Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on University Students’ Learning Life: An Integrated Conceptual Motivational Model for Sustainable and Healthy Online Learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations around the world to make full use of a variety of emerging online communication platform technologies. Universities are among the organizations that have asked students, tutors, and lecturers to use a number of different online communication platforms to ensure the education process remains uninterrupted. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated considerable challenges for the global higher education community while using such emerging technologies. This research has two main goals. First, this paper will begin by investigating whether the online learning platforms used by university students during the COVID-19 period have presented any challenges to their learning. Second, the paper will then go on to address proposed solutions by developing a conceptual model to reduce the impact of such challenges. This research uses an exploratory qualitative research approach, supported by literature content analysis techniques. The data set for this study was collected during the first peak of the pandemic period in Malaysia, between the 16th of May 2020 and the 5th of June 2020. We used SPSS to conduct a descriptive analysis and NVivo12 to analyse data collected from 486 students from different universities in Malaysia. These students disclosed various obstacles they encountered when they used IT platform applications for online learning. These obstacles include (a) work and information overload received from instructors, (b) inadaptability and unfamiliarity of the new online learning environment, and (c) personal health challenges related to stress and anxiety. Based on previous relevant research, this study introduced a set of motivational factors and developed a conceptual motivational model for sustainable and healthy online learning.

University Students’ Perception, Evaluation, and Spaces of Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria: What Can We Learn for Post-Pandemic Educational Futures?

“…This points to the importance of efficient communication on the part of university management and argues for maintaining a communication strategy that keeps students informed about developments at universities. Nonetheless, as in other countries e.g., [53][54][55][56][57], the students in our Austrian study perceived a variety of challenges. Many participants urgently desired a return to face-toface teaching and university life as well as direct face-to-face contact with teachers, their classmates, and other fellow students.…”

Factors for Sustainable Online Learning in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Another learning from this study is that instructors need to be familiar with online systems and tools to be effective facilitators. Educational establishments should be actively training their teaching staff on different systems and tools, to prepare for future online learning opportunities, and/or incorporate quality technical tools purchased during COVID-19 to further improve the learning environment for students in the future [68]. This can improve the sustainability of both the system purchased as well the adopted institutions by enhancing the learning environment for students.…”

University Students’ Perspective on Material and Activities in English Listening Class During Pandemic

“…Some researches reveal that online learning impact on stress and anxiety for university students (Sundarasen et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2021). To help students to cope with the stress, it is suggested by (Al-kumaim et al, 2021) that teachers should motivate the students to develop self-confidence and selfefficacy in learning. Universities also need to manage the quality of online learning content by assisting the teacher in planning and designing the activities and material.…”