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The first objective is to investigate and determine the social capital development of students in online education. The second objective is to analyze the influence of social capital on students’ academic success and educational satisfaction. The third objective is to generate recommendations to foster social capital development.

A quantitative research approach is employed, with 264 respondents comprising students from colleges and universities in Malaysia. The data gathering instrument is an online questionnaire administered with the informed consent of participants. Data analysis is performed using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The results show that the faculty capital and peer capital components of social capital have not been compromised in online education, but the family capital component has declined. As such, it is concluded that there is a general decline in overall social capital in online education. These findings form the basis for recommendations on promoting social capital development among students in colleges and universities internationally.

This study focused on study periods during the COVID-19 pandemic where online learning and communication were strictly enforced, providing a unique opportunity to explore how students adapted their social capital development. However, this is not meant to be a representation of scenarios where students are given the option of either physical or online education or a combination of both.

Academic and institutional management implications are evident, and recommendations are made based on the findings.

The findings and subsequent recommendations have considerable social implications in terms of social sustainability of education practices and policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic that started in March 2020 and subsequent prolonged periods of physical lockdowns in many countries have forced colleges and universities that customarily practice classroom education to shift to online education temporarily. This situation created a novel “natural experiment” when classes or programs from the same college or university that are customarily conducted in classrooms (in person) were conducted online during the pandemic, thus contributing to the originality of the findings.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the lived experiences, challenges and coping mechanisms of lecturers during the emergency remote teaching (ERT) situation induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A case study on lecturers in colleges and universities in Penang, Malaysia is selected. A qualitative research approach is adopted with semi-structured interviews as the data-gathering tool. Purposive sampling is used for diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, subject or discipline taught and teaching experience.

The findings are composed into four (4) themes – Theme 1: Lecturers down-shift to lower levels of satisfaction and well-being, Theme 2: Wide diversity of experience with various intervening variables, Theme 3: Lecturers accept and adapt toward the situation and Theme 4: Socialization is compromised.

Despite this being a case study on Malaysia, it is postulated that the findings and recommendations have global relevancy as ERT is a worldwide phenomenon.

Practical education management and public-policy implications are evident and recommendations are made based on the emergent themes.

The findings in the form of emergent themes have considerable social implications in terms of social sustainability of education practices and policies.

This research is novel as lecturers' experience of ERT in Malaysia has not been specifically addressed to date. Even though the fieldwork is conducted in Malaysia, the findings and recommendations have global relevancy.