Students’ Perspectives and Strategies on Studying at Home in Times Of Covid-19 Learnings from Podcast Conversations and an Online Survey

Abstract

Since spring 2020, higher education institutions all over Europe and worldwide have had to quickly adapt to the new situation provoked by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Most institutions have changed their study mode to pure online studies, with face-to-face studies in university buildings temporarily being abolished. Equally, other university facilities such as libraries had temporarily been closed, this meaning for most students that the major amount of study time was to be spent at their homes. In the dawn of a new academic year and with higher education institutions looking for new ways and strategies to cope with recent and future challenges, students’ experiences and their reflections on their last semester should be heard and considered when planning the next ones. Two interview series released as podcasts and an online survey have aimed at collecting students’ voices on their recent study experiences and their reflections on the future of higher education. Results indicate a high need of fostering self-organizational skills, an appreciation of a new flexibility brought about by digitization as well as concern for aspects such as social isolation and digital social presence.