Online learning tools/strategies that were used during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Covid-19 came with unprecedented changes in higher education necessitated by a need to save the academic year all over the world. Institutions and instructors all over the world had to devise different strategies for teaching and learning under unfavorable circumstances. This included the development of content suitable for online learning and assessments during these challenging times. To save the academic year online strategies/tools had to be used. This article navigates through existing literature to observe the online learning strategies/tools that were used during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a systematic literature review methodology as adopted by Tranfield, Denver, and Smart (2003) and modified by Hansen and Schaltegger (2016) to explore and unveil all the existing online learning strategies used during COVID-19. A systematic review is a transparent and reproducible process for literature identification related to online learning tools during COVID-19. The study covers articles written from 2019 to the end 2021 calendar year. The results show video conferencing tools were used to conduct classes with Zoom the, most used tool, and Teams, Google Meet, and Youtube amongst others. Social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter amongst others were used for communication purposes. The online learning strategies/tools were a saving grace during the Covid-19. These results give insights of the existing online learning tools used during crises all over the world and serve as guidance for future use in case of crisis.  Further, gives insights to government, and academic institutions on what worked and did not work during the pandemic in education.