The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on ICT Usage by Academics

ABSTRACT

The major premise of the study is the recognition that academic work has been disrupted and changed profoundly by the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims at identifying how academic work, especially research and teaching, as well as ICT usage to support this work altered during the pandemic and what predictions do academics have for their work after the pandemic. The survey questionnaire was used, and data collected from 476 academics around the world were statistically analyzed. The research findings revealed that teaching has been the main academic work during the pandemic, whereas research used to be the main work before the pandemic and is predicted to be the main work after the pandemic. Furthermore, the pandemic has rapidly accelerated the usage of various kinds of ICTs, i.e., communication apps, e-learning platforms, and social media to support research and teaching. According to the prediction validated by academics, this change will be continuing after the pandemic, while ICTs will be used to a lesser extent than during the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic teaching
• academic research
• academic profession
• ICT
• Covid-19
• survey research

Acknowledgments

We would like to thankEwa Maruszewska, Jolanta Wartini-Twardowska, Dariusz Grabara, and Maciej Tuszkiewicz for their contribution to this research, especially co-creation of the survey questionnaire and data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).