IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 DISRUPTION ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND BEHAVIOR

Athina Charissi, Eleni Tympa, Vasiliki Karavida

Abstract


This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 disruption on university students, namely pre-service teachers from an Early Years Learning and Care Department in Greece. The study was conducted by the end of the third month of higher education lockdown and online shift, a period which coincides with the completion of the online courses for the spring semester and students’ preparation for the long-distance exams. It was based on probing students’ reflections on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on their perceptions and behavior. Α questionnaire with open-ended and closed-ended questions was designed and was filled in by 127 students of the specific Department online. The questions explored: (a) the degree to which the pandemic disruption experience affected students’ perceptions and actions regarding their social roles, the organization of social life, and the management of personal time; (b) the skills they consider as most important in order for someone to respond more effectively to the new reality, including their learning practice and expertise; (c) the benefits and concerns they attached to the new learning and teaching conditions. The results show that the students were urged to have an immediate and quick response to the implications of the current situation due to its novel and intense character. There had been some shifts concerning students’ way of thinking and acting but none of the students who participated in the study was led to perspective transformation. Findings imply the need for cultivating a learning environment that supports the practicing of strategies and the development of skills that can help learner’s transformation when necessary and reinforce resilience.

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Keywords


COVID-19 disruption, biographical rupture, perspective transformation, resilience, pre-service early years teachers

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v7i11.3348

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