Changes and Adaptations: How University Students Self-Regulate Their Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, universities had to shift from face-to-face to emergency remote education. Students were forced to study online, with limited access to facilities and less contact with peers and teachers, while at the same time being exposed to more autonomy. This study examined how students adapted to emergency remote learning, specifically focusing on students’ resource-management strategies using an individual differences approach. One thousand eight hundred university students completed a questionnaire on their resource-management strategies and indicators of (un)successful adaptation to emergency remote learning. On average, students reported being less able to regulate their attention, effort, and time and less motivated compared to the situation before the crisis started; they also reported investing more time and effort in their self-study. Using a k-means cluster analysis, we identified four adaptation profiles and labeled them according to the reported changes in their resource-management strategies: the overwhelmed, the surrenderers, the maintainers, and the adapters. Both the overwhelmed and surrenderers appeared to be less able to regulate their effort, attention, and time and reported to be less motivated to study than before the crisis. In contrast, the adapters appreciated the increased level of autonomy and were better able to self-regulate their learning. The resource-management strategies of the maintainers remained relatively stable. Students’ responses to open-answer questions on their educational experience, coded using a thematic analysis, were consistent with the quantitative profiles. Implications about how to support students in adapting to online learning are discussed.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

“…In line with these findings, early qualitative work suggests the pandemic has fostered opportunities for appreciation and gratitude by considering one's personal experience in comparison to others who have been adversely affected (i.e., relative fortune) and has increased time spent with family and engaging in new hobbies or activities [29]. However, burgeoning research has reported the negative impacts of the pandemic and national lockdowns on students' ability to regulate their attention and motivation levels [30] and to develop studying networks [31]. This was particularly true within our sample, with students reporting reduced motivation to engage with their academic work during isolation.…”

A Mediating Model of Emotional Balance and Procrastination on Academic Performance

“…In the university context of the last two years, the transition from face-to-face to remote teaching, as a result of the limitations of the covid-19 pandemic, has strongly emphasized the need for students to possess pronounced selfmanagement skills in their learning processes in order not to fall behind on scheduled paths and deadlines and also to maintain a good level of perceived psychological well-being (Pelikan et al, 2021;Diotaiuti et al, 2021a). It has been observed in several studies how distractions at home and reduced social interaction with other students and faculty can negatively affect study time management and adaptation to the new emergency condition that requires students to have a higher level of autonomy and metacognitive control (Rasheed et al, 2020;Tezer, 2020;Alyami et al, 2021;Biwer et al, 2021;Diotaiuti et al, 2021b).…”

Adjustment to COVID-19 Lockdown Among Italian University Students: The Role of Concerns, Change in Peer and Family Relationships and in Learning Skills, Emotional, and Academic Self-Efficacy on Depressive Symptoms

“…Almost half of the students perceived a worsening of their learning skills during lockdown, and this is a noteworthy result, highlighting the serious effects of remote learning on students' perception of their abilities. Many factors were likely to contribute to the perception of this deterioration in study activities: the lack of appropriate devices or Internet connection lines, the absence of face-toface relationships with teachers and classmates, the reduced motivation in following lessons, as well as the difficulties linked to the new examination procedures (Biwer et al, 2021;Nguyen et al, 2021).…”