Title: Demographic differences in China's higher education students' interactions and experiences with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: Jiayun Yan; Ting Wang

Addresses: North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering, 133 East Aimin Rd, Langfang, Hebei, 065009, China ' Emporia State University, 1 Kellogg Cir, Emporia, KS, 66801, USA

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between higher education students' demographic backgrounds and their interactions and experiences with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using a quantitative cross-sectional online survey of students across China. The survey was distributed from October 10, 2021, to October 12, 2021, with 313 respondents. The results indicate that most participants had lower satisfaction with online learning, which could be due to the face-to-face learning pedagogy was mainly adopted in China before the pandemic. Over 90% of participants used more than one learning management system (LMS) in 2020 and 2021, which might be due to Chinese universities' lack of relevant unified management. Based on the sociocultural learning theory, measures like including extra learning assistance, such as instructional designers, may improve the adaptability of instructors and learners when unexpected changes occur in the social environment and learners are slow or fail to adapt as necessary.

Keywords: online learning; higher education students; sociocultural learning theory; China; COVID-19 pandemic.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLT.2024.137900

International Journal of Learning Technology, 2024 Vol.19 No.1, pp.3 - 24

Received: 03 May 2022
Received in revised form: 01 Nov 2022
Accepted: 02 Jan 2023
Published online: 08 Apr 2024 *

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