University Students’ Acceptance of Distance Education at the second wave of Covid-19: Insights and Future Perspectives

The rapid and widespread introduction of Distance Education (DE) in higher education during the pandemic was met with mixed levels of acceptance by students. To understand why, factors determining student acceptance of this mode of teaching and learning require further investigation. The aim of this study was therefore to analyze the factors influencing the acceptance of DE by university students during the second wave of Covid-19. We hypothesized that the factors encompassed by the Technology Acceptance Model (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness) could be possible predictors of the intention of future use of DE, which is an indicator of DE acceptance. We also hypothesized that a social factor - such as subjective norm - and a contextual factor - such as facilitating conditions - could influence perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. An online questionnaire was administered to 477 university students in Italy. Results emerging from a Path Analysis confirmed our hypotheses. Implications to promote future use of DE in higher education are discussed.