Abstract:

Higher education institutions, globally, had to transform their approach dramatically and suddenly to the delivery of their educational programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent ‘lockdown’. The different countries’ responses to the pandemic were quite unique, based on their specific circumstances at the time, influencing each country’s approach to the continuation of education. It was thus interesting to conduct this cross-country, international, comparative, quantitative research project at three universities in digitally diverse countries—South Africa, Wales, and Hungary. The study was aimed at investigating and exploring the challenges and experiences of higher education students at three universities in these countries, especially in terms of how access to digital technologies influenced their online learning experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data was collected using an online survey with research questions categorised into two sections, namely:
1) their access to a digital learning management environment, and
2) the digital technologies used by the students.

The experiences of students were evaluated in terms of three dimensions:
1) Dimension of system access,
2) Dimension of digital technologies used,
3) Dimension of ease of transition to online learning.

The research revealed significant differences between the participating universities, mostly in terms of the devices used to access learning material, the cost of Internet access and the ease in which students transitioned into the new mode of delivery.

Keywords:

COVID-19, Higher Education, student learning, digital technologies, online learning, equitable access, comparative study.