A Survey Study on U.S. College Students’ Learning Experience in COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 affected various aspects of our life. Many college students were forced to take courses remotely. It was not clear how they adapted to this new environment and how their mental health was affected. The objective of this study is to understand college students’ learning experience one year after the outbreak of COVID-19. An online survey was developed to investigate students’ overall learning process, mental health, perception of the learning community and student support. Sixty-two college students in the U.S. were recruited through an online survey platform. Findings of this study revealed: (1) improved mental health of college students compared to the beginning of the pandemic; (2) an overall positive learning experience and perceived belongingness to their learning community, as well as high satisfaction with the student support; (3) the major hindrance in the online learning environment was the lack of interactions with teachers and classmates; (4) a relationship between family income and perception of the learning community was discovered, and the students from low-income families were found to feel more belonging to the learning community; (5) hybrid was the optimum learning mode during COVID-19; (6) on-campus students perceived more student support than off-campus students. These findings provided a guideline for future research to further explore, and improve, the online learning environment.