Mental stress due to technological difficulties in online education– observations from a Saudi college

Covid 19 brings out the already existing digital gap in societies across the world. Schools and colleges were brought face-to-face with new ed-technologies and new methods of assessment. Teachers were not prepared for presenting lectures on a virtual platform which requires different strategies and preparation. Administrators expected teachers to jumpstart education online, overlooking the time required for change. All of a sudden LMSes, such as Blackboard experienced tremendous load and the experience was bad due to poor net connection, low quality data packs and phone incompatibility. As every cloud has a silver lining, the teachers found solutions to improve learning and teaching, and engaged students successfully. The prediction that E-Learning is going to be the future mode of learning and teaching came true with all hiccups. Teachers were forced to re-look at their teaching strategies, re-write lessons plans. Unfortunately, it was a period of burn out – emotional and mental. The major challenges were experienced in maintaining attendance, delivering and listening to lectures in a smooth manner and participation in online classes without technical interruptions. Teachers are experts in their subjects but not technical experts. Neither all softwares are free, nor all people are habituated with different softwares which require constant updating. This discussion paper is based on the experiences and technical challenges faced by the female teachers and female students during the online classes across different nations.