Digitalization in Teaching Economic Disciplines: Past, Current and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This special issue of Business Systems Research (SI of the BSR) highlights the past, current and future perspectives of digitalization in teaching economic disciplines. The emphasis has been put on digital competencies, the quality of e-learning, e-exams, digital tools, gamification, and digital and mobile technologies used in the teaching process in the field of economics. The main focus groups of the research are teachers and students from the economic field of education at both university and secondary school levels. Seven papers selected for this SI of the BSR present the digitalization era’s impact on teaching economic disciplines. The conducted research and publication of the papers are funded under the project “Challenges and practices of teaching economic disciplines in era of digitalization” (project no. 2020-1-HR01-KA202-077771), which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Determinants of Economical High School Students’ Attitudes toward Mobile Devices Use

“…In the field of economic education, there is interest in m-learning at the university level [3,42,44,121,122], but very little attention has been given to secondary education, particularly in the post-pandemic period after returning to classrooms. Previous cross-country study (Poland, Croatia, Serbia) [2], addresses the topic of economic education through e-learning at the high school level, and this present research can contribute to the development of knowledge from a broader perspective, expanding the scope of observation to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of students' attitudes towards m-learning.…”

“…The unexpected social isolation brought students and teachers to the situation of connecting through the mobile devices, the transition to remote teaching being realized suddenly and in an unplanned manner [13]. With regard to the education systems in the central-eastern part of Europe, which includes the present study as well, the research carried out during and after the pandemic, in different countries, highlighted the relatively common elements regarding the advantages and disadvantages of m-learning [2]. A research conducted in Romania identified several benefits such as program flexibility, adaptation to diverse learning styles, and access to numerous useful digital tools.…”

“…The teaching and learning pedagogy have undergone significant changes in recent decades due to technological advancements [1][2][3]. With technology being ubiquitous in today's society, the educational system must adapt to the needs of the new generation of students [4].…”

“…There is a wide range of reasons why adopting m-learning techniques is important, which includes better access to resources and learning material and the possibility of flexible teaching and learning activities, mostly to be aligned with institutional and business aims [4,24,25]. Possible changes in teaching activities points to the ways in which teachers can use mobile devices as a support element in the teaching content [2,14], while flexible learning refers to the ways in which students have the opportunity to manage their learning activities, at times and places chosen by themselves [8,15,26]. For these technologies to align with educational institutions requires that they be economically efficient by reducing the costs of expensive hardware by adopting wireless technology and mobile learning, for example, and that they provide information to a large number of students regardless of their location [27].…”

Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on E-Learning: Country Development and COVID-19 Response

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning supported the abilities of students, academic staff, and professionals to develop professionally and personally [18][19][20]. Most higher education institutions offered online courses to students both on and off campus during the pandemic, and some have continued this practice [21,22].…”