The Effectiveness of Distance Learning (Black Board) in Pursuing the Educational Process at Taif University during the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Viewpoints of Teachers and Students

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like other countries in the world, is facing the Covid-19 pandemic, as it is trying with all its efforts to pursue higher education in its universities and schools through distance learning using the latest electronic programs.The current research attempted to investigate Taif University experience in distance learningand the effectiveness of BlackBoard in pursuing education in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic from the viewpointsof teachers and students.To achieve this goal, the descriptive survey approach was used.Two questionnaires were designed; one for teachers and the other for students. A random sample was chosen from all university colleges during the first semester of the academic year 2020/2021. The sample consisted of (240) faculty members and (804) male and female students. The results showed large effectiveness of distance learning(BlackBoard) in pursuing education from the viewpoints of faculty members, and to a very large degree from the students' point of view.No impact of the two variables (gender, academic rank) appeared in the viewpoints of faculty members in that effectiveness. The results also showed that male students’ viewswere higher than those of females, and the views of master's students were higher than those of undergraduate students on this effectiveness.