The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shaped higher education and seen the distinct rise of e-learning as a compulsory element of the modern educational landscape. Accordingly, this study highlights the factors which have influenced how students perceive their academic performance during this emergency changeover to e-learning. The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 10,092 higher education students from 10 countries across 4 continents during the pandemic’s first wave through an online survey. A structural equation model revealed the quality of e-learning was mainly derived from service quality, the teacher’s active role in the process of online education, and the overall system quality, while the students’ digital competencies and online interactions with their colleagues and teachers were considered to be slightly less important factors. The impact of e-learning quality on the students’ performance was strongly mediated by their satisfaction with e-learning. In general, the model gave quite consistent results across countries, gender, study fields, and levels of study. The findings provide a basis for policy recommendations to support decision-makers incorporate e-learning issues in the current and any new similar circumstances.

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The evolution of learning technology and tools changed the way students access information and build their knowledge. Registering the interaction of students with these tools generates a large amount of data that, once critically analysed, can provide important clues about the students' learning progress. Nevertheless research has still to be conducted to fully understand how (and if) the students' interaction with the learning technologies relates to their learning success. In parallel, new analytical tools must be developed to allow teachers to fully exploit the information embedded in this data, in a friendly but flexible way. This article is a contribution to this effort and presents a study where the use of a learning management system (LMS) in a specific semester-long course in an Engineering school produced data that was analysed and correlated to the students' success. Results indicate that some correlation exists between the effective use of some of the tools integrated in the LMS and student success which points the way to buld specific applications to provide teachers with indicators of students in danger of failing.

Higher Education (HE) teachers are aware that the evolution of technology changed the way students build their knowledge. New forms of access to information and new means of communication allowed creating specialized learning tools. It is now important to understand how the students' interaction with learning technologies influences their learning success. For that purpose, data referring to the use of a learning management system (LMS) supporting a specific course was collected and analyzed. Results indicate that a minor correlation exists between the effective use of those tools and student success.

Information systems applications: What are the application areas?