Investigating students’ experience of online/distance education with photovoice during COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract This study used online photovoice to study students’ perceptions of online/distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aimed to (a) find the factors that facilitated and impeded online/distance education during the pandemic and (b) determine to which level of ecological systems theory participants attributed facilitators and barriers. We utilized community-based participatory research as the theoretical framework, based on the ecological systems theory. The participants consisted of 119 university students. We used online interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyze the data and found 12 facilitating themes in favor of online education (e.g., technology, 31%; home study comfort, 23%; with family, 17%). In terms of barriers to online education, 14 main themes emerged (e.g., lack of finance, 28%; Internet problems, 22%). Participants attributed facilitators and barriers respectively to the following levels of ecological systems theory: individual/intrapsychic (50%, 51%), microsystem (56%, 58%), exosystem (38%, 43%), and macrosystem (25%, 45%).