Online Economics Higher Education During Covid-19, A Case Study Approach: The Bucharest University Of Economic Studies, The Faculty Of Business And Tourism

Holostencu, L. F., Iorgulescu, M. C., Ţală, M. L., Iordache, M. I., Vălimăreanu (Mircioi), I., & Crina, P. G. (2021). Online Economics Higher Education During Covid-19, A Case Study Approach: The Bucharest University Of Economic Studies, The Faculty Of Business And Tourism. CACTUS - Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics, 3 (2). doi.org/10.24818/CTS/3/2021/2.03

Based on the official APA guide. Review the full set of examples.

Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Abstract

From what in March 2020 seemed as a simple health issue, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a global crisis with a huge social, economic and educational impact. As a result, many countries that were not prepared for such a situation, in terms of infrastructure, had to abruptly adapt with the resources they had to their disposal at that time. For example, in Romania, most schools and universities moved their classes online via different online platforms, but students from rural areas were not able to attend school at all. The present study aims to evaluate students’ perceptions and difficulties regarding online (blended) learning compared to traditional classroom attendance with a main focus on the difficulties encountered in the process of learning economic subjects. We performed a quantitative research by implementing an online questionnaire which was sent out by the end of the second semester of 2020 – 2021 school year. The respondents were freshmen from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, The Faculty of Business and Tourism, enrolled in October 2020. Being aware that the quality of their learning might be affected via blended learning, all these respondents agreed to take part into various optional activities provided by the means of the Secondary Education Project – ROSE BT. Therefore, the current study might offer an useful insight into difficulties encountered by these students and solutions provided by both teachers and the university as an institution interested into facilitating the online education process. Moreover, the results will show possible factors that may determine difficulties into understanding various economic subjects and students’ own motion for improving their situation.

Keywords

Higher education, online learning, learning difficulties, coronavirus pandemic, educational technology

JEL Classification

A29, I21

References

Amir, L. R., Tanti, I., Maharani, D. A., et al. (2020). Student perspective of classroom and distance learning during COVID-19 pandemic in the undergraduate dental study program Universitas Indonesia. BMC Medical Education, 20, 392. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02312-0

Babatunde Adedoyin, O., & Soykan, E. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and online learning: The challenges and opportunities. Interactive Learning Environments. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1813180

Bao, W. (2020). COVID-19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking University. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(2), 113–115.

Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The “digital natives” debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–786.

Bojovic, Z., Bojovic, P. D., Vujosevic, D., & Suh, J. (2020). Education in times of crisis: Rapid transition to distance learning. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 28, 1467–1489.

Cao, W., Fang, Z., Hou, G., Han, M., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Zheng, J. (2020). The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Research, 287, 112934.

Carroll, N., & Conboy, K. (2020). Normalising the “new normal”: Changing tech-driven work practices under pandemic time pressure. International Journal of Information Management, 55, 102186.

Chakraborty, P., Mittal, P., Gupta, M. S., Yadav, S., & Arora, A. (2021). Opinion of students on online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3, 357–365.

Dhawan, S. (2020). Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(1), 5–22.

Di Pietro, G., Biagi, F., Costa, P., Karpiński, Z., & Mazza, J. (2020). The likely impact of COVID-19 on education: Reflections based on the existing literature and international datasets (EUR 30275 EN). Publications Office of the European Union.

Edelhauser, E., & Lupu-Dima, L. (2020). Is Romania prepared for e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic? Sustainability, 12(13), 5438.

Feldman, J. (2020). To grade or not to grade? Retrieved June 1, 2021, from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/to-grade-or-not-to-grade

Garrison, D. R., & Kanuka, H. (2004). Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 7, 95–105.

Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved July 15, 2021, from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning

Huang, C., Wang, Y., Li, X., Ren, L., Zhao, J., Hu, Y., Zhang, L., Fan, G., Xu, J., Gu, X., & Cheng, Z. (2020). Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. The Lancet, 395(10223), 497–506.

Jæger, M. M., & Blaabæk, E. H. (2020). Inequality in learning opportunities during COVID-19: Evidence from library takeout. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 68, 100524.

Kopp, M., Gröblinger, O., & Adams, S. (2019). Five common assumptions that prevent digital transformation at higher education institutions. In INTED2019 Proceedings (pp. 1448–1457).

Nash, C. (2020). Report on digital literacy in academic meetings during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Challenges, 11(2), 20.

OECD. (2020). Education and COVID-19: Focusing on the long-term impact of school closures. Retrieved June 1, 2021, from https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=135_135187-1piyg9kc7w&title=Education-and-COVID-19-Focusing-on-the-long-term-impact-of-school-closures

Patricia, A. (2020). College students’ use and acceptance of emergency online learning due to COVID-19. International Journal of Educational Research Open. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100011

Paules, C. I., Marston, H. D., & Fauci, A. S. (2020). Coronavirus infections—More than just the common cold. JAMA, 323(8), 707–708.

Pei, L., & Wu, H. (2019). Does online learning work better than offline learning in undergraduate medical education? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medical Education Online, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2019.1666538

Peters, M. A., Wang, H., Ogunniran, M. O., Huang, Y., Green, B., Chunga, J. O., & Khomera, S. W. (2020). China’s internationalized higher education during COVID-19: Collective student autoethnography. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(3), 968–988.

Poon, J. (2013). An examination of a blended learning approach in the teaching of economics to property and construction students. Property Management, 31(1), 39–54.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816

Ribeiro, R. (2020). How university faculty embraced the remote learning shift. EdTech Magazine. Retrieved June 1, 2021, from https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2020/04/how-university-faculty-embraced-remote-learning-shift

Shariman, T. P. N. T., Razak, N. A., & Noor, N. F. M. (2012). Digital literacy competence for academic needs: An analysis of Malaysian students in three universities. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1489–1496.

Strielkowski, W. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and the digital revolution in academia and higher education. Preprints, 2020040290. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0290.v1

Toprak, M., Bayraktar, Y., Yorgun, S., & Ayfer Ozyilmaz, A. (2021). Digital transformation, research university and restructuring of higher education: A model proposal for Istanbul University Faculty of Economics. Journal of Economy Culture and Society, 63, 67–92.

UNESCO. (2020a). COVID-19 educational disruption and response. Retrieved June 1, 2021, from https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse

Viner, R. M., Russell, S., Croker, H., Packer, J., Ward, J., Stansfield, C., Mytton, O., Bonell, C., & Booy, R. (2020). School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: A rapid systematic review. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from The Lancet website.

World Health Organization. (2020). WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19—11 March 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from WHO website.

Zhang, W., Wang, Y., Yang, L., & Wang, C. (2020). Suspending classes without stopping learning: China’s education emergency management policy in the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(3), 55.

Zogas, S., Kolokathi, A., Birbas, K., Chondrocoukis, G., & Mantas, J. (2016). The e-learning effectiveness versus traditional learning on a health informatics laboratory course. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 226, 109–112.