Examing the role of platformbased learning in tertiary education system in Ghana. Lessions from COVID-19

Abstract

Aim: This study examines the role of platform-based teaching and learning in the Ghana tertiary educational system. This study focuses on the lessons from COVID-19 pandemic and explores measures to make platform-based learning sustainable. Theory: This study is grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to explain the role and sustainability of the platform learning model. These are widely used theory to explore the feasibilities of adopting some new technologies hence it is applicable to probe the role of the platform-based teaching and learning model concerning performance and sustaining the tertiary education system. The Theory focuses on the expectancy (opportunities) ease of use (challenges), reliability (sustainability) of adopting platform-based learning tertiary education system in Ghana. Method: The study used a qualitative approach based on in-depth structured and semi-structured interviews to thematically analyze the data. For the lecturers and administrators, this study used a purposive sampling technique to select 10 participants each, whereas a stratified random sampling technique was used to select 25 students from five tertiary institutions in Ghana. The researcher followed Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis process by transcription, coding, analysis, overall, and written report to analysis the data. Results: Taking key lessons from COVID-19, the study revealed that emergency adoption of platform-based learning among tertiary institutions provided both challenges and opportunities such as unpreparedness, internet issues, cost of data, flexibility, and new experiences. Secondly, a majority of the respondents witnessed an increase in academic (students) and teaching (lecturers) performance. The students and lecturers predominantly use laptops, and smartphones to access the platform for teaching and learning. Moreover, the study found that to sustain the platform-based learning approach, much attention is needed to the application features to enhance efficiency in examination or assessment, tutorials or meetings, communication and feedback, flexibility of the system applications and compatibility with other devices.