How are UK Higher Education Students Learning Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

With the continued COVID-19 pandemic, and the requirement of students in higher education to continue to learn remotely, it is essential that we have mechanisms in place for gathering feedback on their experiences. It has never been more important to listen to the student voice and to work as partners with students to ensure their digital experience delivers what they need and shapes the digital future of the students that follow. The Jisc digital experience insights surveys (Jisc, 2021) allow universities to collect valid, representative, and actionable data from their students and staff about the digital environment they offer, and to understand how digital technologies are used in learning and teaching, as well as across the organisation. This year, universities had the option to run the surveys annually or as pulse surveys, and this session will share the findings from the higher education student surveys with the data collected from October 2020 to end of April 2021. About 40,000 students from UK universities have shared their views on their online learning experience. The findings offer insights into how students are navigating digital poverty, their digital well-being, as well as the support for developing their digital skills and what they need to become effective online learners.