Student Perspectives on On-site versus Online Teaching throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic

We present a long-term study of how university students experienced teaching/learning activities throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in Denmark
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. We collected data through questionnaires from N=365 students enrolled in the "Introduction to Database Systems" course during four consecutive semesters (Spring 2020 to Fall 2021). The two years span the entire period of the pandemic’s interruption of normal on-site teaching, until restrictions were completely lifted in Denmark. The study investigates student preferences for online versus onsite teaching, and identifies the advantages of both, as well as changes in preferences throughout the pandemic. Quantitatively, the results demonstrate a preference for on-site over online teaching which was more pronounced for exercise classes than for lectures. Qualitatively, the study identifies several advantages of both online and on-site teaching; including a more engaging learning environment and better teacher-student interaction for on-site lectures, and flexibility and self-paced learning for online teaching. The primary changes identified were an increased sense of being able to focus online and a decrease in ease of asking questions online towards the later stages of the pandemic. Finally, we highlight the opportunity for universities to provide hybrid models of teaching, in order to care for diverse student preferences and needs.