ZOOM OR NOT TO ZOOM: STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING ZOOM AT PTUK

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the attitudes of undergraduate students at PTUK (Palestine Technical University Khadoorie) towards using the Zoom platform in their learning process in exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding some demographic independent variables: gender, technical skills, GPA, and college type. Three hundred twenty-one PTUK students completed the designed five-point Likert scale online questionnaire from different colleges. The general results suggest that PTUK students’ positive attitudes towards using Zoom with viewing Zoom as reliable and easy to use platform, and reporting that Zoom platform facilitated learning by the flexibility feature like playing the recorded lecture and the ability to share ideas with their peers and their teachers. However, higher levels of preference towards traditional face-to-face formats were found due to a lack of fairness in assessments and privacy intrusion. The variability in the results observed in this study warrants further exploration before definitive conclusions on the impact of the Zoom platform on students’ attitudes can be made. The research findings are unique and novel because insufficient studies related to Zoom were done during COVID-19 in Palestine and globally to investigate the perception of college students about Zoom efficiency. Moreover, the results will benefit teachers to rejuvenate and adapt their teaching strategies to fit students’ needs in diverse ways. Further studies using qualitative and mixed approaches could be conducted for confirmation of these findings.