Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Resources, Obstacles, and Emotional Implications for Italian Students in Higher Education

Abstract

The study examined how 807 undergraduate Italian students coped with synchronous, asynchronous, and blended learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strengths and weaknesses of online learning were collected via an electronic platform (SurveyMonkey) and then categorized by grounded theory analysis using ATLAS.ti 8.0 software. The results showed technical, practical, relational, organizational, and transformative features of online learning emerged, differentiated in synchronous, asynchronous, and blended modes. Emotional aspects also affected the evaluation of distance learning because depression and fear were more frequent among the students who found distance learning to be an obstacle rather than a resource or felt ambivalent about it.