A study on changing student opinion on e-learning in the pandemic period

The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected every organization and every aspect of life worldwide. The pandemic has caused unexpected confusion across academic institutions, with almost all universities forced to shift from traditional face-to-face classrooms to e-learning education. Universities have leveraged advanced technologies to continue their activities, with recent technologies increasing learning effectiveness. This research aims to track the changing opinion of engineering students on e-learning applications. The research was conducted with 408 Maltepe University, Istanbul, Turkey engineering students. The results showed that engineering students’ opinions had changed dramatically toward e-learning due to the prolongation of the epidemic period. This study confirmed the downward trend, consistent with the outcomes of recent studies. Furthermore, the study results showed that students prefer face-to-face or hybrid education to online learning. Social isolation, technical problems encountered, and inefficient education at home with limited opportunity to interact with the instructors play an important role in this changing decision. This study also may guide and decrease the response time on possible shutdowns that may occur in the future due to various reasons.