Acceptance and Effectiveness of Distance Learning in Public Education in Saudi Arabia During Covid19 Pandemic: Perspectives from Students, Teachers and Parents

The movement control order and shutting down educational institution in Saudi Arabia has jeopardized the teaching and learning process. Education was shifted to distance learning in order to avoid any academic loss. In the middle of the Covid-19 crisis, there is a need to assess the full image of e-learning in Saudi Arabia. To investigate student and teachers' perception and acceptance, parents' attitudes and believes about distance education are the main goals of the study. The mix-method research design was employed to collect data. Three surveys were distributed to 100 students and 50 teachers and 50 parents from different educational institutions in Saudi Arabia, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 parents. Random stratified and convenient sampling methods were adopted. Both descriptive and content analysis was conducted using SPSS25.0 and NVIVO software for quantitative and qualitative data accordingly. The findings showed that students are comfortable with remote education and are receiving enough support from schools and instructors but they think online education can't replace conventional face-to-face learning. Moreover, the results showed that teachers are having challenges in preparing online classes because of the development of conducting online classes and the lack of training. However, parents showed negative attitudes regarding the benefits and values of remote education and preferred conventional learning styles in elementary schools. Parents tended to reject and resist distance learning for several reasons: professional knowledge and lack of time to support their young kids in online classes, the shortcomings of e-learning, young children's inadequate self-regulation. Saudi parents are neither trained nor ready to use e-learning. The study provided suggestion and implications for teacher education and policymakers.