Challenges and Prospects of Digital Education: A Case Study of the Faculty ‎of Engineering Gadu, Nalut University, Libya

الملخص

This study examines the barriers that constrained the implementation of digital education through the Moodle learning platform at the Faculty of Engineering Gadu, Nalut University, Libya, during the COVID-19 disruption of the spring 2020 semester. A descriptive case-study approach was used to examine the experiences of students and faculty members. The faculty had 354 students and 53 faculty members distributed across seven academic departments. The field record reported that 90 students interacted with the platform and 13 faculty members participated. Students identified lack of faculty interaction (17%), insufficient understanding of how to use the platform (12%), difficulty communicating with platform support (10%), prolonged electricity interruptions (7.5%), and weak Internet-related loading (5%) among the principal barriers; 36% reported experiencing all listed barriers. Among faculty members, lack of student interaction was the most frequently reported challenge (36%), followed by platform inadequacy (15.8%) and difficulty communicating with platform support (10.5%). At the same time, 70% of students and 95% of faculty members preferred combining digital and traditional education. The findings indicate that the main constraint was not digital education itself, but the readiness of the institutional, human, technical, and support systems surrounding it. The discussion is extended using post-pandemic evidence from Libyan higher education and recent international reviews, supporting a shift from emergency remote teaching toward deliberately designed blended learning. The study concludes that sustainable digital education at engineering faculties requires staff development, local technical support, reliable connectivity and power, accessible digital content, and planned integration of online learning with laboratory, field, and other practice-based activities.