The switch to online teaching during the first COVID-19 lockdown: A comparative study at four European universities

Abstract

In 2020, for the first time in history, COVID-19 measures necessitated emergency online teaching to ensure continuity of education. Although institutional support was offered to lecturers, the situation posed an extraordinary challenge for university teaching. Using a comparative approach, this study surveys lecturers from different countries and their use of educational technology for emergency online teaching. Its focus lies on the relationships between use of educational technology, online teaching selfefficacy and attitudes towards educational technology. Overall and according to reports, the use of educational technology increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic conditions. The universities studied had different levels of digitalization, which influenced lecturers’ use of educational technology. Furthermore, lecturers differed in terms of self-efficacy, attitude, and perception. Regarding factors affecting educational technology use, results showed that especially pre-pandemic experiences with educational technology, as well as self-efficacy and perceptual variables influenced the use of educational technology during the pandemic. Based on these results, it is advisable for universities to embrace this ad hoc switch to online teaching as an opportunity for purposeful digitalization of university teaching.

From face-to-face to Distance: Towards Flexibility in five Dimensions of Blended Learning: Lessons Learnt from the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Feedback during meetings with heads of departments indicated that lecturers' first reaction to teaching during the pandemic was to adhere to the current timetable, and teach through Zoom, Collaborate or Microsoft Teams. This resonates with the literature about synchronous video conferencing having the strongest increase in uptake during the pandemic (Kaqinari et al, 2021).…”

“…Distance did not impact performance (Russell, 1999). Time wise the initial reaction to move the conventional timetable to synchronous video supports the literature about the steep increase in the uptake of video conferencing during the pandemic (Kaqinari et al, 2021). However the social imbalance (Nicola et al, 2020;El-Mohandes et al, 2020;Scott and Aquino, 2020;Cesco et al, 2021) was addressed by moving asynchronous, which in turn led to procrastination becoming a problem.…”

“…On the down-side asynchronous communication leads to feelings of isolation that could contribute to a higher attrition rate (Borup, West and Graham, 2013;Asanov et al, 2021). While many universities have had learning management systems in place for quite some time it is synchronous video conferencing that has shown the strongest increase in uptake during the pandemic (Kaqinari et al, 2021).…”

“…The diverse range of technologies available makes it necessary train lecturers how to choose and use them (Nguyen and Chung, 2020). The digital maturity of an institution must dictate the educational technology strategy (Kaqinari et al, 2021).…”

Percepcija i stavovi preddiplomskih studenata informacijskih znanosti u Hrvatskoj prema digitalnom obrazovanju u vrijeme pandemije bolesti COVID-19

“…Najčešće poteškoće i izazovi izvođenja online nastave podudarni su s najčešćim izazovima uočenima u prijašnjim istraživanjima (Adedoyin and Soykan, 2020;AZVO, 2020;Doyumğaç et al, 2021;European Commission, 2020;Sasere and Makhasane, 2020;Ionescu et al, 2020;Octaberlina and Muslimin, 2020;Kaqinari et al, 2021;Raza et al, 2021), a uključuju probleme tehničke prirode (problemi s internet vezom i opremom), dugo gledanje u zaslon i zamaranje oka, manjak motivacije i pad koncentracije. Također tijekom online nastave došlo je do povećanja asinkronih nastavnih aktivnosti u obliku dodatnih radnih zadataka, a slično povećanje aktivnosti u području samostalnog rada i radnih zadataka izdvojili su i ispitanici u istraživanju AZVO-a (2020).…”