Let Students Talk about Emergency Remote Teaching Experience: Secondary Students’ Perceptions on Their Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The associations between instructional approach, sleep characteristics and adolescent mental health: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES

To test whether adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with the combination of their instructional approach(es) and their sleep patterns.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

SETTING

Adolescents were recruited through social media outlets in October and November 2020 to complete an online survey.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 4442 geographically and racially diverse, community-dwelling students (grades 6-12, 51% female, 36% non-White, 87% high schoolers).

MEASUREMENTS

Participants completed items from the PROMIS Pediatric Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety scales. Participants reported their instructional approach(es), bedtimes, and wake times for each day in the past week. Participants were categorized into five combined instructional approach groups. Average sleep opportunity was calculated as the average time between bedtime and waketime. Social jetlag was calculated as the difference between the average sleep midpoint preceding non-scheduled and scheduled days.

RESULTS

Emotional distress was elevated in this sample, with a large proportion of adolescents reporting moderate-severe (T-score ≥ 65) levels of depressive symptoms (49%) and anxiety (28%). There were significant differences between instructional approach groups, such that adolescents attending all schooldays in-person reported the lowest depressive symptom and anxiety T-scores (P < .001, ηp2 = .012), but also the shortest sleep opportunity (P < .001, ηp2 = .077) and greatest social jetlag (P < .001, ηp2 = .037) of all groups. Adolescents attending school in person, with sufficient sleep opportunity (≥8-9 hours/night) and limited social jetlag (<2 hours) had significantly lower depressive (ηp2 = .014) and anxiety (ηp2 = .008) T-scores than other adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

Prioritizing in-person education and promoting healthy sleep patterns (more sleep opportunity, more consistent sleep schedules) may help bolster adolescent mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic and adolescents' and young adults' experiences at school: A systematic narrative review

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the lives of adolescents and young adults across the globe. In response to the pandemic onset, educational institutions were forced to pivot to online learning, a new teaching and learning format for most secondary and university students. This systematic narrative review summarizes findings from 168 publications spanning 56 countries on students' educational outcomes and school climate as well as the internal assets and contextual supports that promoted academic well-being during the pandemic. Our findings suggest that young people commonly reported declines in their academic-related outcomes and school-based relationships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Internal assets (e.g., intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy) and contextual supports (i.e., relationships with teachers, peers, and parents) promoted academic well-being during the pandemic. Next steps for research on young people's academic well-being during the pandemic are suggested.

Alternative Clinical Practice Experiences of Korean Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Routine clinical practice (RCP) experiences provide nursing students with the opportunity to gain confidence in their professional roles. The purpose of this study was to explore the alternative clinical practice (ACP) experiences of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic using the Q methodology. Methods: Fifty-two nursing students located in four cities across South Korea participated. The participants sorted the order of and ranked 41 Q statements about their experiences with ACP into a Q sort table; the data were analyzed using the PQ method. Results: The following three distinct viewpoints were extracted: (1) ACP helps with balancing learning and life (favorable view of ACP); (2) ACP does not help with balancing theory and clinical field practice (critical view of ACP); and (3) RCP cannot be replaced by ACP (negative view of ACP). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that developing a curriculum for clinical practice that can enhance the strengths of ACP while compensating for its weaknesses will help promote learning among nursing students.

Socioeconomic Deprivation and Inequalities in Mental Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Adolescents

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the existing inequalities in education and mental health. The aim of this study was to examine socioeconomic disadvantages and mental well-being inequalities among Slovenian adolescents in October 2020. The study used nationally representative data from 3052 adolescents aged 14 and 18 (Mage = 14.4 and 18.4). The WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used to measure mental well-being and risk for depression. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify differences in the pattern of associations regarding sociodemographic characteristics and experiences during the pandemic with poor well-being and risk for depression. Our study found that adolescents from socially disadvantaged families faced poorer conditions as regards academic performance, had fewer opportunities to socialise with friends online, and were more likely to feel lonely; they reported lower levels of mental well-being and were at a higher risk for depression. The unemployment of both parents and adolescents' perceptions of family wealth were found to be the most important predictors of depression risk. In addition, experiencing deprivation and economic hardship during the pandemic was also identified as a significant predictor. The study concludes that social and economic conditions were critical determinants of adolescents' mental health during the pandemic and that effective intervention is needed to promote their well-being and reduce inequalities.

Motivation and Engagement of Final-Year Students When Using E-learning: A Qualitative Study of Gamification in Pandemic Situation

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the education system operates. The shift from face-to-face learning to online learning generated many problems, including decreasing students’ motivation and engagement. Gamification has been used as one of the solutions to overcome the problem of low motivation and engagement in learning. The current study aims to examine students’ behavioral change when using e-learning with gamification, investigate gamification elements that are important to students and how it influences students’ motivation and engagement, and investigate whether population characteristics may influence students’ motivation and engagement. Qualitative methods were employed to gather and analyze the data. The thematic analysis resulted in six main themes. The findings revealed that there were behavioral changes in students during gamification implementation, i.e., from negative to positive and from positive to negative. Four gamification elements were found to be the most important gamification elements to students, i.e., points, leaderboard, badges, and gamified test. The mechanism of how these elements influenced motivation and engagement was discussed. The population characteristics of final-year students also had an impact on gamification effectiveness. Despite gamification’s capabilities to influence motivation and engagement, there are some concerns related to negative impacts that must be addressed in the future.

Emergency Remote Learning in Higher Education in Cyprus during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Zoom-Out View of Challenges and Opportunities for Quality Online Learning

This study provides a zoom-out perspective of higher education students’ experiences related to the emergency remote learning (ERL) following the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic as captured by a national, in-depth survey administered to all higher education institutions in Cyprus (different fields of study and educational levels). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data collected from 1051 students provide valuable information and insights regarding learners’ prior technology background and level of preparedness for online learning, the challenges and benefits of ERL and how they would like their online learning experience to be improved in case of future ERL. The results underline that students’ knowledge of and self-efficacy in using e-learning tools do not directly equate to being a digital learner equipped with necessary digital skills such as self-regulation to fully benefit from online learning. The educational disparities caused by inequalities in access and accessibility to high-quality education laid bare by the pandemic stressed the need for online environments that would afford quality learning for all learners. Online learning demands are discussed in the article, as well as implications for research, practice and policy making.

University-level EFL students' views on learning English online: a qualitative study

The main aim of this article is to determine Turkish EFL (English as a foreign language) students' perceptions about learning English through distance education (henceforth DE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. To realize this aim, the study adopted a qualitative research design and used the metaphor elicitation technique, semi-structured telephone interviews, and an online focus group interview to collect data. The results of the analysis show that most of the students prefer face-to-face English education in a classroom setting rather than online education. Despite some positive comments about DE like it being more comfortable for shy students, students' attitudes toward DE were found to be mostly negative because of the challenges they faced like technical problems, health and focus issues, a lack of interaction and speaking practice in the target language, feelings of anxiety and isolation and low motivation, and DE not addressing all learning styles effectively. Using several qualitative data collection tools, this study provides valuable insights into the thoughts and experiences of students about online English language learning, which can be taken into account to enhance future online language teaching and learning efforts. This study also offers some suggestions to make online EFL education more productive and effective.

The Effect of Graded-Reading Websites/Applications on EFL Undergraduates’ Reading Comprehension during COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many educational changes, especially the shift towards the use of technology in all subjects. This longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effect of learning environments—blended and online, alone and with graded-reading websites/applications—on the reading comprehension of Saudi undergraduates majoring in English during COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, 130 participants were selected (control: male [N = 21], female [N = 54]; or experimental: male [N = 21], female [N = 34]). Although the four gender-based groups were exposed to the same learning environments—first blended and later online, which were either partially or dependent on technology—only the male and female experimental groups were required to use graded-reading websites/applications for approximately 10 months during the COVID-19 school lockdowns. All participants took four tests (pretest, posttest 1, posttest 2, and delayed posttest). Using the SPSS program, the results indicated that the learning environments alone had a limited positive effect on the control groups’ reading comprehension in the short term, which either decreased significantly (male control group) or remained unchanged (female control group) in the long term. There were significant differences between all control groups and experimental groups across all tests (p < 0.000). However, the experimental male group outperformed their male counterpart across all posttests except for the second posttest: experimental male group mean was 15.43 whereas it was 16.19 for the control male group. However, combining learning environments and graded-reading websites/applications yielded gradual positive effects on the reading comprehension of the experimental groups in the short term, which continued into the long term for the male experimental group. The experimental groups outperformed the control groups on at least two out of three posttests. The study concluded that the effect of technology on the reading comprehension of Saudi male and female undergraduates is bounded by the type of specialized technology (i.e., reading websites/applications) and the applied learning environments (i.e., blended and online). Additionally, the study indicated that there is a need to investigate other important factors related to technology used in Saudi institutes, as well as its effects on students’ learning processes in ongoing changes in the education sector in Saudi Arabia.

The Role of a Ministry of Education in Addressing Distance Education during Emergency Education

The present study aims to identify the role of a Ministry of Education in meeting the challenges faced due to distance education as emergency education. The study participants were nine officials working at the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. We used interviews to collect data and inductive content analysis to analyze these data. The study result indicates that the ministry carried out action related to the different educational aspects to meet distance education challenges. It is recommended that ministries of education strengthen their collaboration with the local community. The aim of this collaboration is two-fold: encouraging parents’ support of technology integration in education and encouraging their role in positively influencing their students’ perceptions of the use of ICT in learning. Teachers also need to engage in the change of students’ perception towards a more positive one regarding the influence of ICT on learning.

Why Do Students Prefer Augmented Reality: A Mixed-Method Study on Preschool Teacher Students’ Perceptions on Self-Assessment AR Quizzes in Science Education

Students’ perceptions on AR applications have gained researchers’ interest in the field of ICT-enhanced teaching and learning, especially in recent years. The current study investigates students’ perceptions concerning their learning and immersive experiences gained using AR quizzes with formative self-assessment purposes in a science education university course during one semester. The research followed the mixed-method approach, and the data were collected sequentially by questionnaires and focus group discussions. A descriptive statistical analysis and a thematic analysis were conducted, respectively. Fifty-one (51) students participated in the quantitative data collection procedure and ten (10) of them participated in the focus groups. The results indicate that students are in favor of AR quizzes which justify their stance based on the learning gains and the immersive experiences. AR was underlined to play a significant role by creating an engaging environment of immersion. The findings support the positive stances of students over the combination of AR and formative self-assessment and highlight the role of immersion supported by AR technologies. Additionally, based on the relatively long period of application, the findings create doubts concerning the influence of the novelty effect on students’ positive stances toward AR.

A Framework of Implementing Strategies for Active Student Engagement in Remote/Online Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a drastic shift of face-to-face teaching and learning to remote/online teaching and learning at all levels of education worldwide. Active student engagement is always a challenging task for educators regardless of the teaching modalities. The degree of challenge for active student engagement increases significantly in remote/online teaching and learning. This paper presents a framework that implements activities/strategies to ensure active student engagement in remote/online teaching and learning during this COVID-19 pandemic. The structure of the developed framework combines the balanced use of adjusted teaching pedagogy, educational technologies, and an e-learning management system. Teaching pedagogy involves various active learning techniques, synchronous teaching, asynchronous teaching, and segmentation. The educational technologies, such as Google Meet, Jamboard, Google Chat, Breakout room, Mentimeter, Moodle, electronic writing devices, etc., enable the developed framework for active student engagement. An e-learning management system, Moodle, is used for course management purposes. Over the last three semesters (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Summer 2021), the framework is tested for three different engineering courses. A questionnaire draws out student perception on the developed framework in terms of active student engagement that ensures student–student interactions, student–instructor interactions, social presence, reinforces learning and deepens understanding of the materials in remote teaching. The feedback also indicates that combining the utilized technologies, synchronous teaching, and active learning activities in the developed framework is effective for interactive learning; hence a practical approach for active student engagement in remote/online teaching and learning. The article focuses on contributing to present research and infusing future research direction about technology-enhanced active student engagement in Engineering Education.

The Higher Education Sustainability before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Spanish and Ecuadorian Case

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are key to create sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs). Most researchers focused on the students’ perspective, especially during the online teaching caused by COVID-19; however, university teachers are often forgotten, having their opinion missing. This study’s objective was to determine the factors that contribute to the inclusion of ICTs. The research based on a comparative study through an online qualitative survey focused on the inclusion and use of ICTs in two HEIs and two different moments (pre-and post-lockdowns). There were differences regarding country and working experience (p < 0.001), being linked to the ICTs use, evaluation of obstacles, and the role given to ICTs (p < 0.05). The COVID-19 caused modifications of the teachers’ perspectives, including an improvement of the opinion of older teachers regarding the essentialness of ICTs in the teaching process (p < 0.001) and worsening their perception about their ICTs skill (p < 0.05). Additionally, an initial model focused only on the university teachers and their use of ICTs has been proposed. In conclusion, the less experienced university teachers used more ICTs, identified more greatly the problematic factors, and considered more important the ICTs, with the perception of all teachers modified by COVID-19.