Abstract
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that spread globally in 2020, higher education courses were subsequently offered in fully remote, online formats. A plethora of primary studies began investigating a range of topics exploring teaching and learning in higher education, particularly during the initial semester. In order to provide an overview and initial understanding of this emerging research field, a systematic mapping review was conducted that collates and describes the characteristics of 282 primary empirical studies. Findings reveal that research was carried out mostly descriptively and cross-sectionally, focusing predominantly on undergraduate students and their perceptions of teaching and learning during the pandemic. Studies originate from a broad range of countries, are overwhelmingly published open access, and largely focused on the fields of Health & Welfare and Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics. Educational technology used for emergency remote teaching are most often synchronous collaborative tools, used in combination with text-based tools. The findings are discussed against pre-pandemic research on educational technology use in higher education teaching and learning, and perspectives for further research are provided.
Highlights
Where, when and by whom were studies published? The studies in this review were published by 1,019 authors, mostly in teams of two or three, and hailing from 73 different countries, which covers a broader range of affiliation countries compared to the K-12 review (Bond, 2020). 10.3% (n = 29) included more than 6 authors, which was predominantly the case for studies where the discipline of the first author was either Health & Welfare or Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics
Whilst the overall topic of emergency remote teaching is driven by the current COVID-19 situation, several results from this review are in line with pre-pandemic research in the field of educational technology
As collated per this review, indicates that the scope of studies overwhelmingly resides in the perceptions of students of the switch to online teaching and learning— perhaps not of all students, with a noticeable lack of consideration of vulnerable populations such as international and special education needs and disabilities (SEND) students as part of the general student body found across the studies—and, to a lesser extent, on the perceptions of educators
Summary
The first semester of 2020 marked a turning point within education; the Covid pandemic lead to the unprecedented situation of having to switch to online instruction. The special feature of emergency remote education is that it is an unplanned practice, with no option than to use any kind of offline and/or online resources that may be at hand Stemming from this situation, researchers from across the globe have started to investigate a broad variety of topics related to teaching and learning during the. It aims to provide a glimpse into the breadth and depth of higher education studies that have been conducted so far, focusing on teaching and learning in the first semester of 2020 (April–September), by systematically collating information on primary studies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
