Investigating Benefits and Barriers of Distance Education during Coronavirus Pandemic

The results revealed that despite several benefits gained from distance learning, there are also some barriers. Teachers found that the most important advantage in distance learning is the acquisition of technical skills during the online teaching processes, they learn more and use digital education platforms, they have sufficient time to prepare the scientific content, they were able to provide adequate technical solutions for their courses, and they have the opportunity to use multiple media to deliver their courses.


Introduction
Distance education is an option that many schools implement to enhance the delivery of learning goals. It has also been stated that online education is an effective strategy, judging from both the institution's and parents' perspectives (Hannum et al., 2008;Irvin et al., 2010). Studies showed that the most essential and prominent skill gained by all stakeholders at different levels of distance learning, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic, is the experience in the use of technology. In addition, since mobile phone is one of the most used pieces of equipment in distance learning, parents need to monitor their children to control access time and schedule to ensure that their educational goal reaches the desired level of satisfaction.
According to the United Nations Report (2020), COVID-19 pandemic has a remarkable effect on schools generally, where 190 countries were forced to suspend in-person education. Most of these countries switched to distance emergency education (United Nations, 2020). This shift in learning methods has posed specific effects on general education quality.
Today's digital education system often uses several terms, such as online, distance, flexible, open, mixed, and blended. Moreover, different terms are used to refer to online learning such as online programs and courses (Tanhan, 2020). Distance education, as a broad term, is used to describe any activities in the teaching and learning process without the need to be physically present at the school, college, or university. Other terms like distance learning, e-learning, and online learning also refer to distance education (Lee, 2010). In this way, distance learning allows interactions between students and teachers, as well as between students and devices without requiring their physical presence or both parties being online at the same time.
The unexpected change from face-to-face learning to distance education is a sign of organizational agility (Wu, 2020), as several educational institutions are primarily focused on transferring educational content from traditional to digital media to improve students' access to such content. Some institutions dealt with this change in a strategic way thus, saving time and cost. There are several advantages to distance learning, which include but are not limited to the ability to study at any time, and anywhere; flexibility in learning, affording students the time to think and respond (Xiaet al., 2013).
According to Sadiq (2004), distance education is a strategic interaction between students and their teachers that takes place outside the classrooms of the schools, so that knowledge and skills can reach the student through technical means or electronic media. Distance learning was defined by the Association for Distance Learning (USDLA), as the process of transferring skills, knowledge and information to learners at any level of education, using various media tools and technologies (USDLA, 2004).
Certainly, the circumstance of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has a crucial impact on both persons and institutions at the different levels of the general education system around the world (Adnan & Anwar, 2020).
There are several benefits of distance learning for all stakeholders. Since online learning is not subject to geographical location, distance education can reduce the costs and create an adequate time to give more valuable skills to students (Chen, 2011). In addition, one of the most important advantages of distance learning is that students can However, some studies revealed that despite its flexibility, low cost, easy access and social benefits, there are still several problems encountered in distance learning.
Researchers have found that one problem facing distance learning is the lack of students' awareness of the benefits of online education (Almaiah & Mulhem, 2018).
Additionally, increased social inequalities in some countries, which results in limited access to education (Scarpellini et al., 2021), and based on Dachyar et al., (1015), who asserted that there is a lack of adequate human resources in the application of technology to education. On the other hand, some of these problems can be overcome if students can use the distance learning system in a proper way (Pituch & Lee, 2006; Several studies have investigated the impacts of distance learning during covid-19. Most of the challenges to distance education are primarily focused on technical issues, financial issues, information issues and personal issues (Ibrahim et al., 2021;Abuhammad, 2021;Zohra et al., 2020;Al-Kumaim et al., 2021;Anwar et al, 2020).
Muhammad, and Anwar (2020), emphasized that online learning cannot fulfill the intended objectives in the underdeveloped world, where the majority of students are unable to access the internet due to technical issues as well as the high cost of accessing the internet in such countries. They also explored the lack of personal interaction with teachers, insufficient time to responses and absence of a normal classroom. In the same line, Saxena et al. (2020) revealed that distance learning is also affected by factors such as assurance, reliability, responsiveness, and website content.
Some studies revealed that the quality of distance learning is lower than that of face-toface learning. Chetty et al. (2020) showed a marked decrease in student achievement level by observing students' data in mathematics before and during the Coronavirus pandemic. Some possible reasons for the low quality of online education could be the policies and procedures adopted by some countries at the time of switching to distance learning; for instance, doing homework and participation is optional and that implementation of final tests is subject to cancellation (Alzaghibi, 2021). Apparently, distance learning, in general, is not as effective as face-to-face learning, but it is undoubtedly better than nothing.

Sample
The key aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of distance education on general education in schools in Saudi Arabia during the Coronavirus Pandemic. The sample of the study included 1076 teachers in primary, intermediate, and secondary schools in three provinces, which include Al-Kharj, Dilum, and Hotat Bani Tamim. All the teachers who participated in the survey are currently teaching online courses using a digital education platform.

Survey
A 42-item Likert scale electronic questionnaire designed using google forms was adopted as the preferred data collection technique for the study. The stated questionnaire was used to examine the effectiveness of distance learning. A pilot test of the questionnaire was applied to the teachers in Al-Kharj, Dilum, and Hotat Bani Tamim provinces and appropriate reviews necessary modifications were made based on the reviewers' comments and their suggestions.,.

Data Analysis
The data collected through the online questionnaire were analyzed by descriptive statistics, mainly frequency distribution table in relation to the teachers' answers.
Demographic information was collected using the Likert scale, which reported in percentages of teachers' answers. The average and standard deviations was calculated to the three pivots of the questionnaire, also a t-test and analysis of variance ANOVA test were done to examine the significant differences between participant's responses.

Results
In this section, the study focuses on descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, averages, standard deviation. Inferential statistics such as t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA  The results in Table 2 shows the high average mean of statements of teachers' viewpoints on the benefits of implementing distance learning (3.76). This result indicates that teachers found several advantages to distance learning during the Coronavirus pandemic. The benefits are divided into several aspects, such as stakeholders gain more skills in using educational technology, teachers get more time to prepare scientific/course content, students have more time to work on their tasks while getting immediate feedback from the teacher, also, students can be monitored by teachers. Being able to implement practical applications of the courses in an applied manner.

General Average
The results in Table 3 shows the obstacles faced by teachers in distance education.
The teachers had practically the same view in all statements in this section with a high average mean (3.59). Although, of the several advantages mentioned earlier, there are some barriers shown in this table. Teachers mentioned that technical problems, lack of technical support, lack of supporting materials, especially assessment methods, the existence of educational loss, difficulty in preparing a suitable environment. In addition to the barriers related to stakeholders, weak technical background, lack of motivations in students as well as in teachers. Difficulty delivering scientific content to students remotely. Table 4 shows the results for the suggestions to improve all processes involved in distance education. It recorded that the average mean is high (3.48), which means that the teachers have the same views for suggestions to enhance the management of distance learning. Some of the suggested ideas to improve the management of distance learning includes providing continuous technical support as well as educational support for all users, designing educational channels related to courses, raising community awareness towards distance education, motivating schools to create smart techniques in online learning and designing training programs for all stakeholders. Continuing to provide feedback to raise the level of application of distance education processes.

Testing the significance of the differences
The results in table 5 reveals that there are no statistically significant differences between the participant's viewpoints in relation to gender (male -female). This means that gender has no effect on teachers' attitudes towards distance education.

Discussion
This study aimed to investigate the effects and consequences of distance learning during the Coronavirus pandemic among Saudi teachers in three provinces. This disease has changed the education system around the world. As a result, shifting to online learning was the best solution to continue educational journey. However, several negative effects were encountered through this shifting. The results in this study revealed that despite gaining benefits from distance learning, some barriers were also encountered. In addition, several suggestions and initiatives were also revealed in this study.
Teachers found that the most important advantage of distance learning is the technical skills and experiences acquired in their teaching processes, they learned more and used educational platforms different than they've used before, they had sufficient time to prepare scientific content, they can provide sufficient technical solution of their courses, and they also learned to use multiple media to explain the courses. These results are in agreement with other studies, such as İbrahim et al. (2021) and Cheng (2011).
With distance education, teachers have explored a new way to deliver their course content to students. Therefore, teachers have become familiar with electronic resources. In addition, teachers can interact and deal with technologies when they teach their students. It seems that teachers invest more in technical methods to enhance students' performance.
On the other hand, teachers reported some obstacles they faced during their remote teaching sessions. Most of these problems are connection problems with devices and the internet, lack of students' motivation to learn from a distance, problems associated with urban learners, some students have difficulties understanding out-of-class teaching, and some students do not own electronic devices. These results were also confirmed by other studies, Zohra et al. (2020) and Lassoued et al. (2020).
It is basically expected that difficulties and challenges are imminent when adopting a new strategy without proper preparation, as most teachers have not previously engaged in remote teaching and they have also not used technology to deliver their course content. Consequently, designing training programs for both the short and long term may increase the awareness and raise the experiences of stakeholders.
Finally, the teachers proposed certain ideas and suggestions to improve distance learning, providing continuous technical support for all stakeholders, designing TV channels specifically for introducing and delivering course content. Furthermore, teachers made other suggestions, like providing more services to support the educational operations, raising community awareness and sensitivity towards distance learning, and investing in all types of media to enhance distance education.
Adopting such suggestions may increase the benefits of distance education. Following all positive points and solving all negative sides is the way to enhance online learning in schools to improve students' achievement. In addition, institutional communities should