Students’ experiences and acceptance of emergency online learning due to COVID-19

Abstract

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions around the world were compelled to bring forth suitable alternatives to secure continuity in the process of education. To gather data that would indicate the quality and efficiency of online teaching in higher education in south and south-eastern Serbia initiated at the outbreak of the pandemic and the state of emergency declared in March 2020, we conducted a research study to provide the necessary information from students attending undergraduate academic studies. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of quantitative research conducted on a sample of 211 students. The data collected were processed by resorting to factor analysis to determine specific factors as a starting point for designing questions for the second research phase. The second phase was implemented by conducting semi-structured interviews on a sample of 61 students. The main intention was to determine key characteristics of the teaching process realised in the context of an emergency transition to the form of teaching which had not been prepared or resorted to beforehand. We identified certain specifics in this regard, as a starting point for improving existing practice.

Implications for practice or policy:

• It is necessary to secure a suitable level of institutional support, to maintain the quality of higher education in unforeseen social circumstances.
• It is necessary to adequately prepare for and support teachers and students in online teaching at both institutional and national level.
• To avoid adverse effects on individual students in the circumstances of online teaching, it is necessary to meet students´ educational, social and emotional needs.