Duhok Students' Online Learning Challenges and Satisfaction During the Pandemic

Abstract

This research attempts to retrospectively investigate students’ perceptions of the online education program provided by the University of Duhok during the coronavirus pandemic during 2020 and 2022. It mainly focuses on the students at the College of Languages, English Department. It aims to explore their insights about how effective the program was, how it can better elevate students' learning, and finally, what students’ challenges were.  The study has used a mixed-methods approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. It has been found out that students, teachers, and other stakeholders faced numerous challenges in guaranteeing the successful implementation of online learning, which served as the foundation for this study. The researcher chose 44 students (28 males and 16 females) to participate in the study using a convenience sampling approach. The study included students in their second, third, and fourth years of study during the academic year. All of the students in this study experienced online classes for at least one year, and some of them studied for a year and a half. Through a thematic analysis, the researcher identified five themes that were marked as the primary challenges that this public university faced: poor Internet connection, illiteracy of teachers on technological matters, resistance from students, lack of devices, and poor electricity connection. The study revealed that 48.8% of the sampled students believed that the process of education was not that successful during the coronavirus pandemic.