Higher education students’ perceptions of online learning during Covid-19—A comparative study
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Date
2021Author
Cranfield, Desireé J.
Tick, Andrea
Venter, Isabella M.
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The pandemic and subsequent ‘lockdowns’ dramatically changed the educational landscape of higher education institutions. Before-COVID-19, traditional universities had choices in
pedagogical practice, which included a variety of teaching delivery modes. Overnight, a single
mode of delivery became the only option for traditional higher education institutions. All services
migrated to digital platforms, leading to a period of “emergency eLearning”. The full impact of this
sudden shift to digital platforms on all cohorts of students is still unclear. A measure of disruption
to the normal student learning experience, especially for those attending traditional universities,
was inevitable. Moreover, this disruption was varied depending on the University’s country and
the country’s lockdown logistics. This international, comparative, quantitative research project
investigated and explored higher education students’ perceptions of emergency eLearning during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Experiences of students at universities in three countries were evaluated
in terms of four dimensions: (1) home learning environment, (2) engagement, (3) participation
preference, and (4) impact on learning skills. The research revealed significant differences between
the participating universities students’ experiences. The most important differences were in the
‘home learning environment’, followed by ‘engagement’ and the perception of ‘impact on learning
skills’.