Effectiveness of Moodle for e-learning to the undergraduates during the covid-19: special reference to South Eastern University of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic spreading around the world has had a major impact on human life. Therefore, in restoring the lives of the human, all sectors carrying out their services through the Internet. Among those, the field of education can be considered as one of the main sectors. The majority of the undergraduates are in Sri Lanka pursuing their studies from primary to higher education based on traditional learning styles; that is the face-to-face method. But in the present, they conduct their studies through the online learning method. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to research the effectiveness of the use of VLE/ Moodle in the distance learning among students of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka during the covid 19 epidemic period. Accordingly, a special questionnaire on the effectiveness of VLE/ Moodle was created and distributed among the undergraduate students from all six faculties. Through this, 330 responses were obtained using stratified random sampling and the data was further analyzed using SPSS software for the descriptive analysis. Results of this study confirmed that Moodle/VLE is an effective tool and the easiest device for continuing distance education at South Eastern University; meanwhile, this study strongly suggested motivating students to use the laptops for the use of VLE/ Moodle by providing interest-free loans or free laptops to the students. It was further suggested that the government must pay attention to increase the effectiveness of Moodle/VLE by free stable internet. We also suggest that Moodle/ VLE can be used in private universities as well as education organizations as it is an effective tool for higher education. In addition to that, we plan to research the effectiveness of e-learning in government universities in Sri Lanka in the future.