A Fuzzy-Based Evaluation of E-Learning Acceptance and Effectiveness by Computer Science Students in Greece in the Period of COVID-19

Abstract

In this paper, a fuzzy-based evaluation method is presented for the impact of e-learning on several aspects of the learning lives of academic students of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the academic year 2020–2021 was considered when a general lockdown was imposed in Greece and all courses were delivered exclusively through the web. The evaluation criteria are (i) e-learning acceptance, (ii) learning effectiveness, (iii) students’ engagement and (iv) socializing and interpersonal relationships in the educational community. The evaluation was conducted through questionnaires. Ninety two (92) undergraduate and postgraduate students and Ten (10) computer science in-structors of the department of Informatics of the University of Piraeus, Greece, participated in this survey. The questionnaire answers were analyzed using a fuzzy-based mechanism. Particularly, five fuzzy sets were used to describe the 5-point Likert scale answers to the questionnaires with linguistic values, and four other fuzzy sets were used for the description of the evaluation results concerning the four defined evaluation criteria. Moreover, 209 fuzzy rules were created to analyze and calculate the evaluation results per criterion, considering both the students’ answers (119 fuzzy rules) and the instructors’ answers (90 fuzzy rules) to the questionnaires. The gain of this approach is that the analysis of evaluation data with fuzzy rules imitates the human way of thinking and, thus, makes the process more explainable. The evaluation results showed a positive impact of e-learning on student confidence, self-discipline and active participation and a negative impact on student interpersonal relationships. The impact of e-learning on other learning issues was neutral.