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Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Consultancy.nl: "How Students View 100% Online Education"

Consultancy.nl reports on our survey of more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff members from six higher education institutions. The article focuses on the students’ perspective: How do they view 100% online education? And what blend of online and in-person education do they consider ideal?

How Students View 100% Online Education

Students are not enthusiastic about 100% online education. However, they do want online learning to have a permanent place in the overall mix of education. This is according to a survey of hundreds of students conducted by the consulting firm Turner.

When the Netherlands went into lockdown in mid-March 2020, education as a whole shifted to an online format. This has now been the norm for over a year, and virtually all students have some complaints about it.

Problems with concentration and motivation

The majority of students told Turner’s researchers that, while they can reasonably follow the online lectures, they find it particularly difficult to study in peace at home. Before the COVID-19 crisis, there was a solution to this: the library. But it has not been possible to use it for quite some time now.

In addition, many students say they’re currently finding it difficult to motivate themselves. As a result, they generally say they are not engaging in learning as well as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. “You’re sitting in front of a laptop all day, which gets really tiring after a while, so you end up lacking the motivation to engage in learning afterward,” one student told the researchers.

Craving social interaction

Studying during the COVID-19 crisis has become quite monotonous. It’s no surprise that nearly all respondents say they are eagerly longing for more social interaction. And not just because they miss the vibrant energy that is part of student life. They also point out that education itself is suffering due to the limited opportunities for interaction.

“Students feel that they are able to ask fewer questions and receive less explanation. Slow responses and uncertainty about whether instructors are available to answer questions are therefore frequently cited negative experiences of online education. Collaboration with other students is also currently perceived as less effective,” according to the study.

More stress during exams

Almost every student experiences some degree of stress when taking an exam. However, according to researchers at Turner, stress levels are currently much higher than they were before the COVID-19 crisis.

To combat fraud, educational institutions are currently implementing a variety of measures that students find stressful. For example, some students experienced problems with their internet connection during an exam, which immediately resulted in their being disqualified and thus having to retake the exam. “Not being able to go back to previous questions to make changes later also caused stress,” Turner explains.

The Benefits of Online Education

In addition to the downsides of 100% online education, students also point out some positive aspects. For example, they are positive about the increased autonomy. This includes being able to watch lectures at times that are convenient for them and, consequently, the ability to rewatch lectures when certain points are unclear.

Online education also offers institutions more opportunities to provide personalized instruction and to differentiate their teaching. Examples include accelerating the pace of study, providing additional explanations, or using case studies specifically tailored to a small group of students. This enhances the learning experience.

In addition, online learning can improve the effectiveness of certain teaching materials (such as automated workflows or useful tools) and increase the efficiency of meetings and online lectures.

The future of education is therefore blended, especially if it’s up to the students. According to students (on average), the ideal mix consists of 40% online instruction and 60% in-person meetings and classes.

For institutions and instructors, this means they have to “go back to the drawing board,” according to the researchers. They need to work with students to develop a hybrid model of education—or “blended learning,” to use Turner’s terminology.

Teachers

It is striking that the way students evaluate the past academic term is strongly linked to their appreciation of their instructors. Students who are dissatisfied with online education say they feel less heard by their instructors than they did before the COVID-19 crisis, while students who feel more heard than before are, on average, more satisfied with online education. “Instructors really make a difference,” the study concludes on this point.

The article is also available on consultancy.nl.

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About the Study

Six institutions of higher education felt the need to take stock together after a turbulent period. Three universities of applied sciences (Breda University of Applied Sciences, HAS, NHL Stenden) and three research universities (Radboud University, TU Delft, Vrije Universiteit) collaborated with Turner on a study to collectively draw lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. We did this based on documents, online surveys that the universities and universities of applied sciences had already distributed to students and staff, and online surveys that we developed together. The central question: What can we learn about learning from the COVID-19 pandemic?

The Future of Blended Education Has Begun

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