E-learning perspectives in Canadian higher education through qualitative study among university teachers and students

E-learning or online learning is a broad concept. The advancements in information communication technology, especially the Internet, created infrastructure to boost e-learning where it ultimately became a tool to enhance the teaching and learning experience beyond the conventional classroom peripheries. Accordingly, the current study aims to accomplish five research objectives: to explore the perceived challenges and advantages of e-learning among university teachers; to explore how university teachers experience and interpret the impact of e-learning on their teaching methodologies and student engagement; to understand the challenges and advantages of e-learning for students and to examine how students perceive the impact of e-learning on their learning experiences and academic performance. In order to achieve those objectives, this research uses ontological relativism constructionism epistemologically, uses an interpretivism theoretical lens, and adopts phenomenology as the methodology. The research sample consists of university lecturers and students who are residents of Canada and participate in online lectures. The study used the snowball sampling method to recruit participants. The researcher conducted twelve online interviews covering 344.53 minutes through Zoom and MS Teams platforms. After the thematic analysis, the research develops four main themes: e-learning experience, e-learning comes with challenges, e-learning generates benefits and methodologies that keep e-learning more productive and eventually state the matches and mismatches of in perspectives between teachers and students regarding e-learning.