Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare students’ digital media use during the so-called corona semester in summer of 2020 when universities worldwide moved to online teaching and learning, with data from 2018. Two research questions were at the center of our study: To what extent did students’ media use during the digital summer semester 2020 differ from media use in 2018? In which ways is media use in 2020 related to individual factors (e.g., emotional states, social integration, self-efficacy)? In 2020, 207 students at the University of Tübingen participated in an online survey on their digital media use. This data was compared with an existing data set from the same university from 2018 (N = 808 students). Results show a significant increase in students’ media use across all categories, in particular Learning Management System, online exercises, learning videos, and video conferencing. We also found a significant relation of students’ usage of online tools for learning with their feeling of social integration, as well as connections between students’ digital media self-efficacy and their learning-relevant emotions. The article discusses these results in the light of other studies on students’ media uses and provides first practical implications for lecturers.
Highlights
Introduction and Research QuestionsIn spring 2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide were challenged to suddenly shift to fully teaching online
There is a slight decrease in the percentage of students who own a laptop, which may be related to the spread of tablets and the replacement of notebooks by tablets
Among all students in 2018 and 2020 who reported using social networking sites (SNSs), we further asked about their use for study purposes since SNS are not always seen as beneficial for learning
Summary
Introduction and Research QuestionsIn spring 2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide were challenged to suddenly shift to fully teaching online (with some very limited exceptions). At the University of Tübingen, some departments moved ahead and announced the shift to online teaching on March 16, 2020 Both students and lecturers were deeply affected by the sudden changes in teaching and learning. Between 2012 and 2015, for example, the number of students who owned a smartphone, tablet or notebook has increased significantly, so that by 2015, digital devices were already omnipresent at HEIs (Zawacki-Richter, Dolch, and Müskens 2017). In this context, students’ usage habits and attitudes changed (e.g., Al-Husain and Hammo 2015; Grosch and Gidion 2011; Schulmeister 2006; Zawacki-Richter 2015). While some studies already addressed both students’ and lecturers’ reactions to online teaching in Germany (e.g., Breitenbach 2021; Hafer, Kostädt, and Lucke 2020; Göbel et al 2020; Skulmowski and Rey 2020), and internationally (Chung, Subramaniam, and Dass 2020; Rapanta et al 2020; Telles-Langdon 2020; Watchorn and Heckendorf 2020), these studies mostly
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