IDENTIFYING HIGHER EDUCATION FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS´ REPORTED STUDYING EXPERIENCES STUDYING DURING THE PANDEMIC
Abstract
The pandemic situation has been a challenge for many students. The students starting their higher education at the beginning of 2021 were facing a new kind of educational challenge due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to gain insights into first-month studies during the exceptional times. The focus was on Finnish higher education first-year students’ (n=154) reported studying experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were bachelor’s degree students who started their higher education studies in January 2021 in the middle of the exceptional pandemic situation caused by COVID-19. Studies during their first months have mainly been organised online, and there have been specific restrictions related to study arrangements. The study used an inductive content analysis to find out the positive and negative impacts of studying during exceptional times. The data for this study was drawn from an online questionnaire. The results indicated that students’ own resources and capacity played an important role in terms of positive or negative study experiences: good study motivation, good distance-learning skills, and self-directedness helped to cope with the exceptional situation, while insufficient distance-learning skills or challenges in self-direction caused difficulties and dissatisfaction among other students. Teachers’ digital pedagogical skills play a significant role, as the results of this study indicated. In addition, to teaching and learning activities, higher education institutions need to reflect on how student services, counselling, and peer support can be provided remotely. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to pay attention to students’ well-being and self-directed learning skills in digital learning communities and environments. In addition, the study suggests strengthening teachers’ competencies related to digital pedagogical competencies together with workload allocation and study scheduling. Also, there is a need to deepen learning community building and self-directed learning skills as a part of pedagogical support.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Agasisti, T., & Soncin, M. (2021) Higher education in troubled times: on the impact of Covid-19 in Italy, Studies in Higher Education, (46)1, 86–95, https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1859689
Beaunoyer, E., Dupéré, S., & Guitton, M.J. (2020). COVID-19 and digital inequalities: Reciprocal impacts and mitigation strategies. Computers in Human Behavior, 111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106424
Bhagat, S., & Kim, D. J. (2020). Higher education amidst COVID-19: Challenges and silver Lining. Information Systems Management, 37(4), 366–371.
Chegg.org. (2021). Global student survey. https://www.chegg.com/about/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chegg.org-global-student-survey-21.pdf
Do, T.M.T., Ngo, V.T., Hoang, A.Q., Nguyen, T.L.G., Truong, D.N., Le, M.H., Vo, T.N., Ruhalahti, S., & Kunnari, I. (2021). Evaluating online learning and teaching at the University of Technology and Education Ho Chi Minh City during [the] Coronavirus pandemic. Journal of Technical Educational Science, 62, 17–27.
Finnish Government. (2020a). Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden hyvinvointia ja ohjausta tuetaan erityisavustuksilla [The well-being and guidance of higher education students are supported with special grants]. https://valtioneuvosto.fi/-/1410845/korkeakouluopiskelijoiden-hyvinvointia-ja-ohjausta-tuetaan-erityisavustuksilla
Finnish Government. (2020b). Government, in cooperation with the President of the Republic, declares a state of emergency in Finland over coronavirus outbreak. 16 March 2020. https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-//10616/hallitus-totesi-suomen-olevan-poikkeusoloissa-koronavirustilanteen-vuoksi
Gradišek, P., & Polak, A. (2021). Insights into learning and examination experience of higher education students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies, 72(138).
Holzer, J., Lüftenegger, M., Korlat, S., Pelikan, E., Salmela-Aro, K., Spiel, C., & Schober, B. (2021). Higher education in times of COVID-19: University students’ basic need satisfaction, self-regulated learning, and well-being. AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211003164
Händel, M., Stephan, M., Gläser-Zikuda, M., Kopp, B., Bedenlier, S., & Ziegler, A. (2020). Digital readiness and its effects on higher education students’ socio-emotional perceptions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1846147
Karvi. (2021). Poikkeuksellisten opetusjärjestelyjen vaikutukset tasa-arvon ja yhdenvertaisuuden toteutumiseen eri koulutusasteilla. Osa III: Kansallisen arvioinnin yhteenveto ja suositukset. [Impacts of the exceptional teaching arrangements on the realisation of equality and equity at different levels of education. Part III of the evaluation project: Summary and recommendations of the national evaluation]. Kansallinen koulutuksen arviointikeskus, julkaisut 8:2021. https://karvi.fi/app/uploads/2021/04/KARVI_0821.pdf
Kedraka, K., & Kaltsidis, C. (2020). Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on university pedagogy: Students experiences and considerations. European Journal of Education Studies, 7(8). http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v7i8.3176.
Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. P. (2005). The influence of active learning experiences on the development of graduate capabilities. Studies in Higher Education, 30(2), 155–170.
Korkeamäki, J., & Vuorento, M. (2021). Ilmoitettujen terveys- ja toimintarajoitteiden vaikutus korkeakouluopiskeluun.[Students with self-reported health problems and disabilities in higher education Eurostudent VII article series]. Publications of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2021:16. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-263-841-0
Kukkonen, H., & Marttila, L. (2017). Kuviteltua todellisuutta – ammattikorkeakoulu oppimisen ja opiskelun ympäristönä. [Imaging the future—University of Applied Science as a learning environment]. Tampere. Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulun julkaisuja.
Marinoni, G., Land, H., & Jensen, T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on higher education around the world. Paris. International Association of Universities.
Miller, G. (2020). Social distancing prevents infections, but it can have unintended consequences. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb7506
O’Brien, M., & Verma, R. (2019). How do first-year students utilize different lecture resources? Higher Education, 77(1), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0250-5
Richardson, J. C., Maeda, Y., Lv, J., & Caskurlu, S. (2017). Social presence in relation to students’ satisfaction and learning in the online environment: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 402–417.
SAMOK (2020). AMK-opiskelijoiden kokemuksia etäopiskelusta.[University of applied sciences students in Finland: UAS students’ experiences of the distance learning]. https://samok.fi/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/amk-opiskelijoiden-kokemuksia-etaopiskelusta.pdf_.pdf
SAMOK (2021). AMK-opiskelijoiden etäopiskelukyselyn tulokset. [University of Applied Sciences Students in Finland: Results of the distance learning survey for UAS students]. https://samok.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/amk-opiskelijoiden-etaopiskelukyselyn-tulokset-2021.pdf
Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. London, UK: Sage.
Trade Union of Education. (2020). OAJ:n kysely koskien opetuksen poikkeusjärjestelyitä keväällä 2020. [ OAJ’s survey related to exceptional teaching settings in the spring 2020]. https://www.oaj.fi/ajankohtaista/uutiset-ja-tiedotteet/2020/koronavirus-kysely/
UNESCO. (2021). Mission: Recovering education in 2021. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377496?posInSet=4&queryId=b66bcc00-bd13-4a89-bdc4-8cc73d156a78
Simpson, O. 2013. “Overcoming the ‘distance education deficit’ through proactive motivational support”. Distance Education in China, 7.
Vate-U-Lan, P. (2020). Psychological impact of e-learning on social network sites: Online students’ attitudes and their satisfaction with life. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 32(1), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09222-1
Vogel, C., Hochberg, J., Hackstein, S., Bockshecker, A., Bastiaens, T.J., & Baumöl, U. (2018). Dropout in distance education and how to prevent it. In T. Bastiaens, J. Van Braak, M. Brown, L. Cantoni, M. Castro, R. Christensen, G. Davidson-Shivers, K. DePryck, M. Ebner, M. Fominykh, C. Fulford, S. Hatzipanagos, G. Knezek, K. Kreijns, G. Marks, E. Sointu, E. Korsgaard Sorensen, J. Viteli, J. Voogt, P. Weber, E. Weippl, & O. Zawacki-Richter (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 1788–1799). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Williams, D. D. (2005). Measurement and assessment supporting evaluation in online settings. In D. D. Williams (Ed.), Online assessment, measurement and evaluation: Emerging practices (pp. 1–8). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.
Wu, D., Yu, L., Yang, T., Cottrell, R., Peng, S., Guo, W., & Jiang, S. (2020). The impacts of uncertainty stress on mental disorders of Chinese college students: Evidence from a nationwide study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(243), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00243
Weidlich, J., & Bastiaens, T. J. (2018). Technology Matters—The Impact of Transactional Distance on Satisfaction in Online Distance Learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i3.3417
Zhao, Y., Lei, J., Yan, B., Lai, C., & Tan, S. (2005). What makes the difference? A practical analysis of research on the effectiveness of distance education. The Teachers’ College Record, 107, 1836–1884.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v8i8.3831
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2021 Sanna Ruhalahti, Teija Lehto, Susanna Saarinen, Leena Katto
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
