Determinants that Facilitate or Condition Students’ Perceived Effectiveness and Skills Improvement in a Remote Learning Context

Abstract:

Digital technologies have grown in importance in education over time and have become even more relevant with the epidemiological context established by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating unexpected and profound changes in work organization. These changes, in educational institutions, have resulted in the widespread use of remote learning to ensure that students continue to learn. This study explores the determinants that facilitate or condition students' perceived effectiveness and skills improvement in a remote learning context while in second COVID-19 lockdown. Six hundred thirty-seven students experiencing remote learning answered a web-based cross-sectional survey, between 1 and 15 March 2021. In this study, we identify several conditioning and facilitator factors of this learning modality. Using regression analysis, the results revealed that technological problems, difficulty in learning and demotivation conditioned both the effectiveness of learning and the improvement of students' skills. In turn, the ease of access and greater diversity of study materials facilitated the effectiveness of learning. Overall, we found that students experienced an improvement in their skills resulting from their remote learning experience.