Managing High Quality Virtual Learning in Response to Covid-19; Learner and Faculty Preparedness, Inhibitors and Mitigations in Kenya’s Higher Education

Abstract

Globally and Kenya in particular, the initial and sudden riposte to the COVID-19 disease was immediate shift of almost every course to virtual setting in substitution of face-to-face teaching as a remedy to minimize transmission of the disease, but many learners and faculty members were not prepared to learn and teach online. Higher learning institutions engaged in this significant change will require providing significant and constant assistance to learners and faculty to their learning management systems (LMS) for effective management and delivery of virtual learning. Perspectives on learner, faculty, and institutional preparedness and their associated challenges in view of mitigating them will assist institutions better realize their pre-COVID-19, Covid-19 and post Covid-19 status of their faculty, learners, and institutions themselves. Visible Learning theory which underscores the essence of the learner and the teacher, knowing what to do and how to do it in a teaching and learning process guided this perspective. This being a theoretical study, it utilized document examination as a method of qualitative research where documents are interpreted by the interested scholar to give meaning and voice in an assessment topic. The study collected information from published articles on virtual learning covering information about Kenya and other countries. The study employed purposive random sampling strategy as it only reviewed articles that were concerned with virtual learning. The review established that both staff and learners are inadequately prepared on e-learning. Significantly the review findings will inform policy and decision making to ensure that policy responses and measures expressly address questions on virtual learning preparedness.