Moroccan University Students’ Perceptions towards Distance e-Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities

The current Covid-19 pandemic has, without doubt, impacted every sphere of human life, including education. This unprecedented situation has imposed strict measures to contain the spread of the virus through banning most face-to-face activities, including teaching and learning and implementing online education and hence, orienting students towards more self-directed learning and online courses. Hence, this study aims to examine the perceptions of students at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University in Fez towards their distance e-learning experience amid the crisis. More specifically, this study explores the challenges and opportunities faced by university students in trying to adapt to the remote learning during the pandemic. A quantitative research design was adopted in this study. Hence, an online survey was designed to measure undergraduate and post-graduate students’ perceptions of their online learning experience. The study revealed that the majority of respondents were not in favor of distance e-learning as they came across many challenges while learning online particularly connectivity issues, and reduced interaction with peers and professors. They also stressed the idea that human interaction could never be replaced by technological tools. None the less, the results also demonstrated that students benefited from the aspects of flexibility, easy accessibility, and customized learning online education offers to its users