Online learning adoption by Chinese university students during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic has severely challenged the continuity of post-secondary education around the world. Online learning platforms have been put to the test, in a context where student engagement will not occur as a simple matter of course. To identify the factors supporting online learning under pandemic conditions, a questionnaire based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology was adapted and administered to a sample of 704 Chinese university students. Structural equation modelling was applied to the resulting data, to identify the most relevant theoretical components. Effort expectancy, social influence, and information quality all significantly predicted both students’ performance expectancies and the overall adoption of their university’s Moodle-based system. Performance expectancy mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and information quality on symbolic adoption. Internet speed and reliability had no clear impact on adoption, and neither did gender. The direct impact of information quality on symbolic adoption represents a particularly robust and relatively novel result; one that is not usually examined by comparable research. As outlined, this is one of three key factors that have predicted online learning engagement, and the viability of educational continuity, during the Coronavirus pandemic. The same factors can be leveraged through user-focused development and implementation, to help ensure tertiary education continuity during a range of crises.