Abstract

Higher education institutions are increasingly concerned about the impact of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on students and learning activities. Yet, we know little about the effect of this disruption, specifically on students in distance learning higher education institutions. This study drew from survey responses of 555 undergraduate students at The Open University, UK. The aims of this study were to understand the impact of the Covid-19 disruption on learning, assessment and social activities that distance learning students commonly undertake and to explore how this impact relates to their background characteristics (socio-demographics and study properties). Findings showed that overall, students engaged in their study activities less frequently, with learning-related activities (e.g., joining live sessions) having the highest negative impact and social activities (e.g., accessing email for study purposes) the lowest. Female students were more likely than male to engage less across all three activity categories. Background characteristics, such as age, faculty and race, were associated with particular activity categories. This study is the first step towards enhancing our understanding of the engagement of distance learning, but also campus-based students in emergency distance learning, in online learning activities during the Covid-19 pandemic and other similar disruptions.

Highlights

  • The abrupt outbreak in January 2020 of the Covid-19 virus has created a crisis for many sectors, including the higher education (HE) sector

  • Open University (OU) students reported engaging in their study activities less frequently or without change with an average score of 2.63, on a range of 1 to 5

  • Finding information on the internet was the least negatively impacted, scoring closer to ‘no change’. Overall, reported that they engaged in learning activities less frequently than before or without any change

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Summary

Introduction

The abrupt outbreak in January 2020 of the Covid-19 virus has created a crisis for many sectors, including the higher education (HE) sector. HE institutions (HEIs) have had to reconsider delivering effective learning using distance learning technologies following campus closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sudden campus closures and lack of in-person support, led to students studying isolated at home in inappropriate learning environments while facing self-discipline issues (Bao, 2020). This transition has resulted in students reporting increased workload and engaging more in completing assignments as a way to prove their participation in the course (Son et al, 2020). Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds reported experiencing stress about financial issues (Chirikov et al, 2020) and delayed graduations (Aucejo, 2020). 25 or less 26-35 36-45 46-55 56 or over Faculties WELS STEM FASS FBL Socioeconomic group High Low Course start October 2019 February 2020 BAME Yes No

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