Students’ pre and during COVID-19 perception of higher education switch to online: An exploratory study in Portugal

Abstract

The corona virus crisis has exposed the many inadequacies and inequities in our education systems. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the relation between the pandemic caused by COVID 19 (SARS-COV 2) and the changes experienced in Higher Education (HE), namely the shift to online teaching mode. The research used a survey questionnaire to collect data. The study focuses on a Portuguese Higher Education Institution (HEI). Institutional teacher’s performance indicators regarding quality assessment system were used, referring to the 2nd semester of 2018-19 until the 2nd semester of 2020-21. The total number of pre-Covid19 students who participated was 227. As to the during-covid19, 288 answered the questionnaire. Overall, the “U of Mann-Whitney test” has found no differences between the two moments, pre- and during-Covid19. Hence, results seem to indicate that the students’ perception of the lecturer’s performance was not affected by the regimen shift from face-to-face to online