Nitza Davidovitch

Ariel University, Israel

E-mail: d.nitza@ariel.ac.il

Economics of time: Advantages of e-learning in proportion to the time utilized and the tradeoff between work and studies

Eyal Eckhaus

Ariel University, Israel

E-mail: eyale@ariel.ac.il 

ORCID 0000-0002-1815-0045

Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic created a disruption of the educational system. The transition to e-learning in a state of emergency involved breaching barriers and challenges for both faculty and students. In the current study, we examine the opinion of students on the advantages of e-learning, in a systemic, multi-institutional perspective. Based on 1,859 respondents from several academic institutions, we employed a mixed methods research, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques. The findings show that variables related to time saving significantly affect the preference for e-teaching. In contrast, money-saving variables were not found to be significant. Reduction in travel time was found to be the most important dimension involved in the preference for e-teaching, followed by the convenience of studying from home and lesson recordings. These measures emphasize the advantages of digitization in the modern era and the option of perceiving learning as a consumer product that does not require physical presence. Globalization has facilitated e-commerce with no geographical barriers, from the convenience of one’s home or organization, together with a significant reduction in time required. However academic institutions are lagging in this regard. The COVID-19 era has raised the need for the academic establishment to adapt to the new reality and the advantages of technological modernization in the 21st century.

Received: July, 2021

1st Revision: April, 2022

Accepted: June, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2022/15-2/14

JEL Classification: J22, R41, A2, I2

Keywords: Covid-19, e-learning, academia, time economics, time saving