Which Digital Tools dominate Secondary and Higher Education in Economics: Google, Microsoft or Zoom?

Abstract

Background: Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, in many countries, higher, secondary and even primary education experienced the unannounced shift from traditional classroom lessons to distance teaching using different technologies. Objectives: The main objective of the research was to identify the most important digital tools applied by educators and students during the pandemic and evaluate their satisfaction with applying these tools in four countries; Croatia, Germany, Poland and Serbia. Methods/Approach: The questionnaires were sent via emails to educators and distributed through the classes to students using digital teaching platforms or emails. The answers were analysed by descriptive statistics. Results: Research showed that Google tools most commonly used by students and educators are; YouTube, Gmail, Google Translate, Google Maps and Google Drive. Microsoft digital tools most commonly used by educators and students in observed countries are; Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Other digital tools most commonly used by educators are Zoom and Moodle, while students mostly use Zoom and Kahoot. Moreover, this paper identifies the main reasons for educators' insufficient use of digital tools. Conclusions: Google, Microsoft and Zoom dominate their specific domains: Google for networks, Microsoft for documents, and Zoom for online meetings.