Supporting Inclusive Online Higher Education in Developing Countries: Lessons Learnt from Sri Lanka’s University Closure

Abstract

Online higher education teaching and learning has become a new normal in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the support for online learning seems inadequate to address students’ diverse online learning needs and may impede the inclusiveness in higher education. Therefore, based on a questionnaire administered to higher education students in Sri Lanka, this paper examines the support or lack of support students have experienced during the university closure that may enable or hinder inclusive online learning. It draws on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a theoretical lens to analyse and make sense of these enablers for and barriers to inclusive online higher education. The key findings suggest that students first need autonomy support to access stable and affordable internet and devices, and quality online learning resources. They also need competence support for monitoring and managing their own learning through feedback and scaffolding as they engage in their learning online. Finally, they need relatedness support for reducing their anxiety and having a sense of connectedness by interacting and communicating with teachers and students.

1. Introduction

The United Nations sets the Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG4) as ‘inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has slowed down the achievement of this goal by 2030, especially for developing countries [2]. In Sri Lanka, many universities have to temporarily shut down their campuses to reduce the spread of the virus. Although the government and universities have provided emergency support for students to continue their learning online [3], it is highlighted that ensuring inclusiveness is one of the major challenges faced in the Sri Lanka’s higher education context [4,5,6]. As students have different backgrounds and different capacities for learning online, their online learning needs and experiences vary [7,8]. The support for online learning plays an important role in addressing students’ online learning needs in universities and hence enhances inclusiveness. In other words, the support for online learning needs to ensure that the design and implementation of online higher education can provide access for students to engage in diverse online learning experiences. In terms of the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the studies tend to focus on the challenges in online learning and teaching in universities [9,10]. Yet, relatively fewer studies discussed the support needed for inclusive online higher education. Therefore, based on a questionnaire administered to higher education students in Sri Lanka, this paper examines the support or lack of support students have experienced during the university closure that may enable or hinder inclusive online learning.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Support for Inclusive Online Learning in Higher Education

According to Hockings [11], “inclusive learning and teaching in higher education refers to the ways in which pedagogy, curricula and assessment are designed to engage students in learning that is meaningful, relevant, accessible to all” (p. 1). Studies over the past decade have provided important information on inclusive learning in higher education at the course level [4,12]. Researchers have highlighted that inclusive learning in higher education requires further investigation of how students are supported [11,13]. In the context of online learning, the principle of inclusive learning in higher education is applicable. Therefore, building on Hocking’s definition, inclusive online learning refers to the opportunities afforded by online technologies that make higher education accessible, relevant, meaningful, and engaging to all students.

Support for higher education students has been highlighted to be one of the key elements for enabling inclusive online learning [14,15,16]. Floyd and Casey-Powell [14] propose the Inclusive Student Services Process Model and recommend that support has to accommodate students’ needs throughout the whole learning process in higher education. Likewise, Simpson [16] reports and emphasises that the support offered in the United Kingdom proactively meets students’ individual needs and provides ongoing interactions to keep students motivated. Therefore, such support is more likely to enable inclusive online learning in universities. Researchers have provided important insights on the support that is needed to facilitate online learning at the institutional level [16], but few studies have been conducted in developing countries. There is a need for “a more personalised yet holistic approach to student support” [15] (p. 1) to enable inclusive online learning in developing countries. As student support is one of the key elements to enabling inclusive online learning, it is critical to examine how the support or lack of support of online learning contributes to inclusive higher education learning.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, university closures have reduced the possibility of face-to-face interactions among teachers and students. It is reported that students felt anxious and isolated without physical interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic [17]. Moreover, it is highlighted that the support for online learning is crucial to addressing students’ different needs, given their different technological, emotional, and socio-economical levels during the COVID-19 pandemic [18,19]. If students do not receive adequate support in online learning, they are less likely to be able to continue their learning [20]. Researchers have called for more investigation into the support for inclusive online learning [21,22]. Therefore, it is critical to gain a better understanding of the support or lack of support that university students experienced in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2.2. Self-Determination Theory as a Lens to Study Online Learning Support for Students

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) [23] offers a valuable conceptual framework for investigating the support needed for inclusive online learning from students’ perspectives. SDT highlights individuals have the three basic psychological needs, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness [23]. Support for the satisfaction of these needs is more likely to have a positive impact on human development and well-being. In terms of online higher education, whether students’ basic psychological needs are satisfied affects their achievement of learning outcomes, engagement in online learning, and well-being [13,14,15,16,24]. Researchers have highlighted that a supportive learning environment that meets students’ basic psychological needs is more likely to encourage students’ engagement in online learning and may contribute to inclusive online learning [24,25]. Understanding the support or lack of support from these three basic psychological needs of students may aid to identify the factors that enable or hinder inclusive online higher education.

With respect to the three basic psychological needs of SDT in online learning, autonomy concerns a sense of initiative and ownership in students’ online learning experience. Students need to feel in control of their behaviours and goals in online learning. Competence concerns the feeling of mastery. Students need to be motivated to have the awareness of their capability in online learning. Relatedness concerns a sense of belonging and connection. Students need to feel connected and supported in online learning. To facilitate inclusive online higher education, it is crucial to provide support for addressing these three needs of SDT [12]—autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In other words, the support for meeting these three needs should enable accessibility, relevance, meaningfulness, and engagement in online learning environments.

To be more specific, first, the support for the autonomy needs is more likely to relate to the accessibility to online learning, such as infrastructure and resources to facilitate university students to learn at their own pace anytime, anywhere. Second, supporting the competence needs refers to providing a well-structured online learning environment to offer students with ongoing feedback and opportunities for their capacity building in online learning. To address competence needs, university students need to be provided with meaningful online learning experience [26]. Finally, the support for relatedness needs is that students can feel supported and connected by interacting with others in online learning [12]. With the support for these three basic psychological needs of university students, it is more likely that students are engaged in online learning, thus leading to inclusive online higher education [24]. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the support or lack of support for students’ basic psychological needs in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By using SDT as a lens, this study examines the support or lack of support students have experienced during the university closure that may enable or hinder inclusive online learning. This study is guided by the following research question and sub-questions:

How does the support or lack of support that students have experienced during the university closure enable or hinder inclusive online learning?

• What support or lack of support have students experienced during the university closure?
• How do these experiences enable or hinder inclusive online learning?
• What support do students need for inclusive online learning?

3. Research Design and Method

3.1. Instrument: Questionnaire for University Students

Drawing upon the theoretical framework of Lim, Wang, and Graham [27], the researchers analysed documents of reputable sources in the public domain—official websites of Sri Lanka government departments ¹ and Sri Lanka universities ², policy papers from international organisations ³, in order to develop the questionnaire that examines the implementation of online learning in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic. The international, national, and university policy documents on supporting online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were reviewed to understand the online learning context in Sri Lanka and identify the measures adopted to drive and support online learning at the national and university levels. Based on a review of the literature with respect to online learning implementation and higher education in Sri Lanka, the researchers worked closely with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Presidential Taskforce, University Grants Commission (UGC), and Ministry of Education to design the questionnaire items that might indicate the existing situation and gaps among higher education students in Sri Lanka. Additionally, the design of the questionnaire was informed by the researchers’ discussions with the colleagues who had first-hand experience in Sri Lankan universities to ensure that the questionnaire is suitable for understanding students’ experiences academically, technically, and administratively in Sri Lanka during university closures. Their perspectives could provide insights into the support or lack of support that might or might not address their three basic psychological needs [15].

The questionnaire consists of three parts and includes 61 closed questions and an open-ended question. The closed questions and rating scales generate an overview of university students’ satisfaction and experiences with online learning about the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, for the part on demographic information, there are sixteen questions which collect information on the university students and their families, including gender, university programme, family income, and so on. The second part, including twenty-four questions, focuses on the support offered at the institutional level and class level and students’ online learning experience through rating on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (significantly). The third part includes twenty-one questions that collect information on students’ access to digital devices and the internet. The open-ended question allows the university students to express their personal feelings and experiences, and suggestions related to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content validity was adopted for the development of the questionnaire to enhance the validity strength of the questionnaire. Regarding content validity, with the support of ADB, the questionnaire was piloted in a city university in Sri Lanka, and subsequently revised based on the feedback from university teachers and education specialists in ADB, Sri Lanka. They commented on situating the questions in the Sri Lankan higher education context and reviewed the readability, clarity, and comprehensiveness of the questionnaire items.

A convenience sampling method was utilised for the selection process of the participants in this study. Due to the closure of universities in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic, the scope of the study was limited to higher education students who have access to the internet. The survey links were sent out via emails, where participants were informed about the research aims. All participants were provided with informed consent forms and were reminded of their rights to withdraw at any point without consequence on the cover page of the questionnaire. In the informed consent forms, the participants were informed that “By proceeding to the questionnaire, you are indicating that you are at least 18 years old, have read and understood this consent form and agree to participate in this research study”. Anonymity was ensured and all participants were informed that their data would be dealt with confidentiality. Data were collected between 17 and 29 June 2020 from students of all state and non-state universities under the Ministry of Education and the UGC in Sri Lanka.

3.2. Data Analysis

SDT was adopted in this study as an analytic framework to examine the support or lack of support for higher education students’ online learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics with the focus on the accessibility to online learning for students’ autonomy needs (10 items), the opportunities and challenges for engaging in online learning for their competence needs (8 items), and the feelings towards online learning during the pandemic for their relatedness needs (5 items). Qualitative responses to the open-ended question were thematically analysed using NVivo 12 to identify and extract themes from the responses [28]. To ensure the reliability and validity of the data analysis, the researchers adopted inter-rater reliability to reduce their biases throughout this process. As the study focuses on the support or lack of support that students have experienced during the university closure, the data were initially coded with students’ perceptions of the support or lack of support, a priori coding was developed from the SDT framework and additional codes that emerged during the analysis [29] by the two members of the research team individually, that is, the first two authors. The two authors followed an iterative qualitative analytic procedure of reading, rereading, coding, discussing, and identifying the themes, and became familiar with the data [30]. The two authors compared and discussed any disagreements. When necessary, the two authors sought advice from another member of the research team to resolve the disagreements. The whole research team collaboratively generated the themes.

As state universities are dominant in the Sri Lankan higher education system [31], the majority of the respondents were from state universities. A total of 20,342 responses (from 52 universities in Sri Lanka) were used for the analysis. The majority of the respondents (65%) were female.

4. Key Findings and Discussions

Guided by the research questions, the key findings are generated and discussed based on the SDT framework of the three student learning needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

4.1. Autonomy Support: Enhancing Accessibility to Online Learning

In terms of supporting autonomy needs, the students perceived that software was supported to address their basic needs to start online learning during the university closure, yet there was a lack of quality of internet connection, hardware, and online learning resources to address their autonomy needs. According to the responses, over three-quarters of the students (77%) reported that their universities provided facilitating conditions to support their online learning. In terms of software for online learning, for instance, 91% of the respondents indicated that Learning Management System was adopted at the institutional level for them to download the learning material. 85% of the students reported that the video-conferencing tool Zoom was provided to allow them to have real-time online classes. However, concerns regarding the quality of internet connection, together with affordable devices and online learning resources for online learning were raised. Of all respondents, 71% highlighted the poor internet connection at home as one of the major difficulties to learning at their own pace and one which affected their engagement in online learning, such as failing to attend real-time online classes or to take the examinations on time:

“It is very unfair to conduct exams via online since all students don’t have a good internet connection at home. I’ve missed several lectures because of that, especially on rainy days”.

“Although i lives in a very urban area there is no network coverage for any of the services in my residence. So I also missed several questions”.

“One of my friends lives in the hill country. The network connection is very poor in her area. She always comes to the road and stands until the lectures finish. In a rainy season, her situation is worse”.

The lack of quality internet connection affected most of the students to participate in real-time online classes, and to complete asynchronous learning tasks at their own pace during the pandemic [22]. It was challenging for them to interact with their teachers and peers without a stable internet connection.

With respect to the devices for online learning, the majority of the students (91%) reported they have a smartphone that allows them to learn online, while only 63% stated that they have a laptop or desktop computer for engaging in online learning activities. For the comments on the open-ended question, the students were unanimous in their view that the lack of appropriate devices prevented them from engaging in online learning activities. One student commented, ‘There are so many students who are unable to participate in online lectures because they do not have the necessary equipment. Also, they do not have a good and stable connection to participate. If we are going to conduct the lectures online further, those students must be provided necessary equipment’. Another student highlighted the affordability of devices for online learning, “Check the device availability among students. Most of them can’t afford them”. In terms of the financial support for devices, only 39% of the students indicated that they were provided with device loans from their universities to support online learning. Without appropriate devices for online learning, higher education students are less likely to keep pace with and engage in online learning. Moreover, the online resources provided for their learning were deemed to be inadequate. For instance, only 39% of the students reported that they were guided by their teachers to open educational resources. A quarter of the students reported that they have access to open-source digital resources from the digital library.

Lack of appropriate devices for online learning, low-quality and unstable internet connections, and lack of access to online learning resources are unlikely to address the autonomy needs of higher education students and are more likely to hinder their engagement in online learning [32]. The finding is consistent with that of Day et al. [33] who reported the lack of access to appropriate devices and limited resources affected students’ online learning experience. Inclusive online learning is then less likely to be achieved. Therefore, it is critical that efforts be made to address such a gap so that all students own an appropriate device with a good internet connection to engage in their online learning, thus ensuring inclusive online learning.

4.2. Competence Support: Providing a More Structured Online Learning Environment to Support Students’ Monitoring and Management of Their Learning Online

More than 80% of the students perceived that their teachers have adopted online tools to support them in learning online. However, the structure of the real-time online classes discouraged them from having a meaningful online learning experience. A student highlighted that ‘it would be great if lecturers could be innovative to present online sessions rather than sitting in front of the computer talking. Most of the senior lecturers are not familiar with the technology.’ Likewise, 63% of the students reported that they were provided with lecture slides, while less than half of the students (48%) indicated that they were provided video recordings as learning resources. Some students indicated that the online classes were less likely to provide them with opportunities to ask questions for feedback or discuss with peers for knowledge building:

“Many lecturers were just uploading lectures in Learning Management System and asked us to do self-study. They don’t even put voice recordings”.

“It would be great if lecturers could be innovative to present online sessions rather siting in front computer talking”.

The responses suggest that the lack of meaningful online learning activities provided by the university teachers may hinder students’ engagement. Due to the inadequate guidance and structure of online learning implemented by their teachers, the competence needs of higher education students were less likely to be met, and thus, may hinder inclusive online learning. University teachers have to design and implement meaningful online learning activities with guidance and feedback to facilitate students’ knowledge building and management of learning [34]. By providing students with more choices to meet their learning needs, university students are more likely to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for online learning and facilitate their active engagement in online learning [35].

With respect to students’ knowledge of learning online, less than a quarter of them (24%) indicated that they were well prepared for online learning. A Year-one student shared, ‘As we spent only 4 days at university, we didn’t get any idea about lectures at all. I don’t have much knowledge about information technology and internet facilities’. Likewise, another student highlighted that they lacked the capacity to learn online, ‘I believe some students do not have a good ability to search for information on the internet. This is a skill that is rarely taught properly at school’.

The discussions above have highlighted that students need support in understanding how to manage and monitor their learning in online learning environments [36], which aligns with Broadbent’s study that reported the importance of time management skills for students for online learning [37]. As online learning provides more flexibility for students to learn anytime anywhere, they need to play a more active role in monitoring and managing their learning online [38]. As the higher education students in Sri Lanka have less experience in the management and monitoring of their online learning, the support for them to strategically manage their time and learning environment is critical [39]. It is crucial to support students to learn how to manage and monitor their online learning progress and take responsibility for online learning [40].

4.3. Relatedness Support: Reducing Students’ Anxiety and Sense of Isolation in Online Learning, and Providing Proactive Financial Support for Online Learning

Turning now to the students’ relatedness needs, the stress among students was more widespread. Half of the students reported they found the real-time online classes tedious and stressful. A student pointed out that “too much of online lectures and submission of assignments made us stressful”. Another respondent suggested “avoiding prolonged Zoom sessions”. There were some negative comments about their experiences with an online assessment. A respondent said, “In a university or college, all the lecturers should be able to view overall academic progress. At this stage, lots of lecturers in my university think that students have only their assignments. So everyone gives lots of assignments. As a result, the students can’t bear with it”. Another student highlighted that they were exhausted with the overwhelming assignments and suggested that “students’ mental health should be considered over assignments”. The lack of interactions during online learning activities, together with the overwhelming assessment tasks increased the anxiety and the sense of isolation among these higher education students and hindered student learning engagement. The lack of support for meeting students’ relatedness needs seems to hinder inclusive online higher education.

Apart from the anxiety about online real-time lectures and assessments, most of the students (93%) were worried about the impact of the pandemic on the financial support for their online learning. More than half of the students (55%) were concerned with the lack of financial support for continuing online learning. The students highlighted their concerns with the increasing costs for online learning:

“As my parents’ income is reduced due to this COVID-19, I couldn’t ask them to pay my high internet bills”.

“Although many studies from home packages are available now from almost all telecommunication providers. They are not very attractive and charge a premium for only low data amounts. I believe a student who has online lessons almost every day would not be able to cope with the high costs and low data amounts. Every student requires a minimum of about 60GB of monthly data allocation for online conferencing only for a cheaper price than the current rates”.

Apart from the concerns, the students urged for financial support to facilitate their access to online learning.

“It is better if we can get an internet package for surfing the internet freely without worrying about the data chargers”.

“We want more free resources and scholarship opportunities. some students can’t participate lectures because they do not have mobile data or any other scholarships”.

The findings highlighted that the support for relatedness needs among higher education students requires further improvement to reduce their anxiety and sense of isolation in online learning, as well as their concern about financial challenges for online learning. The importance of support for relatedness needs found in this study is congruent with previous studies [41,42]. In order to support students’ relatedness needs, the supporting units at the universities may offer mental health support strategies for students to cope with their anxiety levels. Teachers need to recognise students’ individual related needs in order to reduce their anxiety and sense of isolation in online learning [43]. When students perceive the satisfaction their relatedness need, it is more likely that they attempt to make more efforts in having a meaningful online learning experience [43]. Therefore, teacher–student interactions and peer-mentoring support could be scaled up in universities to build up a sense of community and have a positive impact on students’ engagement in online learning [15,43]. For those students who have financial difficulties, proactive support from different organisations could be offered to provide them with better access to online learning. The findings are in line with those of previous studies that provide support for minimising students’ anxiety due to the challenges of socio-economic aspects of their lives [18,44,45].

Based on the students’ perceptions of their online learning experiences during the university closure, it is clear that support structure and mechanisms have to be put in place by universities and their partners to address students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. When these needs are addressed, universities are then more likely to offer inclusive online learning [12]. The support structure and mechanisms for inclusive online learning are:

(1)

Providing higher education students with reliable and affordable internet connection, hardware, and online learning resources to meet students’ autonomy needs [21]. For inclusive online learning, higher education students should have access to stable internet connections, suitable hardware, and quality online learning resources. Students then are more likely to achieve learner autonomy and learn at their own pace.

(2)

Providing higher education students with a well-structured online learning environment is necessary for meeting students’ competence needs for inclusive online learning. By integrating positive feedback, clear guidelines, and different learning opportunities and challenges, such an online learning environment provides scaffolds for students’ knowledge building as they engage online and are likely to contribute to their meaningful online learning experiences to achieve the expected learning outcomes. At the same time, providing scaffolds for students to learn how to manage and monitor their online learning progress is another crucial aspect of supporting students to take responsibility for online learning.

(3)

Providing higher education students with connections as they engage in online learning. When students feel anxious and isolated during online learning, they are less likely to perceive online learning as meaningful or engaging. When students’ relatedness needs are supported, they are more likely to be engaged and hence, online learning becomes more inclusive [46].

5. Implications and Conclusions

The paper examines the perceived online learning experiences among higher education students in Sri Lanka during university closure in 2020. By adopting Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this paper provides a student-centred perspective for universities to examine the support and the lack of support for addressing student autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. Although universities have provided enabling conditions to support students to learn online [47,48], the lack of adequate support for addressing student needs in online learning has affected inclusive online higher education.

First, the access to the software for online learning allowed the university students to have real-time online classes. However, three challenges were identified that have failed to address students’ autonomy needs: poor quality of internet connection, inadequate financial support to purchase internet data and devices, and the lack of quality online learning resources. To be more specific, without reliable internet connections, higher education students may not be able to access real-time classes and various resources and could not communicate synchronously with their teachers or peers. For those students who could not afford high-speed internet connection and suitable devices for online learning, the lack of financial support might hinder them from having the autonomy to engage in online learning at their own pace. Although some universities might have loaned laptops to students, such a one-size-fits-all support mechanism is less likely to cater to the different online learning needs among students from different disciplines or programmes. A variety of learning resources, such as videos, audio, and even virtual reality, are data-intensive and may require students to pay for an expensive data plan. Without having such quality online learning resources, students may not be able to engage in online learning [49].

Second, the lack of a well-structured online learning environment was less likely to meet students’ competence needs. The lack of online learning activities with scaffolding may affect inclusive online learning. Moreover, the higher education students were not provided with enough support to build up their digital learning skills; these skills are critical for inclusive online learning [50].

Finally, the inadequate support for the relatedness needs may threaten higher education students’ engagement in online learning. It is important to provide more communication opportunities for higher education students to share their challenges so that they can reduce their anxiety and feel connected. In particular, the concern about financial support for online learning was one of the highlighted relatedness needs among students. A more holistic support mechanism from different stakeholders in the higher education context may be necessary to ensure that all students feel more connected and supported

Based on the key findings discussed, there are three implications for the practice of higher education stakeholders in Sri Lanka. First, for meeting the autonomy needs of higher education students in Sri Lanka, universities should work closely with Telecommunication providers in Sri Lanka to enhance the quality of internet connection so that all students living in different areas in Sri Lanka could have access to online learning. The customised financial support plans can be developed with different partners to help those students who cannot afford hardware for online learning. Universities can collaboratively introduce a variety of accessible learning resources for their students to explore and learn at their own pace. Second, with respect to meeting the competence needs for inclusive online learning, teachers, administrators, and technicians at universities can work together to develop a well-structured online learning environment and offer support for developing digital learning skills. For instance, learning analytics may be one of the possible ways to help university teachers to identify academically at-risk students and provide corresponding support for scaffolding their knowledge building [15,51]. Finally, in order to support the relatedness needs for inclusive online learning, communities can be established at different levels, ranging from course and programme to university, so that higher education students can be supported by peers to build up their confidence and enhance their connectedness. Online communication channels, such as social media, could be adopted to allow students to voice their challenges and promote their engagement in online learning. By enhancing the support to meeting students’ psychological needs on autonomy, competence, and relatedness, inclusive online learning is more likely to be realised in Sri Lanka in a post-pandemic world.

Through the lens of SDT, this paper provides insights into the support that addresses students’ needs and contributes to inclusive online learning in Sri Lanka. This study has made a theoretical contribution to the understanding of inclusive online higher education from the perspective of SDT. Using SDT as an analytic framework, this study has identified the conditions that enabled or hindered inclusive online learning with respect to autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. Moreover, the findings gained from this study may be of assistance to future SDT-based studies on the support for enabling inclusive online learning. Additionally, the study offers developing countries a better understanding of the support that can address students’ needs for inclusive online learning, in alignment with the call for research agenda for perceived needs support by Ryan and Deci [23]. As the current study could not reach out to the students without the internet, their perceptions were not included. A follow-up study to investigate their perceptions may be helpful in providing a more comprehensive picture of the support for a wider group of higher education students in Sri Lanka for inclusive online learning.