How student perceptions about online learning difficulty influenced their satisfaction during Canada's Covid‐19 response

Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic has posed a significant challenge to higher education and forced academic institutions across the globe to abruptly shift to remote teaching. Because of the emergent transition, higher education institutions continuously face difficulties in creating satisfactory online learning experiences that adhere to the new norms. This study investigates the transition to online learning during Covid‐19 to identify factors that influenced students' satisfaction with the online learning environment. Adopting a mixed‐method design, we find that students' experience with online learning can be negatively affected by information overload, and perceived technical skill requirements, and describe qualitative evidence that suggest a lack of social interactions, class format, and ambiguous communication also affected perceived learning. This study suggests that to digitalize higher education successfully, institutions need to redesign students' learning experience systematically and re‐evaluate traditional pedagogical approaches in the online context. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic University transitions to online learning during the Covid‐19 pandemic were undertaken by faculty and students who had little online learning experience. The transition to online learning was often described as having a negative influence on students' learning experience and mental health. Varieties of cognitive load are known predictors of effective online learning experiences and satisfaction. What this paper adds Information overload and perceptions of technical abilities are demonstrated to predict students' difficulty and satisfaction with online learning. Students express negative attitudes towards factors that influence information overload, technical factors, and asynchronous course formats. Communication quantity was not found to be a significant factor in predicting either perceived difficulty or negative attitudes. Implications for practice and/or policy We identify ways that educators in higher education can improve their online offerings and implementations during future disruptions. We offer insights into student experience concerning online learning environments during an abrupt transition. We identify design factors that contribute to effective online delivery, educators in higher education can improve students' learning experiences during difficult periods and abrupt transitions to online learning.