Abstract
The remote learning period that took place due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was a novel experience for many students, teachers and guardians in Finland and globally. To be prepared for similar occasions in the future and to support all students appropriately, it is important to be aware of students’ experiences. In this study, instant video blogging (IVB) was used to collect primary school students’ first-hand reports of their emotions in remote learning situations. Through an experience sampling method, 23 Finnish fifth-grade students (aged 11–12 years) took part in IVB during the remote learning period 18 March 2020–13 May 2020. Students’ expressions related to negative emotional experiences were more diverse than those related to positive ones. Nice was the most often reported positive evaluation related to studying. The most often reported negative feelings were bored and irritated, and the most often reported negative aspects related to learning were difficult tasks or not having learned anything. Towards the end of the research period, positive mentions about returning to school increased. The IVB method offered direct insight into how primary students experienced the remote learning period, which can support preparation for exceptional periods in the future and the development of digital learning solutions.
Highlights
During the spring semester of 2020, the education sector worldwide faced challenges due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to alterations in educational practices [1]
Schools had been closed during the Spanish influenza pandemic in the 1920s and during World War II, but the present Basic Education Act [4] does not even recognize total remote learning, which relies heavily on online teaching technology, the use of computers and learning management systems as forms of organized education
According to the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), Finnish teachers reported the biggest change among all countries in using information and communication technology
Summary
During the spring semester of 2020, the education sector worldwide faced challenges due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to alterations in educational practices [1]. In the reciprocal loop of observing and adjusting activities recognizing and influencing students’ learning-related emotions are important pedagogical tools for a teacher because emotions, together with motivation, learning strategies and competence beliefs, have a critical impact on subsequent performance [15,16]. Positive emotions such as enjoyment may promote a total immersion in the task and facilitate attaining a flow-like state that means ‘losing yourself’ in the task [13] Negative emotions, such as boredom, are associated with task-irrelevant thinking that is obviously harmful to learning and performance [13]. Primary students’ views regarding interest levels have been studied in a normal school setting [14], but the present study intended to examine how students experienced the remote learning period, how they evaluated their study days and what emotions they experienced. The aim is not to identify statistically significant correlations between certain emotions and the contexts in which they emerge, but to unveil students’ experiences in a descriptive manner and to allow the students’ voices to be heard in order to learn from their experiences to be better prepared for future occasions
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