Abstract:

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, most universities have changed their teaching and learning methodologies by using different digital technologies from Google Classroom, Blackboard, Canvas, and Zoom to Google Drive, WhatsApp, and Notability. Even though the intensive use of the different digital technologies for teaching and learning has been widely advocated for minimum two decades, the COVID-19 pandemic has exponentially increased the needs in the world in which all the stakeholders from schools, students, and families to public and political institutions, particularly the universities have become deeply interested in using properly.
To analyze and understand critically how the impacts of the digital technologies on the teaching and learning of the university students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the qualitative research had been strategically designed and developed. The main target of this qualitative research is to understand deeply how the effects of the most used digital technologies on the teaching and learning of the university students during the COVID-19 pandemic period when the university students have taken their courses mainly online or blended, face to face and online. As a field study, three different university students have been taken into account. The participants (25) who had actively participated in the semi-structured focus groups through Zoom meetings had answered 21 questions. The collected data were analyzed by using NVivo.
The data have showed the most used digital technologies- from Google Classroom, Blackboard, Canvas, and Zoom to Google Drive, WhatsApp, and Notability – affect positively minimum 88% of the university students on the teaching and learning even in the most difficult subjects including those of the applied ones. Since they are the most well known facilitators for learning activities involving high technologies for both face to face and distance learning ecosystems in the higher education institutions, it creates also a long term model by developing and systematizing a roadmap for future teaching, learning, collaborating, networking, assessing, and researching at the university level. As the 94% of the participants has clarified that the students’ learning outcomes are much better by using these different digital technologies. Under these new circumstances, most of the participants (98%) point out how they have faced with the difficulties, reliabilities, and stresses while they are taking exams; hence, universities need new successful methodologies to conduct reliable and valid assessments, which affect their success in their Grade Point Average (GPA). Additionally, as the participants (96%) mention that the university professors, lecturers, and teaching assistants need to implement digital teaching methodologies and digital pedagogy by having better digital, technological, infrastructural, institutional, and organizational learning ecosystems that promote and boost teaching, learning, collaborating, networking, and researching.
In conclusion, the analyses show a well-rounded model to redevelop methodologies, to offer a roadmap, and to lead successful outcomes for the future of the teaching and learning by using effectively and efficiently the digital technologies in the higher education institutions, which will create the future technologies and innovation.

Keywords:

Digital Technologies, Online Distance Teaching, Online Distance Learning, University, University Students, Digital Pedagogy.