Changing Times: The Impact of Digitalization on the Behavior of Professionals and Their Perception towards Development

Abstract

In 2020, the educational system was taken by surprise by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the educational institutions were delivering face-to-face classes and were forced to switch to online teaching in a very short period of time due to lockdown measures and the health and safety measures put in place by public authorities. In addition to universities, professional courses were also forced to be delivered online. Most of the time, these professional courses are important because they are directly linked to keeping the right to practice. The present paper focuses on the changing pattern in behavior of professionals and their acceptance of online courses. By applying over 1000 questionnaires in a timespan of more than one year, we have studied the impact of digitalization on the behavior and perception of professionals. We measured if the change towards online courses could be sustainable in the long run. The results of our study show that the behavior of professionals is different than those of students and that the online courses can be a long-term solution for education in professional environments.

What Affects Vocational Teachers' Acceptance and Use of ICT in Teaching? A Large-scale Survey of Higher Vocational College Teachers in China

“…As a form of education more closely related to the industrial economy, VET needs to update teaching content and resources according to work content, adjust teaching methods according to the working process, and optimize the teaching environment according to the work environment [20]. Furthermore, to effectively equip individuals with digital skills and competencies to adapt to the changing world of work [1], VET teachers need to further digitize their teaching methods and behaviors [21]. Therefore, the teaching behavior of VET teachers in this study refers to the behavior collection of their design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of teaching to facilitate students' perception of the real world of work and to train the skills required by digitized work in a blended teaching environment that integrates the physical and digital environments.…”