Were we ready? New Zealand high school students' experiences of online learning during school closures of Covid-19, 2020

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 resulted in New Zealand schools closing and teaching moving to online. This paper reports research which investigated senior high school students experience of learning from home during these school closures and anything about the experience that they would like continued in the future. High school students in their final two years of schooling (n=1975) responded to a questionnaire consisting of quantitative and qualitative questions with qualitative data analysed thematically and quantitative data with descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that a variety of learning activities, feedback on learning, positive social interactions and effective use of technology supported students. A lack of motivation and daily structure were the major hinderances. The key experience they would like continued was greater flexibility in their learning. Schools demonstrated varying degrees of readiness for the crisis, but findings showed the need for resilience plans which include policies and practices for student and teacher digital readiness in preparation for future crises which result in emergency online learning.