Finnish university students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: Students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes is a vital component in determining the adoption of e-learning systems. Understanding the antecedent factors impacting students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes helps decision-makers at the higher education to take the necessary actions to enhance the quality of students' performance, especially during the exceptional times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This paper aims to determine and analyse the antecedent factors influencing students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to analysis a proposed research model. Findings: The SEM results show that digital communities in e-learning, information technology (quality and accessibility) and the online course design quality directly influence students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes. More interestingly, results show that the COVID-19-related factors (1) awareness of the COVID-19, (2) perceived challenges (negatively) and (3) the educational institutions' preparedness also influence e-learning outcomes. Research limitations/implications: The results suggest that the decision-makers at the educational institutions should consider adopting a blended learning system approach to deliver e-learning during the emergency, such as the COVID-19 outbreak situation. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies in higher education context, which seek to identify the antecedent factors that influence students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Shahrokh Nikou and Ilia Maslov.

Finnish university students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose Students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes is a vital component in determining the adoption of e-learning systems. Understanding the antecedent factors impacting students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes helps decision-makers at the higher education to take the necessary actions to enhance the quality of students' performance, especially during the exceptional times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This paper aims to determine and analyse the antecedent factors influencing students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to analysis a proposed research model. Findings The SEM results show that digital communities in e-learning, information technology (quality and accessibility) and the online course design quality directly influence students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes. More interestingly, results show that the COVID-19-related factors (1) awareness of the COVID-19, (2) perceived challenges (negatively) and (3) the educational institutions' preparedness also influence e-learning outcomes. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that the decision-makers at the educational institutions should consider adopting a blended learning system approach to deliver e-learning during the emergency, such as the COVID-19 outbreak situation. Originality/value This is one of the first studies in higher education context, which seek to identify the antecedent factors that influence students' satisfaction with e-learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysis of students' perspectives on e-learning participation – the case of COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions were forced to shut down, causing massive disruption of the education system. This paper aims to determine the critical factors for the intention to participate in e-learning during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected by surveying 131 university students and structural equation modelling technique using PLS-SEM was employed to analysis the data. Findings: The results showed that the COVID-19 related factors such as perceived challenges and COVID-19 awareness not only directly impact students' intention but also such effects are mediated through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of e-learning systems. However, the results showed that the educational institution's preparedness does not directly impact the intention of students to participate in e-learning during COVID-19. The results also showed that the gender and length of the use of e-learning systems impact students' e-learning systems use. Originality/value: These results demonstrated that, regardless of how well the educational institutions are prepared to promote the use of e-learning systems, other COVID-19-related challenges play a crucial role in forming the intention of students to participate in e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.