Teacher's Perception on Online Teaching Method during COVID-19: With Reference to School Level Teachers at Faculty of Education, the Open University of Sri Lanka

The world is facing one of the toughest conditions in the present, dealing with COVID-19. There have been several problems in the education sector during this pandemic season. COVID-19 has resulted in a countrywide lockdown in Sri Lanka. This research is an effort to understand the understanding of online education by respondents, which is the latest form of teaching embraced by schools since the pandemic. For undergraduate teachers in the special needs department, faculty of education, open university, Sri Lanka, the study was carried out using data collected through Google form. The SPSS recorded and analyzed data using factor analysis and descriptive statistics. The study shows that students are satisfied with online classes and get ample teacher help, but they do not assume that conventional classroom teaching would be replaced by online classes. It also finds that due to a lack of proper preparation and growth for doing online classes, teachers face difficulties in conducting online classes. The biggest challenge for online classes is technological and network challenges. To accomplish this aim, teachers and students must periodically take training and improvement programs from schools or government. There is a need to consider the barriers that come in the way of embracing online learning and taking corrective steps to address it.