The Role of Prior Online Learning Experience in Student Learning under ERT – A Comparative Study

The pandemic provided great research opportunities in learning/teaching. How was students’ learning experience under emergency remote teaching (ERT)? The purposes of this study are to explore students’ learning experience, and to observe any differences under two lenses – internationalization and prior online learning. An online study was conducted in the Management/Business programs of a major Canadian research university and four Russian universities in 2021. A total of 683 students participated in this study, two-thirds of which were Canadian and one-third were Russian. The degree of internationalization (e.g. international students) is higher in Canadian universities, while a higher percentage of Russian students had prior online learning experience before the pandemic in this study. The research findings showed that the degree of internationalization did not play a significant role in the difference of student learning; while the prior learning experience played a crucial role under ERT. Russian students adjusted better to the new learning mode, reported a more positive view of online learning, had a better learning experience and performance, and had a preference to continue with online learning post-pandemic. This research sheds light on students’ preference for online learning that was influenced by prior exposure to online learning.