Covid-19 Pandemic as a Catalyst to E-Learning Acceptance in 2020.

In Kenya the premature closure of all learning institutions was a direct and immediate response by the government of Kenya to take proactive measures to protect all its Citizenry, the learners by extension from possible risks of contracting Covid-19 since school environments are places where a lot of students meet, interact and touch surfaces such as desks, boards, and chairs.

Because of this threat, most students or learners are forced to be in their homes, yet learning is expected to continue. This is because Kenya has an academic calendar with term dates for primary and secondary schools set by Kenya’s Ministry of Education, while the universities have academic calendars that they all would wish not to greatly alter. Learning institutions have since resorted to e-learning as a remedy to ensure that learning is not greatly interfered with, and universities are racing with time to ensure that e-learning becomes effective as envisioned, in their plans for e-learning.

It is important to note that these universities had e-learning as the option to reach out to some of their potential clients, however, its implementation was still really low. It is therefore evidenced, that the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic that has led to the closure of all learning institutions, has become a catalyst for e-learning.

In just a matter of weeks, Covid-19 has already changed how students are educated around the world. Changes which give us a glimpse at how education could change either for the better or the worse, over a long period. We have seen learning consortiums and coalitions taking shape, with diverse stakeholders, which include governments, publishers, education professionals, technology providers, and telecom network operators, coming together to utilize digital platforms as a temporary solution to this crisis brought by the pandemic.

Dr. Odoyo Collins Otieno (PhD)

Lecturer

Department of Information Technology

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology

Kenya