Austrian College Students' Experiences With Digital Media Learning During the First COVID-19 Lockdown

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many nations to shut down schools and universities, 13 catapulting teachers and students into a new, challenging situation of 100% distance learning. To 14 explore how the shift to full distance learning represented a break with previous teaching, we asked 15 Austrian students (n = 874, 65% female, 34% male) which digital media they used before and during 16 the first Corona lockdown, as well as which tools they wanted to use in the future. Students 17 additionally reported on their attitudes and experiences with online learning. Results showed that 18 students used certain tools, such as video, audio, e-assessments and web conferencing systems, much 19 more often during lockdown than they had before. Their use of classic digital media such as e-mail, 20 social communication tools such as chat or online forums, and other interactive tools such as wikis or 21 educational games, hardly changed at all. Their attitudes toward multimedia learning were positively 22 related to their media use. In their open responses (n = 137), students identified advantages of online 23 learning (flexibility, self-directed learning), as well as disadvantages (limited social interaction) and 24 challenges (motivation, self-discipline). As a group, they also expressed a clear preference for a 25 balanced combination of online- and offline teaching in the future. However, individual students did 26 prefer fully online or offline learning modes, depending on their personal circumstances and 27 educational goals. We view this as a call to researchers and educators alike to explore ways in which 28 the advantages of online and face-to-face learning can best be combined to meet the changed needs 29 and expectations of organizations, students and teachers in a future “after Corona.”