Critical Factors to Approach the Emergency Online Teaching Due to the COVID-19

Abstract

This study analyzed the critical factors to approach the emergency online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic in a business school in Latin America. The data were collected through a semi-structured online questionnaire administered to 94 full-time and part-time faculty members. The study identified 10 critical factors for the successful implementation of emergency online teaching. The originality of the study lies in analyzing the experience in migrating to online teaching in a Hispanic higher education academic institution.

Introduction

E-learning (also known as online learning), defined as “the use of internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance’’ (Rosenberg, 2001, p. 28), has played a significant role in education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has forced educational institutions around the world to switch to online teaching as the only alternative to continue providing educational services. This teaching model, called emergency remote teaching, refers to a “temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances” (Hodges et al., 2020) through a fully remote teaching. The emergency remote teaching is similar to online learning because it refers to an educational model in which students and professors are at a physical distance but interact using technology (Martinho et al., 2021). However, Hodges et al. (2020) state that this type of teaching method differs from online learning because the latter results from a careful curriculum design and planning that includes several dimensions, such as teaching method, pedagogy, instructor role, student role, synchronous and asynchronous communication, evaluation, feedback, among others.

Higher education providers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have varied greatly (Crawford et al., 2020). Some educational institutions closed their face-to-face facilities and moved to online teaching. Educational institutions with more resources and experience in learning management systems quickly and successfully implemented these changes, while others simply switched from face-to-face educational models to remote sessions. In this regard, several studies highlight the main challenges of emergency online teaching such as the weakness of online teaching infrastructure, the lack of experience of professors, the information gap, the complex environment at home for professors and students, and others.

Since we are still unsure about when this pandemic will be controlled, it is highly likely that online teaching and learning will continue. Although online learning is not new, the COVID-19 crisis marked the first attempt to make it global (Whittle et al., 2020), which is why it is necessary to analyze the critical factors related to this educational model (Almaiah et al., 2020). While online learning has been widely covered by the literature, the challenges of the online methods imposed by emergencies are still understudied (Krüger et al., 2020). To the best of our knowledge, there has not been a thorough analysis of the critical factors of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. The study of emergency online teaching in Latin America is especially relevant because of its peculiarities, compared with developed countries. First, Latin American countries have less developed educational systems compared with those from developed countries. Second, Latin American educational institutions face significant limitations related to technological infrastructure, a fundamental aspect of online teaching. Third, professors and students have had to deal with extraordinary conditions during their educational activities, including situations like all family members had to stay at home.

Based on the above, this study will attempt to answer the following research question: What are the critical factors to approach business school’s emergency online teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic? The study analyzed the experience of a business school in Peru during the migration from a face-to-face or blended method to an online teaching method, to include this new learning method into future hybrid and online programs.

This article is organized in five sections. In the first section, the literature review discusses studies related to the critical success factors for the implementation of e-learning. In the second section, we present the research methodology. In the third section, we present the results; and, finally, in the last sections, we present the findings and the conclusions.

Literature Review

Most of the current research summarizes the critical success factors for e-learning considering functional dimensions such as the organizational, technological, content, pedagogical dimensions, and general factors (Table 1) (Lin et al., 2011; McPherson & Baptista-Nunes, 2006; Miranda et al., 2017; Sridharan et al., 2010). The organizational dimension includes the experience of project leaders; leadership for decision-making and problem-solving skills; top management support for funding and technological; and experience support. The technological dimension covers the learning management system and technical support to ensure the successful day-to-day running of online learning experiences. The content dimension includes the simplification of contents to make them easy to design and deliver; the creation of interesting designs of e-learning and content to engage students; as well as auxiliary templates for course design. The pedagogical dimension refers to the identification and adoption of learner-centered pedagogical strategies. Finally, the general factors dimension includes the engagement of the teaching staff and students to use the new technologies; effective communication processes among the project manager, technicians, module lecturers; and trust in the e-learning environment.

Table 1.

Functional Dimensions of E-Learning.

Authors	Dimensions
McPherson and Baptista-Nunes (2006)	Leadership and culture, technology, design issues and delivery issues
Sridharan et al. (2010)	Technology, organization, and education
Lin et al. (2011)	Organizational dimension, technological dimension, e-learning content dimension, general factors dimension
Miranda et al. (2017)	Technology (technology infrastructure, mobile technology, visualization tools, interoperability, and personalized learning); content (flexible content, content storage, and management) and stakeholders (student’s participation)
McGill et al. (2014)	Technology adopted, institutional support, and funds allocation
Elkaseh et al. (2015)	Technology, digital experience, attitude, social influence, course design, language, teaching and learning styles, and student demographics
Alhabeeb and Rowley (2018)	Student characteristics, ease of access, instructor characteristics, and support and training
Ahmad et al. (2018)	Technological infrastructure, course design, course flexibility, content relevance and comprehensibility, training, access security, commitment, organization, and ease of use of the platform

In addition to the classifications of critical factors under a functional criterion, an important group of researches summarized three critical success factors of the e-learning as follows: IT models (content, structure, infrastructure, and support), instructors, and students. Selim (2007) studied the success factors for e-learning within a higher education context and found eight dimensions: attitude of professors toward technology; teaching style of professors; motivation of students and digital capabilities; interaction with students; structure and content of courses; ease of access to technological infrastructure; effectiveness of technological infrastructure; and organizational support for e-learning activities.

In their research, Sun et al. (2008) developed an integrated model with six dimensions to explain the factors affecting user satisfaction with e-learning: learners, instructors, courses, technology, design, and environment. Their study indicated that the anxiety of students about technology, the attitude of professors toward e-learning, flexibility and quality of online courses, perception of the usefulness of online learning, and evaluation systems are the critical factors that affect learners’ perceived satisfaction. Bhuasiri et al. (2012) analyzed e-learning in developing countries and found 6 dimensions and 20 critical success factors for e-learning systems: student characteristics (self-efficacy in technology and attitude toward e-learning); professor characteristics (response time toward the student, self-efficacy in the use of technology, control of technology, level of interactions, attitude toward students); quality of service; technological infrastructure and quality of systems; and quality of courses and extrinsic motivations.

Wang et al. (2019) studied the intentions of students to use cloud e-learning applications in higher education. They found that said intentions were directly related to the positive experiences with the applications, confidence in the system, and the degree of satisfaction with the educational process through the application of technology. More recently, Naveed et al. (2020) categorized the important critical success factors that affect e-learning system in five dimensions: students, instructors, design and content, system and technological, and institutional management. The dimension related to students referred to their attitude toward e-learning, their motivation, effectiveness of the internet infrastructure, interaction with other students, and commitment toward online learning. The dimension of instructors was considered essential for the successful implementation of an e-learning system. It included the attitude of instructors toward e-learning, their digital skills, appropriate timely feedback to students, and communication skills. The design and content dimension was related to well-structured course content, learning tools and activities, and an appropriate curriculum. It included interactive learning activities, appropriate course design, use of multimedia instruction, and user-friendly organized and understandable content. The system and technological dimension was related to the learning management system, technical support for students and professors, technological infrastructure, and reliability of the system. Finally, the institutional dimension referred to the institutional support related to funding, training, faculty support, and legal and ethical aspects.

Some empirical studies have been conducted to identify the factors affecting the educational systems during the pandemic. Hall et al. (2020) analyzed the responses of Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and The Netherlands educational systems and found that they need to have access to technology but also receive technological training and support for the benefit of their staff and students. Ali (2020) proposed that besides the resources, staff readiness, and staff confidence, student accessibility and motivation play an important role in IT integrated into learning. Huang et al. (2020), based on the Chinese experience, identified core elements for online teaching in emergencies: network infrastructure, friendly learning tools, interactive digital learning resources, student guidance to use effective learning methods, teaching strategies, and support services for faculty and students. Finally, Mengistie (2021) analyzed several higher education institutions in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that the development of technologies and infrastructures in both rural and urban areas of the country are the dominant factors that decision makers need to consider.

In Latin America, studies have focused on describing the transition to e-learning instead of analyzing the critical factors for a successful e-learning implementation. In a study carried out in Chile, Ramirez-Montoya (2020) indicated that the main challenges were to ensure that all students and professors had online access and that practical training was offered to students. Paredes-Chacín et al. (2020) pointed out that the Colombian government managed to support training programs for teachers from all over the country to make a smooth transition from the classroom to remote education. However, the connectivity and access to electronic devices was the main problem, especially for low-income households.

Method

We used a case study based on a Peruvian business school to identify the critical factors to approach the emergency online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted at CENTRUM PUCP Business School (CPUCP; Lima, Peru). For business schools, the main voluntary accreditation agencies that operate on a global scale are Association of MBAs (AMBA), Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). During the pandemic, CPUCP managed to migrate in-person postgraduate programs (approximately 3,500 students) to online learning. The study participants were 94 full-time and part-time faculty members who implemented the emergency online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Table 2 shows the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Data were collected during the lockdown period, between May and June 2020, through an online platform.

Table 2.

Demographics Characteristics of Interviewees.

Interviewees	Number	Percentage
Teaching activity:
Full time	25	27%
Part time	69	73%
Gender
Female	22	23%
Male	72	77%
Age
30–50	49	52%
51–70	45	48%

We used a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was made based on the critical success factors for e-learning from previous literature. We considered the following open-ended questions: What were the critical factors to implement the emergency online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic? Why are these factors important? Participants signed an informed consent form about their voluntary participation and the compromise of non personally identifiable information in the study. The information was coded and analyzed using a thematic analysis methodology. The procedures suggested by Yin (2016) were used to analyze qualitative information: compile database, disassemble data, reassemble data, interpret, and reach conclusions.

The Peruvian education sector has experienced important changes over the last two decades because of the country’s economic growth, regulatory changes to improve and regulate the quality of education, and the increased demand for access to higher education. These changes are reflected in an increased number of university students (from 424,000 in 2000 to 1.48 million in 2020); the number of students in graduate programs (87,495 professionals pursuing a graduate degree in different universities) and; an increase in the amount of educational institutions (from 49 universities in 1990 to 94 universities in 2020) (National Superintendence for Higher Education, 2020). Peru’s government ordered lockdown restrictions as of March 16, 2020 and indicated that academic activities could not be conducted in person, possibly until the end of 2021.

Regarding the authors’ perspectives and relationship with the participants, the authors of the study are academics and social science researchers of a Business School. They have also been involved in the management of business schools for the last 20 years. Likewise, the three Peruvian authors have had international academic and professional experiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors have been personally involved in the challenges of implementation of the emergency online teaching.

Results

The results showed 10 critical factors that explain the successful implementation of emergency online teaching in business schools: leadership; faculty and staff commitment; effective communication processes; continuous culture improvement; ability to adapt quickly to changes with a positive attitude; technological drive; faculty and student training in online methodology; feedback and student engagement; pedagogical and technical support; and curriculum design, content, and materials. Table 3 shows the codes generated in the analysis. The factors identified are explained subsequently and have been ordered according to the frequency identified in the analysis.

Table 3.

Critical Factors to Approach Emergency Online Teaching (Codes).

Critical factor	Codes	Frequency
Leadership	Guidance to achieve goals	11
	Motivation of faculty and staff	8
	Management of institutional changes	14
	Engagement of students in the challenge	14
Effective communication processes	Academic coordination	13
	Successful implementation of the plans	6
	Exchange of experiences and solutions	6
	Strength of labor ties	8
Faculty and staff commitment	Faculty: Fulfillment of objectives considering the quality	9
	Faculty: Engagement with institutional objectives	5
	Faculty: Adaptation to e-learning	6
	Staff: Maintenance of educational quality	8
	Staff: Support to students	7
	Staff: Support to faculty	5
	Staff: Support virtual implementation	7
Continuous improvement culture	Permanent feedback	12
	Quickly adaptation to the new environment	10
	Innovate processes and be at the forefront	6
	Educational model improvement	9
Ability to adapt quickly to changes with a positive attitude	Flexibility to changes	9
	Resilience	8
	Positive attitude to change	4
Technological adjustment to change.	Technological platforms and tools	15
	Technological Skills	8
	Training in the use of technological tools	5
	Technical assistance and support	11
Feedback and engagement	Develop empathy with the students	8
	Motivation of students	14
	Impact on professional activity	12
	Student engagement	8
Pedagogic and technical support	Permanent support to professors in the educational model	15
	Support professors in technical issues	15
	Support professors in online pedagogy	12
Faculty and student training in online methodology	Instruct to achieve virtual adaptation	14
	Acquisition of new skills	6
	Training of professors in virtual pedagogy	12
	Inclusion of the training into the educational process	4
	Quality content and material	21
Curriculum design, content and materials	Teach up-to-date and attractive contents	20
	Achieve educational goals	10
	Adequate materials for online learning	20

Effective Leadership

As the change from a face-to-face education model to an online teaching method involves a change in the academic and administrative processes, the leadership of the dean is a critical factor to make program directors, faculty, staff, and students engage with this challenge. This leadership is also critical to meet the goals and to allocate the human and financial resources that are required to solve problems during the process. Furthermore, the role of the team in charge of the implementation and the role of program directors have been key elements, as interviewee 51 stated, “the leadership gives the direction and guides the School to succeed in teaching e-learning”; and interviewee 15 noted, “it is a very significant change so its management can only be achieved with an effective leadership.”

Faculty and Staff Commitment (academic Support, Technological Support, Logistics, and Administration)

The commitment of faculty members to the quality of the teaching-learning process during the emergency online teaching was probably the most critical factor in the implementation process, as interviewee 16 said, “we, the professors, are still the pillar of learning, even though there are thousands of facilitator-tools.” The ability to adapt and transform in a very short period the contents, materials, tutoring, training sessions as well as the capability to offer students in doctoral and master’s programs an educational experience equal to or better than in the classroom, would not have been possible without a high level of faculty and staff commitment. Staff commitment has played a critical role to keep up the level of quality in the educational service and provide the necessary support to the faculty. Commitment, according to faculty members, is the third critical factor for success in an organization, along with leadership and alignment, as interviewee 30 said, “the faculty is the facilitator of learning. . .professors must be motivated to adopt the new educational methods. . . the staff should support the faculty, but also, have direct contact with the students.”

Continuous Improvement Culture

The culture oriented to continuous improvement is also considered a critical factor as well as the shared values of innovation, transparency, communication, and trust through the free exchange of ideas among students, professors, and staff, as interviewee 39 said, “it is not enough to do things right only once, it has to be continuous, since forms and procedures are dynamic. The educational offer of schools must be permanently re-evaluated.” Thus, this culture implies a constant search for innovation of processes, permanent adjustments, and fundamental factors for organizations to adapt quickly to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing new technologies and improving educational models.

Effective Communication Processes

An essential aspect for the successful implementation of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the existence of effective communication processes between the implementation team, faculty members, staff, and students. Communication is not only oriented to the effective execution of plans and the coordination of the school cross-sectional processes but also contributes to make the virtual environment “more human.” Communication allows strengthening links, fostering good relationships between school members, and generating a climate of trust and teamwork, which increases the chances of successful implementation. In this regard, interviewee 31 said, “without internal academic communication, the goals would not be achieved. Effective communication will ensure that the objectives and plans are of general knowledge and enable their effective implementation. . .communication is critical for this alignment to work.”

Ability to Adapt Quickly to Changes With a Positive Attitude

The attitude and willingness of the faculty and staff to respond immediately to new processes as well as to adapt and meet the challenges of online learning were considered critical factors. In particular, flexibility, resilient behavior, and a positive attitude to turn problems into challenges and destroy obstacles. The positive attitude has also been fundamental to overcome possible confusion and errors in the virtualization process and maintain an attitude of continuous improvement as interviewee 92 remarked, “a positive attitude to change is a “must.” . . . If you don’t adapt, you die.”

Technological Factor

Technological dimension refers to three areas: learning management systems and use of different technological tools to support e-learning, technological skills of professors, and technical assistance for students and professors. The technological platform and tools are critical factors as well as the ability of the faculty to use these tools to develop dynamic and engaging classes with high-quality content and great student participation. It is also essential to have technological and technical support to meet the requirements that arise during the virtualization process, avoid problems during the learning process, and quickly answer questions from the faculty and students. According to interviewees 28 and 71, “without technological infrastructure, the virtual world wouldn’t work” and “training in technological tools is key to success.”

Faculty and Student Training in Online Methodology

Training in online learning models for students is one of the most relevant factors for the application of online teaching, as interviewee 28 noted, “constant training is needed because of the continuous changes and the discoveries in best practices.” The training has been focused on the following aspects: skills in the use of the virtual platform, didactic strategies through virtual media, communication models through virtual networks, use of technologies to achieve student engagement in virtual environments, and development of virtual materials, among others. The mentors, who were professors with greater experience in online learning and especially recognized for that, have been a key element to train different groups of professors.

Feedback and Student Engagement

A critical factor to succeed in online teaching is the capacity of the faculty to respond in a permanent and assertive way to different student queries. For students, one of the most critical factors is the feedback received. Thus, it is important to provide them feedback on time on assignments that are part of the learning process. In addition, to generate a high level of engagement with online learning, students need to have attractive content, permanent feedback, professor empathy, personal treatment, and humanization of the teaching process. Interviewees 85 and 37 noted,

“the communication and treatment with the students, the availability for when they need us is key”; “although it is online, it is important to have empathy and to understand that in the end they are people and not actors who study. . . they are not robots studying with machines; they are people interacting remotely with other human beings.”

Pedagogical and Technical Support

Pedagogical support refers to the technical assistance received by the faculty, from the school, to improve e-learning. The assistance is mainly oriented to teaching planning through learning management systems, the role of the professor during the development of students’ competences, the educational model and the design of adequate materials for this type of teaching, and the use of self-learning resources and monitoring of learning achievements, among others. Likewise, technical support aims to provide permanent assistance to the faculty so they can implement an adequate teaching process through learning management systems, as interviewee 46 noted, “I see that many educational institutions are desperate to use state-of-the-art tools but only few are interested in training their professors to teach on virtual environments.”

Curriculum Design, Content, and Materials

It is related to the study plan, the course contents, and the development of materials specially developed for online learning. In terms of content, professors must ensure the constant updating of educational content to adapt to the needs of the labor market and the skills required by the digital world. As for materials, online programs should include material specifically made for digital media. Interviewees 31, 37, and 64 remarked, “a program with an updated and high-quality study plan will generate the interest of students who register in the program”; “without good materials, you will hardly have good results”; “the contents and materials must help students in their learning process.”

Discussion and Practical Implications

Based on the perceptions of faculty members, this study analyzed the critical factors to approach the emergency online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic in a private business school in Peru. The study identified 10 critical factors, which can be organized into 4 dimensions: organizational (leadership, effective communication process, faculty and staff commitment, ability to adapt quickly to changes with a positive attitude, continuous improvement culture); technological (learning management system platform and other support technologies for e-learning, technological skills of professors, technical assistance to students and professors); pedagogical (feedback and student engagement, pedagogical and technical support, faculty and student training in online methodology); and content (curriculum design, content, and material development). The organizational dimension represents 44% of the critical factors; the technological dimension, 9.4%; the pedagogical dimension, 24%; and the content dimension, 12%. Table 4 shows that the most valuable factors are the organizational dimension and the pedagogical dimension. Figure 1 shows the proposed framework.

Table 4.

Critical Factors to Approach the Emergency Online Teaching (Dimensions).

Dimension	Critical factors	Frequency	%
Organizational	Leadership	47	11.3
	Faculty and staff commitment	47	11.3
	Effective communication process	33	8.0
	Continuous improvement culture	37	8.9
	Ability to adapt quickly to changes with a positive attitude	21	5.1
	Total	185	44.6
Technological	Learning management system platforms and other support technologies for e-learning, technological skills of professors, technical assistance for students and professors	39	9.4
Pedagogical	Faculty and student training in online methodology	57	13.7
	Feedback and student engagement	42	10.1
	Pedagogical and technical support	42	10.1
	Total	141	34.0
Content	Curriculum design, content of each subject and material development	50	12.0
	Total	415	100.0

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework of the critical factors to approach the emergency online teaching due to COVID-19.

Although the demographic characteristics of students and faculty populations of developed and developing countries are not the same, the results of the study are consistent with the findings of previous literature on critical components of online teaching. Results are comparable because the population of the study was the faculty of a business school, accredited by international agencies and with the same standards of international business schools. Regarding the previous literature, the study found that the organizational, pedagogical, and content dimensions have a critical impact on online teaching but also the technological factors. The identified factors confirm that moving successfully from face-to-face education to online teaching is much more than a technological issue and that the organizational, pedagogical, and educational content dimensions are required for a successful outcome.

The study findings led to some recommendations for better practices. First, business schools should recognize that the technological aspect (Learning Management System platform) is only a part of the online learning model and that successful implementation of online teaching should consider the organizational, pedagogical, and online content aspects. Second, the study made evident the need for access to technology and virtual platforms. A need to be supported by adequate training for professors and students so they can properly use new technologies. Third, professors will continue to be an important part of the online teaching process as much as they are in the face-to-face teaching method. Therefore, the training of professors in hybrid teaching models, where students enjoy the flexibility of online classes and some face-to-face interaction, is a critical success factor.

The originality of this study lies in analyzing the experience of business schools in migrating from face-to-face or blended education to an emergency online teaching method during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the point of view of faculty members, so that these learnings can be integrated into future hybrid and online programs. This study also provides empirical evidence on online learning in Latin American business schools with less developed educational systems, compared with the educational systems of developed countries.

Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research

The study has some limitations. The first limitation is that the qualitative approach does not allow generalizing data; therefore, its contribution focuses on a deep analysis of a specific reality, which is the emergency online teaching in a Business School in Peru. Another limitation is the population of the study (i.e., the study focuses on the perception of part-time and full-time faculty but does not address the perceptions of students). Third, the study centers on the experiences that the faculty revealed to us, but it is possible that the participants did not share certain information voluntarily or unconsciously. For further studies, we suggest to deepen the study of the factors affecting online teaching from the point of view of students so that it can be compared with the point of view of professors. It is also encouraged to conduct quantitative analysis, using the critical factors found in this study. Finally, further studies could be conducted in public universities, undergraduate programs, and executive education programs to understand how the critical factors differ between education levels.

Author Biographies

Professor Beatrice Avolio has a Doctorate in Strategic Business Administration from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Master of Philosophy from the Maastricht School of Management. Master in Business Administration from ESAN, Perú.

Professor Jorge Benzaquen has a Engineer Degree in Ocean Engineering and M.Sc. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Master in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Professor Carlos Bazán has a Master degree in Strategic Business Administration from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.