Students’ Perceptions of Emergency Remote Teaching During COVID-19: The Case of Sultan Qaboos University

Although students are the most important stakeholders of any educational system, their voices are often marginalized in policymaking. Failing to consider students’ perspectives may lead to a mismatch between ‘intention’ and ‘reality’, i.e., what we deliver and what the students receive, which gets aggravated during crises. The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example where the students were the most affected stakeholders, and indeed, their active engagement is indispensable for any educational future planning. Therefore, this chapter aims to understand the impact of the sudden shift from face-to-face to emergency remote teaching (ERT) on students in Oman using a bottom-up approach. An online survey was administered to Sultan Qaboos University students, and 337 responses were received. For reliable results, both descriptive and inferential statistics are reported. The findings are categorized under six different themes: student readiness, communication and interaction with teachers, course materials, online learning and gender ability, students’ well-being and emotions in ERT, and overall ERT experience. These results have significant implications for the students, the teachers, and senior management of higher education institutions in Oman and beyond. More importantly, the chapter informs higher education policymaking, which influences and is, in turn, influenced by the country's industry and economy.