Abstract

Background: Since the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019, many areas of life were affected, and major changes were implemented accordingly. Distance learning is one of the changes, and this study aimed to evaluate its efficiency and impact on students’ academic performance.
Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study, which targeted undergraduate students at Al Baha and Al Majma’ah Universities. A questionnaire was used to collect data about demographics, efficiency of distance learning, and its impact on academic achievement.
Results: A total of 811 responses were collected, and the participants were asked questions to assess their perception of distance learning efficiency and its impact on their academic achievement. Regarding efficiency, most students (77.56%) believed that distance learning highly depends on students’ efforts. In addition, the changes made by the universities to adapt to online classes seemed to satisfy the students (59.43%). Apparently, distance learning positively influenced the students’ academic performance (50.18%).
Conclusion: Students included in the study had diverse opinions regarding the efficiency and impact of online classes on their academic performance. However, distance learning seemed to be efficient and it enhanced the academic grades of most students.

Key words: Distance learning, online courses, e-learning, efficiency, college, university