Higher Education Student's Self-Efficacy Beliefs During and Post Pandemic: an Explorative Learning Analytics Study

Abstract

The COVID-19 era massively accelerated digitalization of higher education and afterwards higher education institutions have partially reverted to their pre-pandemic modes of operation. In this study, we applied learning analytics to gain understanding of higher education students' experiences. We analyzed data on their self-efficacy beliefs and teamwork experiences. Data from 654 students were collected from two temporally distinct, identical courses, first at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in fall 2020 and then after lockdowns ended in 2023. Our findings reveal a significant increase in self-efficacy post-pandemic, indicating that pandemic period may have influenced higher education students' self-efficacy beliefs. A moderately positive relationship between the students' self-efficacy and their self-assessed team contributions was found. These insights deepen understanding of higher education students' study experiences and support the development of evidence-based educational practices applying learning analytics. The results highlight the need for higher education institutions to consider the development of students' self-efficacy when designing collaborative learning processes, as supporting self-efficacy improves the study experience and presumably has an impact on teamwork.