Students’ Challenges and Experiences with Digital Teaching and Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Albania

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly forced universities to implement digital teaching and learning toward students from Spring 2020 onwards. Many of the higher education institutions were unprepared to foster such forms of teaching and learning thus exposing both teachers and students toward many challenges with digital education. The aim of this study was to examine students’ experiences and challenges with online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, this work also aimed at exploring gender differences on these challenges with digital teaching and learning among university students. Using a quantitative research design, an online questionnaire was distributed among 458 students (19.2% males, 80.8% females) studying in different universities in Albania. The results showed that students (N = 451) have experienced challenges at a moderate level not encountering many technical issues or distractors during their online learning. However, the majority of respondents, around 60%, reported that they did not have a very good experience with digital teaching and learning. They encountered above-average difficulties, particularly with course instructors not staying in regular contact with students (N = 226, 50.1%) and not providing adequate support (N = 202, 44.8%). The results also revealed significant gender differences in students' experiences with digital teaching and learning (p = .037), with female students experiencing more challenges than their male counterparts. In conclusion, this study indicates that students faced numerous challenges with online learning during the pandemic, which adversely affected their academic performance.