An assessment of student satisfaction with e-learning: An empirical study with computer and software engineering undergraduate students in Turkey under pandemic conditions

Abstract

As COVID-19 reached Turkey in March 2020, all universities switched to e-learning in a very short period. Computer and software engineering (CE/SE) undergraduate students studying at university campuses have switched to e-learning. This paper seeks to understand the e-learning experience of CE/SE undergraduate students. A questionnaire was created and applied to CE/SE undergraduate students in Turkish universities. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The questionnaire received 290 usable responses. The highlights from the findings include: the participants (1) used video recordings intensively for e-learning and found them useful; (2) found face-to-face lectures more beneficial compared to digital live lectures; (3) used external online resources to improve their learning performance in courses; (4) thought that the materials and methods utilized for assessment should be adapted to e-learning for a better and fair evaluation; (5) perceived significantly less instructor support and classmate interaction and collaboration in e-learning compared to on-campus education settings; (6) rated their perceived satisfaction from e-learning as 2.85, slightly under the mid-level of the 5-point Likert scale; (7) perceived instructor support, student interaction and collaboration, and student autonomy as noteworthy factors in high-quality e-learning.

Keywords: COVID-19; Computer engineering education; E-learning; Empirical study; On-campus education; Pandemic; Software engineering education.