Online education has become increasingly popular in the higher education of developed countries within the last two decades, and most higher education institutions in developed countries believe that this method of instruction will be critical for the future of higher education (Allen and Seaman, 2014). The accessibility of the Internet and flexibility of online courses have made online education an integral part of higher education (Li and Irby, 2008; Luyt, 2013; Lyons, 2004).

After the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many countries have decided to close schools, colleges, and universities. The Ethiopian government has also taken the coronavirus pandemic seriously. The initial responses included the closure of private and government schools and universities as of March 24, 2020. The Association of African Universities (AAU) has called upon universities  in Africa to move “urgently” to implement alternative methods of delivering teaching and learning using technology and other distance learning techniques in the wake of the closures of higher education institutions to limit the spread of COVID-19 (Dell and Sawahel, 2020). The pandemic is expected to have enormous economic consequences and it is also having a devastating impact on global education. According to the latest figures released by UNESCO, some 1.3 billion learners around the world were not able to attend school or university as of March 23, 2020. UNESCO's figures refer to learners enrolled at pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary, and upper-secondary levels of education as well as at the tertiary level (McCarthy, 2020).

As a means of migration strategy to the loss of learning due   to   the  pandemic,    in    higher    education,   many universities and colleges are replacing traditional education systems with online delivery methods. In this regard, the outbreak of the virus and lockdowns could be used as the best opportunity for technology interventions for distance learning and virtual online classrooms. However, the online classroom is a new area for both teachers and students in African universities. According to Dell and Sawahel (2020), this transition of teaching method requires expertise in online education, staff, and student training as well as more human power in the area of IT personnel to support both the instructors and the students.

There are a number of factors that make it difficult for people to obtain access to the Internet. These include things such as poverty: high device, data, and telecommunications charges; infrastructure barriers: digital literacy challenges and policy and operational barriers. These challenges represent significant barriers for millions of people in the developing world (West, 2015). According to Salehi and Salehi (2012), insufficient technical supports at schools and little access to Internet and ICT were considered as the major barriers preventing teachers to integrate ICT into the curriculum.

On the other hand, Only about 35% of the population in developing countries has access to the Internet (versus about 80% in advanced economies) (The World Bank, 2020). The internet sector in most Africa countries is relatively backward and the internet coverage rate in Africa lags behind than in all other regions (WIC, 2017). In developing countries like Ethiopia, where there is poor Internet connectivity and frequent power interruptions, implementing online classrooms is a serious challenge. In addition to infrastructure and connectivity, teachers’ and students’ familiarity with online delivery tools and processes are also key factors in providing distance learning or delivering online classrooms. Therefore, programs that can quickly target those in most need are crucial.

The objectives of this study are to assess the access to and use of ICT resources by students, the ICT competencies possessed by the students, and assess the current level of students’ readiness for the introduction of online education methods.

 

The study was conducted in the year 2019. The target population was undergraduate agricultural extension students in Hawassa University (HU), College of Agriculture (COA), Faculty of Environment, Gender and Development Studies (FEGDS), and the Agricultural Extension (AgEx) program in Ethiopia.  For this study, all students enrolled to the agricultural extension program in the year 2018 (second year), 2017 (third year) and 2016 (fourth year) in a total of 106 students were taken as sample respondents. These students are those who are working in 16 zones of the southern regional state of Ethiopia as Agricultural Development agents (DA) in the Bureau of Agriculture and Government-sponsored agricultural extension mid-carrier professionals. Data were collected using a semi-structured self-administered survey  questionnaire.  The  study fully followed the descriptive type of research.

 

Background information of the sample students

Of the total students, 19 (17.9%) were female and 87 (82.1%) were male. All of the students were enrolled in the agricultural extension program in the faculty of FEGDS, but their field of specialization studied in the diploma program was different. Diploma was a prerequisite for admission to the University degree program. Accordingly, more than half (63.2%) of the students were from the plant science field of specialization (Table 1).

 

 

The mean age of students was 30.87, and the maximum and minimum ages of the students were 45 and 23 years, respectively. The average number of households (HHs) the students serving was 696.95 and the maximum number was 2735 HHs (Table 2). All of the sampled students were government-employed and paid monthly salary.

 

 

Students access to and use of ICT

Most of the students have no or very limited access to and use of different types of ICT resources such as desktop computers, laptop computers, and tablets. Most have access to mobile phones. They are almost having no access to Wi-Fi or cable Internet services, they are using Internet buying mobile data packages (Table 3).

 

 

All of the students had their own mobile phones, and 86 (81.1%) of the students had owned/used smartphones. Regarding money spent on mobile phone use, 91 (85.8%) of the students spent less than 25 ETB per day, and only 15 (14.2%) spent 26-50 Birr per day on mobile phone airtime for calling or data usage. However, 97.2% of the students did not get any financial support for airtime, even calling about government activities (Table 4). All of the students who owned smartphones that is 86 (81.1%) of the total students used the camera App and the internet on their phones (Table 4). This indicates that there is an opportunity for implementing online education using smartphones.

 

 

Students who have smartphones use the internet for different purposes. About 86% of the students’ primary purpose of using the Internet is to browse social media and 64% use it to download different applications (Table 5).

 

 

Students encounter different problems when using mobile phones. This study revealed that out of the total students included in the study, 74.5% suffered from poor network connectivity, 64.2% complained about the high rate of pay for the services, 55.7% lacked electricity for charging their phone battery, and 51.9% had high cost of maintenance, 43.4% encountered  application  limitations and 29.2% encountered language limitations as major problems generally affecting their use of mobile phones (Table 6). This result also complements that of Kacharo et al. (2018) conducted a study on rural households’ use of mobile phones in southern Ethiopia. Therefore, this shows that we have to work on the problem of infrastructure and improve connectivity.

 

 

Level of competencies possessed by students

ICT competencies among students were measured on a five-point Likert’s type of scale: 5 points for high level of competence (extensive experience in the skill area or very   skilled),   4   points   for   moderately   high  level  of competence (good experience in the skill area or skilled); 3=points for average level of competence (some experience in the skill area or average); 2 points for low level of competence (little experience in the skill area or not very skilled) and 1 point for no level of competence (no experience in the skill area or not skilled at all). The study revealed that students either they have average skill or not very skilled or not skilled at all on most of the skill areas they were evaluated especially on using e-mail, preparing power point presentation, using e-library, computer internet browsing, and data information management (Table 7). From this, it can be concluded that most of the students are currently not ready for adoption of online education systems. However, the study also revealed that students  who  use  smartphones are able to handle online education if they have an orientation or provide a detailed step-by-step guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spite of all the sampled students being government employed with monthly salaries and offices that they are assigned to work in, they have no or very limited access to and use of different types of ICT resources such as desktop computers, laptop computers, and tablets, except mobile phones. This might be the major challenge for higher education institutions to introduce and implement online education to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic  impact  on  the  higher  education  system.  In addition to poor infrastructure and connectivity, poor ICT competencies among students is another challenge, where higher education institutions are expected to do more in addressing the treatment of COVID-19.

 

Most of the students have no or very limited access to and use of ICT resources like desktop computers, laptop computers, and tablets. However, except those who used cell phones, all smartphone users were able to get access to the internet using Ethio Gebeta mobile Internet packages from ethio-telecom. Therefore, ICT experts in the field of online education in higher education institutions  in  general,  and  particularly  in   universities, need to plan smartphone-based technologies that help online teaching.

Students are almost having no access to Wi-Fi or cable internet services, and those who have smartphones get access of internet buying mobile packages with a high rate of pay for the services. Therefore, if we plan to use smartphones as a tool for online teaching, it is recommended to offer zero-rated access to specific educational websites, and offer free or discounted mobile internet packages to all students who need it to switch to online classes. On the issue of student access to the internet, universities must collaborate with telecommunications companies (Ethio-telecom) to facilitate the provision of affordable or free access to the internet for as long as the students are accessing education-related websites and information.

 

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Hawassa University School of Graduate Studies.

The research involved human participants, who were informed about the purpose of the research and that their participation was voluntary.

 

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.

 

The author expresses gratitude to the students for their response and collaboration in the study.