Abstract

CALVO-FERRER, José Ramón. Willingness of Spanish University Students to Connect their Camera during COVID-19 Pandemic. Íkala [online]. 2022, vol.27, n.2, pp.292-311.  Epub May 28, 2022. ISSN 0123-3432.  https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v27n2a01.

As a result of the pandemic generated by COVID-19, educational institutions began to teach their classes remotely. During these, the majority of students opted to keep the webcam turned off, causing demotivation and uncertainty among teachers. The different studies that investigate this behavior present atomized and unconnected reasons. This is why this research intended to offer a holistic view of the reasons that led students to activate or not activate the camera during the pandemic. Data obtained through a questionnaire administered to 305 students from different Spanish universities revealed a tendency to follow the decision of the majority regarding whether or not to connect the camera during classes, as well as a reluctance to show themselves to classmates in relaxed environments. On the other hand, although no significant differences were found between men and women regarding the frequency of use, male participants attributed less importance to both the projected personal image and the connection resources available. Results also show that the importance attributed both to the generation of social presence in the classroom and to the academic qualification is a predictor of its frequency of use. These results suggest the use of strategies that encourage higher education students to connect the webcam during the teaching through videoconferencing systems.

Keywords : online learning; web cameras; COVID-19; higher education; emergency remote teaching.

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