Post-Covid Era and the Challenges of Online Learning Among Students in Selected Public and Private Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The advent of the Covid-19 virus has created a paradigm shift in the mode of learning in all academic institutions the world over; thus, creating challenges and causing disruptions of academic activities across institutions of higher learning. As a result, university campuses were shut down, and the traditional classroom face-to-face method of teaching and assessment was disbanded to be replaced with the online style of knowledge acquisition. The current study explicates the experiences of selected students in universities in Nigeria considering their ability to adapt to virtual learning as against the classroom style of knowledge acquisition. Altogether, (480) undergraduates were selected from four Nigerian higher institutions of learning – two public and two private. That figure is shared evenly at one hundred and twenty students (120) each per university. In the paper, we argue that the disparity in learning stems from the students' economic background and not necessarily from the type of institution attended. It was observed that students from private schools are mainly from elitist backgrounds whereas those in public schools are largely from the middle or lower class. The implication is that whereas the students from middle-class backgrounds lacked the requisite finances to cater to their needs and keep up with the challenges of online learning, those in the private schools have the financial muscles to cater to whatever needs they are confronted with. This gap gave room for the disparity in attitude towards embracing the online learning occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.