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Students’ Experience of Online University Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationships to Psychological Health

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the complete closure of many university campuses and a rapid shift to complete online delivery of university teaching.  Understanding the student experience of online learning under these conditions is important to inform improvements and adaptations to continued online delivery of university services. The aim of this study was to examine students’ experience of online learning, studying, and assessment during the pandemic and investigate the association between these perceptions and measures of psychological health. A cohort of 391 undergraduate students completed measures of stress, anxiety and psychological wellbeing at the beginning and end of a semester during which a shift to complete remote delivery of university teaching occurred due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Students also rated how stressful or difficult they found five aspects of online learning, study and assessment which was used to calculate a composite score. T-tests were used to compare stress, anxiety and psychological wellbeing scores from the beginning and end of the semester.  Regression models were used to examine the relationship between online learning composite score and psychological health measures. Unexpectedly, stress and psychological wellbeing improved over the semester during which the university campus closed, and all teaching and assessments were online. Students with higher stress scores and lower psychological wellbeing scores at the beginning of the semester were more likely to experience difficulty and stress with online teaching. 

 

Published: 2022-02-28
Pages:32 to 40
Section:Articles
How to Cite
Slykerman, R. F., Li, E., & Mitchell, E. A. (2022). Students’ Experience of Online University Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationships to Psychological Health. Student Success, 13(1), 32-40. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2023

Author Biographies

University of Auckland
New Zealand New Zealand

Dr Rebecca Slykerman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at The University of Auckland and a Clinical Neuropsychologist.  Her research includes understanding cognitive development and psychological wellbeing from infancy into adulthood.  

University of Auckland
New Zealand New Zealand

Eileen Li is a data analyst with COMPASS (Centre of Method and Policy Application in the Social Science) and a doctoral candidate in Statistics. Her research interests include linkage errors identification and linkage bias correction, population level administrative data analysis and social science.

University of Auckland
New Zealand New Zealand

Emeritus Professor Ed Mitchell is a paediatrician in the Department of Paediatrics: Child and Youth Health at The University of Auckland. He was the Cure Kids Professor of Child Health Research from 2001 to 2015. He has published extensively on the epidemiology of child health problems and conducted many randomised controlled trials.

Open Access Journal
ISSN 2205-0795