Relationship between teaching modality and COVID-19, well-being, and teaching satisfaction (campus & corona): A cohort study among students in higher education

Abstract

ObjectivesHigher education institutions all over the world struggled to balance the need for infection control and educational requirements, as they prepared to reopen after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A particularly difficult choice was whether to offer for in-person or online teaching. Norwegian universities and university colleges opted for a hybrid model when they reopened for the autumn semester, with some students being offered more in-person teaching than others. We seized this opportunity to study the association between different teaching modalities and COVID-19 risk, quality of life (subjective well-being), and teaching satisfaction. Study designProspective, observational cohort study. MethodsWe recruited students in higher education institutions in Norway who we surveyed biweekly from September to December in 2020. Results26 754 students from 14 higher education institutions provided data to our analyses. We found that two weeks of in-person teaching was negatively associated with COVID-19 risk compared to online teaching, but the difference was very uncertain (−22% relative difference; 95% CI -77%–33%). Quality of life was positively associated with in-person teaching (3%; 95% CI 2%–4%), as was teaching satisfaction (10%; 95% CI 8%–11%). ConclusionThe association between COVID-19 infection and teaching modality was highly uncertain. Shifting from in-person to online teaching seems to have a negative impact on the well-being of students in higher education.