Can zoom replace the classroom? Perceptions on digital learning in higher education within it

Abstract

The Covid‐19 pandemic has forced institutions of higher education to create digital learning environments replacing physical classrooms. The transition to digital teaching has been both abrupt and challenging for many lecturers and students. While communication and interaction between lecturer and student or among students are possible digitally, there is a difference between sitting physically next to your fellow students versus staring into a “black screen”. This paper investigates experiences of online learning among students in higher education during lockdown. We conducted an online survey (n=200) among students in Norway studying for a bachelor’s degree in information technology (IT). We emphasize students’ experience of the digital learning environment through questions on attendance and participation in live lectures, use of recorded videos, use of chat and camera and their motivation for digital learning. The findings show that students to a large or very large extent (85%) follow live lectures, at the same time they also prefer that there are video recordings of the lectures. Furthermore, we see that the students are highly or very highly (65%) motivated for digital live lectures. Concerning student engagement, such as asking questions to the lecturer and answering questions from the lecturer in the Zoom‐chat, we see that the answers vary greatly. They are distributed almost equally on the whole scale from a very small degree to a very high degree. Among our relevant contributions, we have learned that recording lectures is overwhelmingly considered positive among students and should be practiced when possible. Students rarely if ever turn on their cameras during lectures and do not expect others to show their faces. In general, among our respondents Zoom online lectures seem to work well, despite limitations to interaction and participation.