Online Teaching-Learning at Higher Education in Bangladesh during COVID-19 and beyond: Possibilities and Challenges

• In Event: Digital Transformation in Global Higher Education: Opportunities, Constraints, and Student Perspectives

Proposal

ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted higher education systems globally, prompting an urgent shift from traditional face-to-face instruction to online teaching and learning. This qualitative study explores how public universities in Bangladesh experienced and responded to this shift during and beyond the pandemic. The study examines practices, perceptions, and systemic challenges in the implementation of online teaching learning through interviews and focus group discussions with teachers and students across seven public universities including general, medical, engineering, and agricultural institutions. Findings reveal a predominance of lecture-based teaching through platforms like Zoom and Google Classroom, with limited use of pedagogical innovations or institutional learning management systems. Faculty members often developed digital content independently, lacking formal training or infrastructural support. Students faced unequal access to devices and internet connectivity, alongside insufficient engagement and feedback. Despite these constraints, the study also uncovers emerging possibilities, including increased teacher-student communication via social media, growing familiarity with digital tools, and institutional experimentation with blended learning models. The paper argues for the urgent development of inclusive digital education policies, establishing digital infrastructure and faculty capacity-building programs to ensure equitable and sustainable integration of educational technology in higher education sector in Bangladesh. These findings hold relevance for policymakers, institutional leaders, and global educators navigating post-pandemic educational reforms.

Authors

• MD ABDUS SALAM, Institute of Education and Research (IER), Dhaka University

• Shariful Islam, Dokuz Eylul University

• MD SHAZEDULL ISLAM SHAKIL, Harvard Graduate School of Education