Abstract:

The Covid-19 pandemic affected all industries, including Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HEIs worldwide were obliged to create emergency remote learning options for their students. In March 2020, many HEI faculty members sought ways to introduce and effectively implement digital tools they had little (or no) experience using prior to the pandemic, such as teaching via Teams or Zoom, creating PowerPoints with voiceovers, or administering online quizzes or tests. While there was nothing novel about using technology in HEIs, the rapid implementation of technology led to uncertainty and, in some cases, added stress. This was, potentially, ‘felt’ by the students in that first exceptional and unprecedented shift to learning online. Previous research has clearly differentiated emergency remote from ‘authentic’ online courses and programs, yet both include technology to assist student learning. The literature affirms that the ‘learner-to-instructor’ relationship has been the most significant to encourage student success. Nonetheless, we will investigate how technology can support active and engaging learning. Further, we propose a learning triangle between learner, technology, and content to improve student engagement and, subsequently, their learning.

This paper examines the relationship students from one business school HEI in Switzerland, have had with technology over the past four semesters through five surveys. We have found no study that analyzed student responses at so many intervals; thus, we attempt to offer a more holistic view of student perceptions. HEI students followed various blended or hybrid learning modes in these four semesters, including asynchronous, synchronous, or mixed courses. We found that students differed in their perceptions of self-efficacy and ease of use with technology. Simply, it depended on their pre-existing online learning readiness. For motivated and confident students, the shift to more autonomous learning methods was less problematic and, in some cases, a preferred option. However, the challenges of spending hours online alone demotivated other students and made them wish to return to ‘normal’ onsite education. Thus, it is no surprise that students are divided on how they believe HEI should incorporate technology into future curricula and programs after almost two years. As many HEIs return to face-to-face learning onsite, there is room to consider both the opportunities (i.e., greater flexibility and acquiring technical skills useful for the workplace) and challenges (i.e., hours in front of screen and more distractions) of keeping much of this technology when moving forward. To complement the survey results, HEI stakeholders in Switzerland and abroad participated in our workshop on engaging students through technology at the annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) conference in Feb. 2022. We will share their insights on using technology to increase student engagement.

We encourage HEI decision-makers to embrace the opportunities that technology affords when ‘going digital’, but caution that the tool does not constitute learning. Pedagogy drives learning; technology merely assists in this goal. So we aim to investigate how technology can be used to improve the human touch that has been missing so much. We posit that technology can enhance our teaching, thus engaging students in active learning strategies. Our students are not robots.

Keywords:

Business students, perceptions, Higher Education Institutions (HEI), technology, Covid-19.