The effect of e-learning to students’ performance during Covid-19: a case study in Makerere University among students of CEDAT, COBAMS and CONAS

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to find out the effect of e-learning to student’s performance in Makerere University. Knowledge of e-learning effects is vital to policy makers in-order to come up with strategies aimed at improving e-learning effectiveness, thus reducing the challenges experienced during e-learning. The data was collected using a questionnaire, cleaned, scrutinized and then analyzed using STATA version 15. A sample size of 96 students was undertaken using Cochran’s formula. The students were from three different colleges; COBAMS, CEDAT and CONAS. An ANOVA test was used to find out the association between the dependent (continuous) and independent variables (categorical). The average performance of students reduced from 3.73 (before e-learning) to 3.67 (after elearning). This implies that e-learning had a negative impact on the students’ performance. From the study, it was found out that the on-line study application used had a significant association with the outcome variable as its p-value (0.000) was lower than 0.05. Whether one had ever experienced any challenges in e-learning was a significant predictor of the outcome variable, as the p-value (0.000) was lower than 0.05. The students also gave some of their views on what should be done to improve on the e-learning system. Majority of the students requested for instructor and student pre-training before implementing any e-learning method. Some students also requested for provision of zero- rated services as data was hard to purchase in-order to attend lectures. Therefore, there is need for the government of Uganda and other concerned stakeholders to come up with policies and strategies that enhance e-learning studies.