The Educational Impact of Adopting Electronic Notes Pre Covid-19

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the educational impact of using Electronic Notes (e-notes) with undergraduate students at a South African University. The majority of research studies done in this area indicate that students prefer printed notes to e-notes. This study seeks to investigate if the same trends hold true for the selected group of students, who transitioned from the regular printed notes to e-notes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was developed to gather students’ perceptions on e-learning material, specifically e-notes, and its impact on their learning experience. The population included students within the Computer Science and Information Systems and Technology faculties of the selected institution. The quantitative research method was adopted and data was analysed using SPSS. The areas of effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and self-efficacy associated with e-note usage were investigated. The findings indicate that some of the positive trends observed in the literature review hold true for this group of students and that the use and implementation of e-notes primarily have a positive impact on these students.