Emergency Remote Learning in Higher Education in Cyprus during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Zoom-Out View of Challenges and Opportunities for Quality Online Learning

Abstract

This study provides a zoom-out perspective of higher education students’ experiences related to the emergency remote learning (ERL) following the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic as captured by a national, in-depth survey administered to all higher education institutions in Cyprus (different fields of study and educational levels). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data collected from 1051 students provide valuable information and insights regarding learners’ prior technology background and level of preparedness for online learning, the challenges and benefits of ERL and how they would like their online learning experience to be improved in case of future ERL. The results underline that students’ knowledge of and self-efficacy in using e-learning tools do not directly equate to being a digital learner equipped with necessary digital skills such as self-regulation to fully benefit from online learning. The educational disparities caused by inequalities in access and accessibility to high-quality education laid bare by the pandemic stressed the need for online environments that would afford quality learning for all learners. Online learning demands are discussed in the article, as well as implications for research, practice and policy making.

Extraversion in COVID-19 Coping

“…The key obstacles to self-directed learning have been reported as a lack of time, lack of high-quality available resources, and the cost of education [114]. Importantly, unlike with extraversion when it is maladaptive, with self-directed learning, stresses are viewed as challenges or opportunities rather than threats [134,135,136].…”

Development of advanced digital ecosystems at universities: A study comparing experiences from Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia

“…The results of other studies underline the fact that students' knowledge and self‐efficacy in using e‐learning tools do not directly equate to being digitally literate learners equipped with the necessary digital skills, such as self‐regulation, to fully benefit from online learning. Educational disparities manifested in remote learning in higher education during the COVID‐19 lockdown in Cyprus (Meletiou‐Mavrotheris et al., 2022). The inequalities in access and accessibility to quality education demonstrated the need for online environments that provide quality learning for all learners.…”

“…Meletiou‐Mavrotheris, et al. have discussed the demands of online learning and their implications for research, practice, and policymaking (Meletiou‐Mavrotheris et al., 2022).…”

Digital Transformation and Open Innovation Planning of Response to COVID-19 Outbreak: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

“…While other isolated nodes do not form a reference relationship in the figure, these articles have potential topic coupling relationships and reflect different digitalization directions. [18][19][20][21][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41,42,[44][45][46][47][48][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][65][66][67][68][69] were included and the articles [22,23,49,64] were not included. The left axis of the figure shows the publishing year of the nodes, whic...…”