 2.3 “social and behavior skills.” Another participant explained the reason for her fear of this B. Understanding and highlighting the idea or topic that experience: “At the beginning, I was afraid of the experience combines codes (information). and that I cannot behave well confidently, communicate C. Organizing the codes and grouping them according well, and transfer what I want to my students, but after I to the coding detailed in step A. started the first lecture, I felt that it was easy and did not need D. Identifying the main themes and sub-themes and all this tension. I started my lecture as if the students were naming them. with me and in front of me.” This finding is in line with what E. Summarizing and displaying the main themes and other studies have found—that technostress impacts people’s sub-themes in knowledgably maps. behaviors, feelings, and practices. Technology has been F. Discussing the themes and preparing the report or identified as a main cause of stress and anxiety for teachers recommendations. and students (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Lytras et al., 2021; Alsubaie et al. 5 Table 2. Difficulties Associated With Presenting the Educational Process in the Distance Education: The Findings Got From the Analysis of 20 Reflective Notes. Difficulties related to faculty Difficulties related to female Difficulties related Difficulties related Difficulties related to Difficulties related member students to time to technology duties and assignments to electronic exams Lack of experience with lack of commitment of the Timing of adopting Weak internet The abundance of The phenomenon using distance education presence the virtual session the distance connection duties of cheating education Lack of readiness to use Lake of experience with Lack of time for the Blackboard Difficulty providing The type of distance education system blackboard distance virtual session system immediate feedback questions education system Lack of skill of dealing with Economic challenges Difficulty in uploading The nature of the crises some assignment files practical courses Lack of time management Social challenges skills Multiplicity of instruction sources Lack of benefit from student services Lack of 21st century Meuter et al., 2003; Nimrod, 2018; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008; to their behaviors and self-competency toward distance edu- Tarafdar et al., 2007; Tekinarslan, 2008; Thatcher & Perrewé, cation technology, from presenting lectures or exams to time 2002). management skills to everything related to the educational Another participant expressed her feelings about going process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following dif- through the experience in a different way: “Honestly, in the ficulties and challenges were revealed in the reflective notes. beginning the news of distance education was more difficult Lack of experience with using the distance education sys- for me than the seriousness of the spread of this disease, but tem at this depth was considered one of the most prominent later I thought that I was supposed to face this reality that I difficulties and challenges faced by participants. All 16 par- believed very difficult, and that it was not within my capa- ticipants were in agreement on this. It caused a disturbance bilities to deal with technology or the distance education. at the beginning of the transition period to distance educa- However, soon this pressure began to relieve little by little tion. One of the participants expressed, “Since my appoint- and I felt that it was just psychological pressure, because I ment at the university, and I have been teaching face-face in was facing a world almost unknown to me. So, I started look- the university halls, I had not ever thought of resorting to ing here and there in the Internet and the instructions that distance education, or we one day will need to direct virtual were sent to us and asking around me those who have previ- sessions, but in light of these exceptional circumstances ous knowledge or experience in the subject, and the knots of with the Corona virus, I found that my colleagues and me the long journey began to unlock in front of me one after the suffered from the difficulty dealing with distance education other.” In the same context, another participant said, “The because we did not know how deal with it before, especially pandemic occurred and the study was transformed into dis- with Blackboard system. That was normal feeling at the tance learning. It created confusion in the beginning due to beginning, but with the days and practice I found myself the lack of sufficient experience to deal with the simple sys- enjoyed dealing with this type of education, and I was afraid tem, but soon we started working hard and trying to over- of preferring it to the traditional (face to face) education.” come the initial difficulties that we faced.” This finding This finding was in line with studies that had noted tech- about participants’ feelings and behaviors is in agreement nostress influences people’s emotions and practices because with the results of studies by Abd-Alrazaq et al. (2020), technology has been identified as a source of stress and anx- Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), Ayyagari et al. (2011), Ceyhan and iety for users it, especially for one who didn’t have knowl- Gürcan (2000), Daruwala (2020), Fenza et al. (2021), Meuter edge about it before (Al-Abdullatif et al., 2020; Al-Sukayt et al. (2003), and Y. Wang et al. (2021), which indicated that et al., 2020). anxiety is one of the negative impacts of using technology The lack of readiness to use this type of education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. due to them not needing it before the pandemic was indicated Table 2 presents the difficulties and challenges faced by by six participants. They preferred the traditional education the participants in this study. These were classified into the (face-to-face) system in halls, and they did not have the need sub-themes listed below. to use distance education previously. Therefore, they did not care or think about learning to use the technology beforehand, Difficulties related to faculty members. This sub-theme dealt had no prior training, and were not prepared to use the dis- with the difficulties encountered by the participants related tance education system. This finding was in line with those of 6 SAGE Open Tran et al. (2017) and Yu et al. (2017), who stated that many during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab societies, where people lacked experience in using technology before the pan- some of students could not commitment and attend all the demic. It also supported the results of Al Lily et al. (2020) and virtual sessions because they did not have personal devices Hodges et al. (2020), which noted that the COVID-19 pan- to use in anytime, and at the same time they share it with demic forced teachers to use distance education even though other of family members. they were unprepared, and this was a challenge. At the same The students’ lack of experience with the Blackboard dis- time, this finding aligns with those of studies that indicated tance education system was identified as an issue. The major- that the COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity to spread a ity of participants (n = 18) indicated that this was one of the culture of digital literacy and reshape beliefs, attitudes, and difficulties that led to stress and confusion for them while behaviors toward technology and distance education (Hung using the distance education system. One participant said, et al., 2020; Kunzmann, 2020; LaValle et al., 2011; Mora “The problem completely parallel to my ignorance of this et al., 2017; Ross et al., 2013). Thus, it is now important to technology was the students’ ignorance of using it also.” In provide all workers with 21st century skills, especially those addition, some participants mentioned that the students’ did related to the use of technology. not know how to submit assignments, join the virtual ses- The lack of skills for dealing with crises was a challenge sions, participate in the discussion rooms, or do electronic for three of participants in terms of finding channels through exams in the system (Al Lily et al., 2020, 2021). This finding which to communicate with the students and finding alterna- was in line with the recommendation of Al-Sukayt et al. tives and appropriate solutions to technical problems. This (2020), which encouraged the consideration of different stu- result was consistent with Fenza et al.’s (2021) study, which dents’ circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed an absence it is essential to spread the culture of digital literacy among and lack of necessary skills in individuals, such as crisis teachers and students, especially during the COVID-19 pan- management skills and emergency handling skills. demic (Hung et al., 2020; Johnson et al., 2021; Kunzmann, A lack of time management skills under the conditions of 2020) and to support those who lack experience with the rel- distance education during the pandemic was one of the most evant technology (Tran et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2017). notable difficulties associated with faculty members. One of Economic challenges were considered one of the chal- participants indicated her dissatisfaction with her inability to lenges outside the limits and capabilities of faculty members control and allocate time and prioritize tasks associated with and students. They include the inability of some students to students’ enquiries, the timing of her lectures, and her house- buy or access computers or laptops to use for attending lec- hold, family, and social responsibilities. This finding is in tures in virtual classrooms and submitting assignments in line with studies that reported that the COVID-19 pandemic Blackboard. This impeded the progress of the educational showed the importance of gaining the behaviors and skills process and the ability of faculty members to provide all stu- needed to adapt to and foster various circumstances (Fenza dents with content at the same time, which made them search et al., 2021). for alternative platforms or applications, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Zoom. Four of the participants reported that Difficulties related to female students. This sub-theme dealt some students had access to only one computer or device that with the difficulties and challenges related to female students was shared with all family members. This finding was in line that the participants faced while using the distance education with the study of Al Lily et al. (2020), which stated that the system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The identified dif- sudden transition from the direct education system to dis- ficulties and challenges related to female students are listed tance education represented an economic burden on the fam- below. ily, which may not be able to provide computers for every The lack of commitment of the presence of the female stu- learner in the family. This led to clashes between learners in dents during direct lectures in virtual sessions was one of the the family who used the device, which caused them anxiety most prominent difficulties and challenges faced by the 16 and stress (Al-Sukayt et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021). participants. It had a negative effect on the delivery of the Social challenges were an indirect cause of female stu- educational process. There was a lack of interaction among dents’ reluctance to join discussions in direct lectures in the students in the discussions in the virtual sessions. According virtual classroom. As one of the participants observed, some to one participant, “The small number of attendees of stu- female students preferred to participate in the discussion via dents perhaps because of their knowledgeable, technologi- the “chat” function instead of the audio. This matter impacted cal, economical, and social circumstances or situations; one participant’s behaviors and practices: “The reluctance of subsequently this led to spend a more time from me to answer students to interact by voice in the direct lecture in virtual the questions of absentees, regarding their assignments and classrooms may effect on my performance and behavior in exams.” This finding agrees with those of Al Lily et al. the teaching, also. I felt like I talk with myself.” In contrast, (2020, 2021) and Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), who reported that the same issue led two participants to direct sudden oral the economic and family conditions of students were among questions to particular students, which resulted in the rest of the strongest challenges and difficulties that education faced the students being focused and paying attention. The reason Alsubaie et al. 7 for this reluctance to participate may be related to culture, preparation, was one of the most prominent difficulties and social phobia, or unfamiliarity with the distance education challenges faced by 17 of the participants. A lack of previous system by the students, particularly females. This finding experience with the Blackboard distance education system was consistent with other studies that noted that the female’s made it difficult for some participants to use it initially. sense of fear of voice participation in direct virtual class- It should be noted here what four participants said about rooms was probably due to the sensitivity of the social cul- the university’s role when things were rapidly changing and ture to the voice and image of women in Arab societies (Al the circumstances were challenging. The university pro- Lily et al., 2020, 2021). vided: training courses on the use of Blackboard immedi- The multiplicity of instruction sources for students caused ately after the decision was made to suspend classes on great difficulty for eight of the participants when using the campus; a technical support team; and scientific departments distance education system, and it was difficult for them to with instructions, publications, and recorded educational address it with some students. As one of them explained, the films that contained complete explanations of the Blackboard students did not care about receiving or following up on system. A participant said, “undoubtedly the distance educa- instructions from official university sources and channels. In tion is the best alternative solution during the Corona pan- addition, the lack of benefits from student services was a dif- demic, the university is considered the pioneer in this regard ficulty revealed by three participants. For example, students based on its previous experiences in this field, luckily I did not benefit from the services provided by the university’s joined a workshop for 2 days, 2 weeks before the study sus- administration, such as communication with technical sup- pension, this workshop is one of the enrichment program that port teams, news and announcements on the university’s the university offers to the faculty members. The good thing official channels, or follow-up services advertised via the about this program is that it was held in the computer lab and Blackboard system and university mail. Because the students this is what made us apply what we learned at the same time, did not use these services, it was difficult to communicate established in my mind method of blackboard applications. with them through these channels. This became an additional This is what gave me experience in the system and helped me burden for course professors who needed to use these chan- as a coordinator of the department to transfer my wonderful nels to collect information and respond to students’ inquiries. experience to the members of my department, who have no Hence, professors were not able to respond due to a lack of experience and who need some inquiries regarding its use.” adequate knowledge about these inquiries. This finding is in This finding is consistent with studies that support people agreement with the results of study by Alawamleh et al. who lack the skills needed to use technology (Tran et al., (2020) which indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has a 2017; Yu et al., 2017). In addition, this actually shows the negative effect on communication between students and importance of training for the support people in the educa- their instructors via distance education. There was a lack of tional institutes so that they can provide the similar support clear communication system among them and university to students. administrators and people who provided services, thus caus- Furthermore, there was a lack of time for virtual sessions. ing some chaos, burdens, and stress. These were limited to 1 hour each, which created a race Lack of 21st century skills in learners was a challenge against time to cover the material for 10 participants, with related to female students. Three of the participants stated one saying, “Presenting the lecture at the specified time was that students need to develop effective communication skills not sufficient to present the educational process with all its and the ability to adapt, take responsibility for self-learning, elements, as time is not sufficient for students to participate, and work to acquire skills. These factors were noted as being discuss, or ask interactive questions, and it was not sufficient fundamental for continual education in this century and for for the pre, interim, or final evaluation. Thus, I was so wor- human growth and self-development to meet future chal- ried and tense.” This finding aligns with the studies of lenges. This finding aligns with Alshehri et al. (2020), who Al-Abdullatif et al. (2020), Fenza et al. (2021), and Y. Wang stated that instructors and students have to be aware of that et al. (2021), which indicated that using technology was one learning via distance education was not choice like before, of causes of stress and anxiety for users. especially during COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, they have to improve their communication skills and learn the Difficulties related to technology. This sub-theme moni- effective methods and adopt the appropriate ways for self- tored the technological difficulties and challenges faced by learning to well deal with technology. the participants as they used the distance education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study revealed the Difficulties related to time. This sub-theme covers the fol- significance of these difficulties, in particular, as communi- lowing difficulties and challenges related to time identified cation between all parties depended on technology. The fol- by the participants. lowing difficulties were encountered. The timing of adopting the distance education system as A weak internet connection was a difficulty that signifi- an official tool for the educational process during the pan- cantly impacted the educational process from proceeding in demic, as well as the suddenness and lack of planning and the desired manner. A total of 15 participants stated that poor 8 SAGE Open internet connection in some areas where students resided, Difficulties in uploading and downloading some assign- such as villages and rural areas, prevented the students from ment files in the system, such as files that contained films or receiving the academic lectures in their entirety. The issues audio, prompted two participants to receive duties and included repeated sudden interruptions to connectivity and a assignments by email. One participant reported that this lack of network availability due to family and economic rea- delayed grading. It is worth mentioning here the humanitar- sons. This finding was similar to that of Al Lily et al. (2020), ian role of faculty members who spared no effort in over- which showed that internet and technology interruption was coming all the difficulties and challenges to complete the one of the most prominent problems faced by students and educational process to the fullest. Hence, it was nice to note families in Arab societies in distance education during the that those with experience supported those who were unfa- COVID-19 pandemic. The participants’ reflective notes miliar with the technology (Tran et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2017). showed their human side in their interactions with their stu- This finding was in line with the studies of Taylor et al. dents, and their appreciation of the circumstances that were (2020) and Al-Sukayt et al. (2020), which recommended that beyond their control as they worked to find solutions for stu- teachers find the best methods and assignments to make the dents who missed lessons. This was also confirmed by transition from traditional education to distance education Al-Sukait et al. (2020), who proposed considering different acceptable and easy, especially when students have not expe- students’ circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. rienced this type of education before and are worried about The Blackboard system posed technical difficulties and the pandemic. challenges for 16 participants that were beyond their control, such as malfunctions, sudden stops, and system suspension. Difficulties related to electronic exams. The participants In addition, there were technical problems when using the reported facing difficulties related to electronic exams system, such as an inactive microphone, weak or low sound, when evaluating the learning outcomes of their courses sudden sound interruption, removal of students from the vir- during the COVID-19 pandemic. The difficulties are out- tual session and not allowing them to enter again, and lined below. removal of students from the virtual session before the The phenomenon of cheating caused concern to 16 of the scheduled finish time. Furthermore, this system did not sup- participants. They reported that the probability of cheating port some educational programs and was slow in download- on electronic exams in the distance education system far ing some content during the direct lecture in the virtual exceeded the rate of cheating in the traditional system. Also, sessions, which took a lot of the lecturer’s time. This led par- they expressed their fear of the spread of questions. This ticipants to create other lectures through alternative channels finding was confirmed by Al Lily et al. (2021), who noted to make up for what they had missed, resulting in them that cheating on exams was easier in distance education situ- becoming exhausted (Al Lily et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021; ations than in traditional education. Samuel et al., 2020). The type of questions constituted a challenge and diffi- culty for 11 of the participants. One said, “The distance edu- Difficulties related to duties and assignments. In this sub- cation system characterized from a limited diversity of theme, difficulties related to duties and assignments are questions, or in other words it limits the use of essay ques- highlighted and outlined below. tions that have a role in capturing the students’ comprehen- The abundance of duties was one of the difficulties that sion. The majority use the certain types of questions, such as burdened both professors and students. Four of the partici- multiple choices, false or true, or others to suit our level of pants asserted that the abundance of duties resulting from the beginning in dealing with electronic exams; in addition large number of students posed a burden and put pressure on because of the ease of correction this type of questions, the the course professor in terms of correcting and grading. difficulty of correcting the essay questions because of our Another participant shared, “One of the most important lack of experience in dealing with the electronic forms.” things that bothered me and confused my behavior and per- Also, the lack of use of essay-based exams in the distance formance was the students complaining about the large num- education system may be due to the fear of technical prob- ber of duties.” Moreover, 14 participants had difficulty lems, such as interruption of connection and the loss of infor- providing immediate feedback through the distance educa- mation during the specified exam period, which may cause tion system, especially in courses of an applied and practical stress and anxiety for teachers and students (Abd-Alrazaq nature, such as those that required students to design and et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020; Hung et al., 2020; LaValle develop lessons or undertake practical education (educa- et al., 2011; Meuter et al., 2003; Tarafdar et al., 2007; Yoon, tional internship), which require immediate feedback. These 2002; Zhang et al., 2017). findings were consistent with the study of Visvizi et al. The nature of the practical courses did not correlate well (2020), which noted that it was important that the use of with the use of electronic exams. Seven participants stated technology and its tools be consistent with the capabilities that because their courses were practice-based (e.g., educa- and expectations of users to benefit from it easily and tional internship), it was not appropriate to use electronic effectively. exams for assessment. Alsubaie et al. 9 Theme 2: The skills and experience gained from using the dis- out that: “This experience provided me with an opportunity tance education system. This theme included a set of experi- for effective communication and mental and emotional con- ences, behaviors, and skills that faculty members who vergence with my students and the ability to deal with them participated in this study gained as a result of using the dis- according to their different personalities and circumstances.” tance education system during the pandemic. These have In addition, cooperation between faculty members been classified as follows. emerged as a factor that contributed to solving technical, educational, and psychological issues. One participant said, Self-skills and experiences. The circumstances of the “From the nice things that I came out with from this experi- COVID-19 pandemic resulted in faculty members gaining ence, the value of cooperation, whether with colleagues at several skills. One participant mentioned that skills had been work or students, I felt that we all go through the same expe- “discovered.” Such skills may have been latent and did not rience, the same tension. I loved cooperation between peo- appear until she was forced to test herself. ple, it was a beautiful thing, as it gained me knowledge of The participants identified a set of personal skills that how people have dealt with this epidemic, that was, they included: time management during a crisis, dealing with cri- have gained knowledge of how they were keen to study and ses and emergencies, rapid decision-making, development of complete it, whether students or university employees. scientific research skills, and self-discovery. For example, Thank the colleagues and the university administration for one of the participants said, “Facing fears of experimenting these wonderful efforts.” with the unknown is a positive point in my favor in this These findings clearly show the extent of the faculty experiment, because it made me have to rely on myself and members’ awareness of and capability to seize opportunities learn how to use the distance education system, which I had and benefit from them, as well as their ability to keep pace no previous experience in dealing with, as it was the unknown with rapid change and quickly learn new teaching skills. This thing.” In the same context, five of the participants expressed was confirmed by Al Lily et al. (2020, 2021), who noted that what they had gained, such as “breaking the fear barrier and the COVID-19 pandemic presented opportunities that could trying new things, which in many cases are a source of anxi- be exploited in different ways. ety and fear. I has penetrated and braked the fear of technol- In this time of uncertainty and rapid change, the adminis- ogy.” Two participants mentioned the great opportunities trative capabilities and crisis management skills of the they had during the implementation of distance education to College of Education faculty members were a reflection of develop their research skills and have more time for practical their professional competencies, which were adapted to the research; the circumstances of the pandemic provided them new situation. The adoption of the distance education system with time to devote themselves to scientific research and had a significant moral impact—it was a positive response to attend online training courses on scientific research. the pandemic that demonstrated the successes that could be achieved using the energy and competencies within the col- Technological skills. Among the learning outcomes of dis- lege. Therefore, the decision (to implement emergency dis- tance education during the COVID-19 pandemic was that tance education) was calculated to be in favor of the faculty members gained technical skills. A total of 16 partici- administration of the university and its faculty members, pants mentioned improving and benefiting from their basic who facilitated the transition to distance education during the knowledge of technology and their in-depth knowledge of COVID-19 pandemic (Alshehri et al., 2020) Blackboard tools, such as using electronic tests, creating question stores, managing an electronic course, uploading Conclusion and downloading content, creating assignments and ways to save them in the system, and actively using the university The impact of COVID-19 on the attitudes and reactions of email with students. One participant said, “It was a beau- the faculty members in the College of Education who were tiful experience, which I enjoyed developing my technical forced to adopt a distance education during this pandemic knowledge.” was investigated. This study entailed capturing how educa- tors dealt with difficulties and challenges and gained from Social skills. The faculty members gained social value from experience. This paper examines attitudes and reactions to the experience of teaching online during the pandemic, and distance education during COVID-19 by reviewing faculty these appeared within the lines of the participants’ reflective members’ experiences at a College of Education. notes. The value of cooperation was clearly present in this In summary, the findings showed that the university dem- crisis, with one participant saying, “This experience that we onstrated its readiness to deal with crises during the COVID- all lived was an opportunity to cooperate with each other in 19 pandemic. The College of Education faculty members exchange practices and experiences of teaching and technol- showed their sense of responsibility by completing the edu- ogy in using the distance education system.” In the same cational process despite the difficulties and challenges at context, the skill of dealing with a range of personalities and various levels. A significant problem was some faculty mem- circumstances appeared, with one of the participants pointing bers’ lack of experience with the available distance education 10 SAGE Open system (Al Lily et al., 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). Yet, they it has been proven that it can be stressful, and they might professionally overcame these difficulties and completed the need guidance. educational process (Johnson et al., 2021). Some faculty In addition, it is necessary to provide more certified members exhibited a lack of skills when dealing with crises training programs for students on the use of the distance and time management (Al Lily et al., 2020; Fenza et al., education system to encourage them to register and spread 2021). the culture of digital literacy (Johnson et al., 2021; Lytras This study also presented common difficulties relating to et al., 2021). This will ensure that they are conversant with some students, such as a lack of experience dealing with the digital environment and can use any device to access technology and the distance education system, lacking 21st learning materials easily and overcome technological prob- century skills, and economic and social challenges (Al Lily lems. Obligatory programs for the sustainable development et al., 2020, 2021; Al-Sukayt et al., 2020). The findings also of faculty members’ skills should be introduced, especially captured the difficulties related to time, technology, and elec- concerning developing digital skills for the 21st century. tronic exams, such as internet problems and the phenomenon This will help equip all those involved in the distance learn- of cheating. However, the results highlighted faculty mem- ing system with relevant skills (Fenza et al., 2021; Yu et al., bers’ skills, most prominently, technological and social skills 2017). Everything in the distance learning system com- (Al Lily et al., 2021). prises the use of digital technology. These skills will help the faculty members perform other activities apart from education. Recommendations For the administrative aspect, a study needs to be con- The findings of this study provide unique insights into how ducted to determine the feasibility of establishing an accred- faculty members view and manage a distance education sys- ited certificate program delivered via distance education in tem. The findings may aid policymakers in creating interven- parallel with programs offered via traditional education in tions to address the crisis results. They may also assist the humanities and other disciplines in Saudi universities. administrators and faculty members in finding the best ways This feasibility study will help determine whether distance to help and support students during and after this pandemic learning is more economical than normal learning (Bond, or in times of emergency (Abbas et al., 2021; Fenza et al., 2020; Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). The results should encour- 2021). In addition, the topic was approached from several age the more economical learning method. It is crucial to angles: the educational, technological, academic, social, per- adopt the distance education system as a contingency plan sonal, and administrative aspects. These all affect the educa- for future force majeure circumstances that may prevent tional process. Therefore, based on the results, we make the classroom-based learning, such as adverse weather condi- following recommendations: tions (Wnuk et al., 2020). Adopting a distance education sys- –From an academic perspective, approve the creation of a tem can solve any crisis that produces difficulties within the blended education system that integrates distance education traditional direct education system (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt & and traditional direct education, improving the educational Sharma, 2020). Some problems may be natural disasters like process. This will help enhance learning activities because floods, which may prevent easy and safe access to educa- almost everyone has adapted to distance learning and now tional institutions. A distance learning system might solve has experienced its convenience and flexibility. Distance this problem to ensure that ongoing learning activities are education improves academic performance and should also carried out effectively. be continued (Alshehri et al., 2020; Fenza et al., 2021). It It is vital to encourage the adoption of online methods for should be integrated with the traditional direct education sys- the submission of assignments and projects in all courses to tem to improve education in learning institutions and reduce reduce paper consumption and enhance environmental sus- the pressure on the blackboard system. tainability (Dumford & Miller, 2018). Using online plat- –From technological, social, personal, and academic forms to submit assignments will make students more aspects, creative interactive online classes should be planned familiar with the distance learning system, encouraging them to improve the students’ social and emotional development to use digital devices in the future. and their relationships with lecturers and tutors within the Further studies could measure the impact of sudden adop- education system. In the future, a combination of traditional tion of distance education systems in other colleges, espe- and online education systems should reduce the chances of cially with applied fields. Such a study would determine shock and techno-stress (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). Civic whether distance learning could be applied in technical education is also essential to encourage the community to fields. support students to become academically responsible. Digital Declaration of Conflicting Interests literacy should become a priority in the education system. This pandemic has shown the necessity of this intervention The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with within the education system. There should also be psycho- respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. logical support for students using electronic platforms since Alsubaie et al. 11 Funding Al Lily, A., Ismail, A., Abunasser, F., & Alqahtani, R. (2020). Distance education as a response to pandemics: Coronavirus The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support and Arab culture. Technology in Society, 63, 101317. for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Al-Mawla, S., Al-Sharif, M., & Mukhtar., M. (2018). 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Journal

SAGE Open – SAGE

Published: Jul 15, 2022

Keywords: COVID-19; distance education; pandemic; professional practices; difficulties and challenges; coding approach

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