From contact to online learning in a crisis: an initial investigation of auditing students’ online behaviour patterns

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an abrupt change to the education system as most South African universities were forced to halt all face-toface teaching and learning activities and shift to an online curriculum. This study aimed to provide an initial overview of the online behaviour of second-year South African Auditing students. Using reports from the Learning Management System, it investigated the time taken by students to access online resources, the type of resources accessed and if this behaviour had an association with students’ marks. The analysis revealed that, on average, only 23% of the resources provided were accessed and also provided evidence that students did not access resources promptly. On average it took them 130 days after initial upload to access the online material. Students took longer to access tutorial videos (234 days) than other resources such as lecture videos (89 days). Significant, negative associations were established between student marks, time to access resources, and the percentage of resources accessed. This implies that, while face-to-face and online learning may be substituted for each other in an ordinarily contact university, the efficacy of online resources is dependent on the student’s online behaviour.