E-Learning vs. Face-To-Face Learning: Analyzing Students’ Preferences and Behaviors

Vasile Gherheș, Claudia E. Stoian, Marcela Alina Fărcașiu and Miroslav Stanici
Additional contact information
Vasile Gherheș: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Claudia E. Stoian: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Marcela Alina Fărcașiu: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Miroslav Stanici: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Educational life worldwide has been shaken by the closure of schools due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The ripple effects have been felt in the way both teachers and students have adapted to the constraints imposed by the new online form of education. The present study focuses exclusively on the beneficiaries of the educational process and aims to find out their perceptions of face-to-face and e-learning and their desire to return, or not, to the traditional form of education. These perceptions are represented by 604 students of the Politehnica University of Timisoara, who were asked to respond anonymously to an 8-question questionnaire between December 2020 and February 2021. The results show the respondents’ levels of desire to return to school (especially of those who have only benefited from e-learning) and their degree of involvement during online classes. The results also specify the advantages and disadvantages of the two forms of education from a double perspective, namely that of first-year students (beneficiaries of e-learning exclusively), and of upper-year students (beneficiaries of both face-to-face and e-learning). The study points out key information about e-learning from the students’ perspectives, which should be considered to understand the ongoing changes of the educational process and to solve its specific problems, thus ensuring its sustainability.

Keywords: e-learning; face-to-face learning; advantages; disadvantages; higher education; students; preferences; behaviors; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4381/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4381/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:8:p:4381-:d:536197

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().