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Top1. Introduction
The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 has led to the immediate closure of schools, colleges, and universities. Educational institutions worldwide have shifted from traditional teaching methods to e-learning as the introduction of isolation and social distancing was enforced as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus infection. In these conditions, e-learning has proven to be an essential tool for delivering effective education during isolation (Soni, 2020). It is often referred to as a general concept of online teaching and learning with technological tools and platforms providing a wide range of applications and processes for implementing learning practices (Abbas et al., 2005). The widespread use of technology, constantly updated information, the need for open access to educational resources and training individualization have resulted in a profound shift in pedagogical approaches. Wireless technologies and mobile devices acquired a prominent role in popularizing the concepts of distance, online, and mobile learning (Talan, 2020).
Advanced technologies provide innovative and sustainable solutions to tackle disruption during crises and help people communicate and work virtually without the need for face-to-face contact. This leads to many systemic changes in organizations as they adopt new technologies to interact and work (Mark & Semaan, 2008). Educational institutions are introducing e-learning with the aim of improving teacher-student communication, facilitating effective knowledge exchange, and developing interaction in the learning environment to accomplish educational objectives (Basak et al., 2016). Mobile technologies are able to give immediate access to unlimited information from anywhere and anytime through specially developed applications. They allow students to interact with information easily and enable technology for educational purposes (Talan, 2020). The process of training often benefits from various internet-based technological tools distributed via the web (Muhammad et al., 2016;Zhigareva et al., 2019). In this day and age, digital educational technologies have become more ubiquitous than ever. They offer flexible opportunities promoting convergence and creativity as well as open up new forms and models of organizing and managing educational processes (Chien et al., 2020; Vorbach et al., 2019).
The social distancing has provoked the urgent need for more widespread use of online platforms and digital tools that create remote education opportunities. E-learning platforms can help education providers manage, plan, deliver and track the learning and teaching process. Factors affecting their effectiveness include those related to technological issues, e-learning system quality, culture, self-efficacy, and trust (Almaiah et al., 2020). In the meantime, the overall success of e-learning depends on internet connection quality, learning software, digital skills, and availability and access to technology.
Given the current situation, e-learning systems remain vital to support inclusive and distance education (Onyema et al., 2020). E-learning encourages students to work together, develop their academic competence, improve self-efficacy and promote social and cognitive skills (Ngai et al., 2019). It is no question that e-learning brings positive results, but its final outcome depends on the context (Adarkwah, 2021). In this connection, the planning of e-learning scenarios is an absolute must for academic institutions (Rieley, 2020). Well-designed personalized technology-aided learning programs can significantly increase hands-on training productivity (Muralidharan et al., 2019). The effective use of digital technologies should be driven by learning and teaching goals rather than a specific technological function that does not in itself lead to increased attainment (Azevedo et al., 2021).