The current state and impact of Covid‐19 on digital higher education in Germany

Abstract

This case study looks at the effects of the Covid‐19 pandemic on teaching and learning at universities in Germany. It examines the question of whether the current practice of Emergency Remote Teaching in the online term 2020 will lead to an acceleration of the digitalization of teaching and learning, and on what we can build upon in this development. In the light of the state of digital higher education in Germany and international experience in the field of distance education, as well as organizational support structures, the results of a longitudinal study on the media use behavior of students will be presented. While the acceptance of e‐learning tools was slightly declining before the Covid‐19 outbreak, it is to be assumed that the demand for digital offers will rather increase. Despite some reluctant reactions, it can be assumed that the current situation will have a positive effect on digital innovations in university teaching in Germany due to the pressure of the crisis, the great commitment of many teachers, and raised expectations.

Impact of Synchronous and Asynchronous Settings of Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education on Students’ Learning Experience During COVID-19

“…In ERT, almost all face-to-face teaching was substituted through online teaching formats (Zawacki-Richter, 2020;Cicha et al, 2021;Goertz and Hense, 2021). This transition was accompanied by the awareness that the pedagogy needed to be adapted to the new medium in the sense that simply moving pedagogy from one medium into another was not enough to ensure quality learning (Henriksen et al, 2020).…”

Exploring predictors of instructional resilience during emergency remote teaching in higher education

“…ERT due to the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about another major stressor for HE lecturers but also provides us with a unique situation to understand a specific type of resilience among HE lecturers, what we call instructional resilience. Although the digital transformation of the HE sector has been an important topic of discussion and research for years prior (e.g., Bond et al, 2018 ; Jensen, 2019 ), the sudden switch ERT has brought to light the deficiencies and lack of preparedness of a high-inertia system like HE (Bozkurt et al, 2020 ; Naidu, 2020 ; Zawacki-Richter, 2020 ). However, despite hardships and struggles, interim evaluations must concede that ERT “worked” to some degree (Bonk, 2020 ; Kerres, 2020 ; Lederman, 2020 ).…”

Improving Adaptive Learning in a Smart Learning Environment

“…In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted on educational systems worldwide, forcing a transition from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching-learning and elearning. Data from surveys conducted during the resulting shut down of educational institutions reveals a broad consensus regarding the positive attributes of the so-called emergency remote teaching, even if the organization of remote classes, virtual exams, and the various bureaucratic activities proved extremely challenging at the time [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. The massive and unprecedented use of technology in training activities as a result of the outbreak made the question of how to enhance personalized learning experiences in a digital environment more topical.…”