Student Perspectives on the Digital Learning Experience During COVID-19 Lockdown

As a result of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students and lecturers in higher education worldwide had to move from campus-based teaching to digital learning environments. Almost over-night, lecturers and students had to adjust to teaching and learning through live streams like Zoom as well as video recordings of lectures. Several differences from campus teaching were immediately apparent. As an example, many lecturers experienced less interaction with their students during lectures, as most students were reluctant to speak or turn on their web cameras. This paper presents a study exploring the learning experiences and overall situation as seen from the student perspective. 15 participants were recruited among first- and second-year bachelor students enrolled in IT studies at a Norwegian university college. A qualitative approach was taken, and the students were interviewed in a semi-structured manner. This research reveals that the individual experiences differ greatly among the students, due to personal circumstances like family and living situation. However, challenges related to self-discipline, motivation and communication seem to be experienced by most of the participants. Our findings suggest that when facilitating for courses with a larger amount of the content delivered online, one should have particular focus on how to guide the students to be more independent and self-motivated, in addition to helping them develop a daily routine. For instance, the role of live lectures, as opposed to pre-recorded videos, may be a way of scaffolding the digital learning environment. Furthermore, there should be increased focus on how to support the students to meet with their peers. Measures could be social or informal gatherings, meetings in smaller groups, or group assignments demanding collaboration.