Exploring Factors Affecting the Evaluation of Online Learning Services. Evidence from a Social Science Bachelor's Degree

The sudden shift from face-to-face to online learning during Covid-19 pandemic had important consequences for students’ experiences. The present contribution aims to assess the factors affecting the student services’ evaluation in terms of prior digital skills, their experience on online platforms and the perception of didactic tools. These relations are explored by adopting a Partial Least Squares Path Modeling approach. A questionnaire was administered to students’ cohorts enrolled in a social science bachelor’s degree program at a University in Southern Italy. The main findings reveal that the perception of online experiences is the most important factor influencing students’ evaluation as well as having prior digital skills favor the usage of digital platforms and a positive assessment of distance learning tools.