Abstract:

Across the world, the overwhelming anomalous COVID-19 pandemic has immensely curbed the normalcy of life and caused substantial changes in every domain of life, and the education sector is no exception. The ever-changing unprecedented time calls for rapid transition from face to face E-learning to virtual education employing diverse portals. The paper endeavors to explore the challenges faced by educators while teaching online (Winter Semester 2020) in higher education institutions in Pakistan during COVID-19. In this quantitative study, the survey research method was used for the collection of data. The link of the questionnaire was shared with 129 educators delivering lectures online in 5 private and 2 public universities, through a snowball sampling technique. Findings revealed that diversified challenges such as lack of training and expertise, un-sustained internet connectivity, electricity failure, fear of online classes, lack of visual cues from students, cheating during quizzes, increased internet expenditures, emerged for educators during online teaching. The study recommends in-depth training and careful planning of online quizzes and the development of interesting activities to hold the attention of the students. The study will be beneficial to Higher Education Institutions, government, and educators in the formulation of administrative decisions concerning virtual education policies in the future.

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