The Use of ICT for Communication between Teachers and Students in the Context of Higher Education Institutions

Recently, the communication paradigm has been changing in society in the higher education context because of the ease of access to the Internet and the high number of mobile devices. Thus, universities have increased their interest in accepting different and sophisticated communication technologies to improve student participation in the educational process. This study aimed to assess how students and teachers use communication technologies to communicate with each other and what their expectations, satisfaction, and attitudes regarding the results of this use are. An analysis model was used in a case study at the University of Aveiro to support the study. Data were obtained through an online questionnaire, which collected 570 responses from students and 172 responses from teachers. These data were processed through descriptive statistics techniques and inference tests (t-tests). The primary outcomes are that publishing and sharing technologies and electronic mail are the most commonly used communication technologies by students and teachers, suggesting that their use will not decline soon. However, other communication technologies were also revealed to be widely used and accepted, with excellent levels of confirmation of expectation.