Online learning and COVID-19 outbreak in Mozambique - academics’ experience during suspension of face-to-face classes

The COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on social life and the education system, leading to the suspension of face-to-face classes and the adoption of online learning as a strategy to continue the teaching and learning process in many countries around the world, including Mozambique. Thus, we conducted the present study to analyze the teaching and learning process using digital platforms during a state of emergency due to COVID-19. We inquired 417 academics who responded to an online survey open between the 4th and 12th of May 2020 and released via WhatsApp and email. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics to present the results in simple tables. 263 (61.3%) were male, and the average age was 39.7 years. Seventy-one percent (71%) of the academics received guidance to proceed with the teaching and learning process during the emergency, and several platforms were used for this purpose, where WhatsApp and email (49.2%) were the most used. About 67% of the academics faced some difficulty with the digital learning platforms, and half managed to teach all classes. This process challenged the academic staff, who had to rely on several learning platforms and adopt different teaching strategies in conditions never experienced before. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.