Adaptability to a sudden transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Understanding the challenges for students.

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigated the associations among adaptability to the pandemic, personality, and levels of learning experiences (affective, cognitive, and behavioral) among higher education students required to adapt to an abrupt transition to synchronous online learning due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 1,217 college students from Israel completed an online questionnaire after transitioning to synchronous online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparisons of reactions to the online condition versus more typical face-to-face learning conditions confirmed that students had pervasive negative reactions to the online condition that became necessary due to the pandemic. Moreover, adaptability to the pandemic was associated broadly with more positive reactions across multiple indicators. Support was also found for an indirect associations model such that personality traits were associated with specific reactions to online learning via their associations with adaptability. Supplemental analyses highlighted the more positive reactions and learning adaptability of students who reported greater feelings of belonging and mattering. The current findings attest to the role of adaptability and the significant challenges experienced by college students who experienced changes in their learning and life conditions due to the need to rapidly adjust to the changes and uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personality, Cognition, and Adaptability to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Associations with Loneliness, Distress, and Positive and Negative Mood States

“…This instrument has been shown to demonstrate adequate psychometric properties (e.g., Martin et al 2013). We found in another investigation with an independent sample of over 1200 students from Israel that this modified version of the instrument that was focused on adaptability to the pandemic also had an internal consistency of .92 (see Besser et al 2020).…”

Adaptability Promotes Student Engagement Under COVID-19: The Multiple Mediating Effects of Academic Emotion

“…There are three components: cognitive adjustment refers to the modification of one's thoughts, behavioral adjustment refers to the modification of one's actions, and affective adjustment refers to altering one's affective responses (Martin et al, 2012;Holliman, 2013;Holliman et al, 2018). Recent research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic found adaptability was predicted by students' personality traits (Besser et al, 2020). Specifically, this research found that all five of the big five personality traits significantly predicted adaptability to the COVID-19 pandemic, with extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness positively associated with adaptability, and neuroticism negatively associated.…”

Salud mental en estudiantes chilenos durante confinamiento por Covid-19: revisión bibliográfica

“…Los participantes en cuarentena tienen más probabilidades que otros de percibir discriminación y exhibir angustia mental (Xin et al, 2020). Las preocupaciones por la seguridad prevalecen debido al riesgo potencial para la salud y el bienestar de los estudiantes individuales, pero también de sus familiares, amigos y colegas (Besser et al, 2020). Muchos estudiantes también han tenido que lidiar con la sensación de aislamiento y soledad que acompaña a la adherencia a las pautas para participar en el aislamiento físico o el distanciamiento social (Besser et al, 2020).…”

“…A raíz de la pandemia, maestros y estudiantes tuvieron que cambiar a la instrucción en línea para disminuir su propagación (Garris & Fleck, 2020). Muchos estudiantes que normalmente participaban en formatos de aprendizaje cara a cara han tenido que hacer una transición repentina al aprendizaje en línea (Besser et al, 2020). Esta transición hacia la enseñanza remota no solo ha supuesto un trabajo significativo para los profesores, sino que para muchos estudiantes que esperaban una experiencia tradicional cara a cara; el cambio al aprendizaje en línea parece haber tenido importantes consecuencias negativas (Gurung & Stone, 2020).…”

“…Los estudiantes enfrentan desafíos importantes debido al acceso a Internet, el estrés y la ansiedad debido al contexto actual, las condiciones de vida inestables y los problemas de salud mental y física existentes (Gurung & Stone, 2020); otros factores relevantes se asocian a la incertidumbre sobre el futuro y la pérdida de autonomía (Gruber et al, 2020). Las condiciones actuales de clases en línea por pandemia evocan estados de ánimo negativos más fuertes (ansiedad, frustración, aburrimiento, entre otros) y promueve la disminución de estados de ánimo positivos (Besser et al, 2020). Frente a este escenario, para poder apoyar de mejor manera a los estudiantes chilenos en su salud mental, es esencial identificar y analizar publicaciones cuya temática abordase la salud mental en confinamiento de estudiantes chilenos.…”