ABSTRACT
Transitioning to online learning with e-learning during the pandemic is not easy due to many factors such as unpreparedness of teachers in preparing the assessments. Good assessments should foster students' higher order thinking skill. Generally, assessments have two types of questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Given that open-ended question is more comprehensive to measure student knowledge, this study seeks to know whether high school students are aware about the matter and whether the trend of using both types of questions are changed in the online learning, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings of this study will be the basis of our next research: developing automated assessments on open-ended questions. A questionnaire survey on 454 high school students shows that they are aware about the comprehensiveness and the objectivity of open-ended questions. Students also agree that automatic grader is crucial to learning process for both the student and the teacher.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 social restrictions have increased the risk for depression compared to the previous period in Italian women with Low-Risk Pregnancy (LRP). lLess is known about the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP). This study aimed: 1) to explore levels of depression in women who become pregnant before and during COVID-19 pandemic, distinguishing between LRP and HRP; 2) to analyze the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on pregnancy experience in LRP and HRP. METHODS: A before-during COVID-19 pandemic cross-sectional study was carried out on 155 pregnant women (Mean age = 34.18), between 23 and 32 weeks of gestation. 77 women were recruited before COVID-19 pandemic (51.9% LRP; 48.1% HRP) and 78 women were recruited during COVID-19 pandemic (51.3% LRP; 48.7% HRP). HRP group was enrolled during hospitalization for high-risk pregnancy. Participants filled out Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Moreover, only COVID-19 group answered an open-ended question about the impact of restriction on pregnancy experience. RESULTS: HRP women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than LRP. No difference emerged for COVID (before/during) but an interaction effect between COVID-19 and obstetric condition was found. The qualitative results showed the impact of restrictions on emotions and concerns. CONCLUSION: Respect to the previous period, LRP women during COVID-19 presented an increased risk for depressive symptoms than HRP. The HRP women during COVID-19 seemed to use hospitalization as a resource to find a social support network with other pregnant women and to be reassured on the clinical ongoing of pregnancy.