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Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education: Case Study of a Moroccan Engineering School

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Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Systems and Informatics 2022 (AISI 2022)

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school of information science (ESI) has transitioned to online learning since March 2020. Courses have been delivered using the Moodle LMS and the MS teams tool. Moodle is used to manage learning content, and MS Teams to communicate with students in synchronous mode. This paper focuses on a particular course: “Distributed Systems”, intended for third-year students. We conducted mixed-method research to collect both qualitative and quantitative data two weeks after the course start. We used an anonymous survey to gather students’ feedback on the learning scenario adopted for this course. We proposed twenty-two questions: eighteen closed-ended and four open-ended. The open-ended questions invite students to express all the problems and bad feelings they must struggle in the full distance learning model. Forty-one students answered the survey published on the Moodle platform. Results showed that the MS Teams tool is seen as an important learning media by students. Students also appreciate the quality of learning resources and the individual teacher follow-up provided by distance learning. We also deduced some insights concerning the most adapted activity for learning and assessment. Unfortunately, most students miss the classroom atmosphere and outlined it as the main disadvantage of distance learning. They are also facing many issues to continue their education remotely, with a gender disparity.

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The author acknowledges the participation of students from the School of Information Sciences.

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Correspondence to Imane Ryane .

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Ryane, I. (2023). Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education: Case Study of a Moroccan Engineering School. In: Hassanien, A.E., Snášel, V., Tang, M., Sung, TW., Chang, KC. (eds) Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Systems and Informatics 2022. AISI 2022. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 152. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20601-6_56

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