COVID-19 and Educational Challenges: A Review of the Benefits of Online Education

Abstract

Context: Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Iran, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology in Iran have obliged universities and schools to use online education as a substitute for face-to-face teaching processes, while it has created several issues for teachers, schools, and universities. Evidence Acquisition: In the current review that aimed to investigate online education, specific instructional strategies are presented to summarize online teaching experiences for teachers who might use online education in similar situations. In this line, PubMed, Medline, Elsevier, and Science Direct electronic databases were searched for relevant studies that have been conducted since 2002. Results: The present study was conducted on the hypothesis that distance education can be a proper training method for coping with COVID-19 prevalence in the current outbreak. Reviewing the studies performed all around the world indicated the success of online education and supported this training method, even though there are some problems in the transition from face-to-face teaching methods to modern methods. Conclusions: In today’s world, education can be divided into before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. The importance of online education has become more apparent than ever before; therefore, it is essential to pay special attention to the appropriate infrastructures required for online learning in Iran’s education and the higher education system.