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Education has gone through rapid changes during the emergency remote teaching period resulting by the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes, in part, have been associated with educational institutions attempting to implement a viable solution to the problem of distance education. Although organizational management theory literature suggests that great change in very little time results in a detrimental psychological phenomenon called change fatigue in employees and that this phenomenon has even been investigated in the context of teaching staff in the past;there have been no attempt at understanding change fatigue from a student perspective. This quantitative study attempts at proposing a structural equation model towards the understanding of how to change fatigue and other variables, namely, digital literacy, online learning attitude and school alienation that might have been influenced by it have affected teacher candidates after resuming face-to-face education followed by a 1.5 year of emergency remote teaching period. Results indicated that change fatigue predicts school alienation and yet;does not predict online learning attitude;hinting that there might be another category of alienating organizational change that universities have gone through that does not solely involve online education. Nevertheless, digital literacy is a beneficial skill for all students that helps bolster online learning attitudes and reduce overall school alienation.
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Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated a shift to remote working for previously office-based employees in South Africa, impacting employee outcomes such as well-being. The remote work trend is expected to continue even post the pandemic, necessitating for organizational understanding of the factors impacting employee well-being. Using the Job Demands-Resources model as the theoretical framework, this study aims to understand the role of job demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being in the pandemic context. Design/methodology/approach: A self-administered online survey questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data about remote workers' (n = 204) perceptions of specifically identified demands, resources and employee well-being. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and moderated hierarchical regression were used to analyse the data. Findings: This study found that job demands in the form of work-home conflict were associated with reduced employee well-being. Resources, namely, job autonomy, effective communication and social support were associated with increased employee well-being. Job autonomy was positively correlated to remote work frequency, and gender had a significant positive association to work-home conflict. Social support was found to moderate the relationship between work-home conflict and employee well-being. Findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work-home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. This study advances knowledge on the role of demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being of remote workforces during COVID-19 and beyond. Originality/value: This paper provides insight on employee well-being during COVID-19 remote work. Further, the findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work-home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study carried out to explore the employee well-being during COVID-19 pandemic and will be beneficial to stakeholders for understanding the factors impacting employee well-being.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functions of schools globally. Online learning is a new concept in Bhutan. Nonetheless, classes have begun using various online learning platforms to continue their operations during the pandemic. This study examined primary school teachers' perceived information technology knowledge and proficiency. The participants of this study consisted of 124 primary teachers from two western districts of Bhutan. Data were collected using an online survey. The study's findings suggested that although the majority of participants (98.2%) had access to personal digital devices, slow internet connection and high internet data subscription charges (60.7%) were cited as significant challenges. Findings also revealed that a small percentage of the participants, less than 12 (9.7%) teachers in this study preferred to teach entirely in an online learning environment. The results of multiple linear regression suggested that only technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) [t = 2.68, p = 0.008, [beta] = 0.236] and perceived information technology proficiency of teachers (PITP) [t = 3.55, p = 0.001, [beta] = 0.306] were statistically significant predictors of technological knowledge (TK).
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The current study seeks to shed light on social-cognitive resources that mitigate master students' experience of dysfunctional career-related worry before graduation. Based on the career self-management model (CSM;Lent & Brown, 2013), we investigate concurrent and time-lagged direct and mediated relationships between career planning, career-related self-efficacy, and career-related worry among a sample of 482 students shortly before graduation. Using data collected at three time points, a negative relationship was found between career planning (T1) and career-related worry (T3) via career-related self-efficacy (T2). Our findings shed light on the role of career planning and career-related self-efficacy as malleable social-cognitive resources that diminish dysfunctional thinking before graduation in sequential order. These findings imply that career planning and career-related self-efficacy are relevant predictors of affective states and can be incorporated into the CSM.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functions of schools globally. Online learning is a new concept in Bhutan. Nonetheless, classes have begun using various online learning platforms to continue their operations during the pandemic. This study examined primary school teachers' perceived information technology knowledge and proficiency. The participants of this study consisted of 124 primary teachers from two western districts of Bhutan. Data were collected using an online survey. The study's findings suggested that although the majority of participants (98.2%) had access to personal digital devices, slow internet connection and high internet data subscription charges (60.7%) were cited as significant challenges. Findings also revealed that a small percentage of the participants, less than 12 (9.7%) teachers in this study preferred to teach entirely in an online learning environment. The results of multiple linear regression suggested that only technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) [t = 2.68, p = 0.008, [beta] = 0.236] and perceived information technology proficiency of teachers (PITP) [t = 3.55, p = 0.001, [beta] = 0.306] were statistically significant predictors of technological knowledge (TK).
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The relationships between math anxiety and other variables such as students' motivation and confidence have been extensively studied. The main purpose of the present study was to employ a machine learning approach to provide a deeper understanding of variables associated with math anxiety. Specifically, we applied classification and regression tree models to weekly survey data of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students enrolled in calculus. The tree models accurately identified that the level of confidence is the primary predictor of math anxiety. Students with low levels of confidence expressed high levels of math anxiety. The academic level of students and the number of weekly hours studied were the next two predictors of math anxiety. The junior and senior students had lower math anxiety. Also, those with a higher number of hours studied were generally less anxious. Weekly tree diagrams provided a detailed analysis of the interrelations between math anxiety and variables including academic level, number of hours studied, gender, motivation, and confidence. We noticed that the nature of such interrelations can change during the semester. For instance, in the first week of the semester, confidence was the primary factor, followed by academic level and then motivation. However, in the third week, the order of the interrelation changed to confidence, academic level, and course level, respectively. In summary, decision tree models can be used to predict math anxiety and to provide a more detailed analysis of data associated with math anxiety.
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The present study investigates the mediating role of psychological resilience and personality traits in the relationship between the social isolation process implemented during the pandemic period and the psychological well-being of individuals. The predictive correlational model based on the relational survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study participants consisted of 238 people through the convenient sampling model, 66 men and 172 women. Personal Information Form, Social Isolation subtest of Nottingham Health Profile Scale, short form of the Psychological Resilience Scale, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and short form of the Five-Factor Personality Scale were used as data collection tools in the study. While determining the mediating effects in the data analysis, a regression analysis based on the bootstrap method was performed with the Process Macro. As a result of the research, it was found that resilience mediated the relationship between the perception of social isolation and psychological well-being. When the mediating effect of personality dimensions was examined, it was found that the mediating effect of conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion dimensions were significant. In contrast, the mediating effects of openness to experience and agreeableness dimensions were not statistically significant. Since the psychological effects of the pandemic differ from person to person, determining the differentiation of the effects of social isolation in individuals may contribute to understanding the possible risky and protective factors. For this purpose, it is thought that this study, which reveals the possible mediating effects of psychological resilience and personality traits as two individual characteristics, will contribute to the determination of priority treatment groups by mental health professionals.
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Research on the effects of the home literacy environment (HLE) on the literacy development of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited, and relevant results are inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the influence of the HLE on the literacy development of children with ID, and the role of the reading interest and parent-child relationship in this process. The subjects of this study were 381 children with ID from special needs schools in 7 regions of China, including 234 boys and 147 girls aged 6-15 years. This study adopted the network survey method, and parents of these children completed the surveys of the HLE, literacy development, reading interest, and parent-child relationship. The results revealed that the HLE significantly influenced the literacy development of children with ID, and the reading interest partially mediated this effect. In this mediating process, the regression relationship between the HLE and the reading interest was positively regulated by the parent-child relationship. This study suggests that improving the HLE and parent-child relationship is beneficial for the reading interest and literacy development of children with ID.
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This mixed-method study was conducted to validate the factor structure of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in the COVID-19 semester (Spring 2020). Spring 2020 is typically characterized as an emergency remote teaching (ERT) period, distinguished from purposefully-designed instruction for online teaching. To examine the CoI framework's usefulness for understanding university students' online learning experiences in this period, the authors collected data using the CoI survey and interviews. The structural equation modeling analyses indicated that teaching presence predicted social and cognitive presences more significantly in the ERT period than regular times. The qualitative findings showed that the courses where teaching presence was high were evaluated as effective by participants even when cognitive and social presences in these courses were relatively low. These findings suggested that course instructors should prioritize planning well-designed online course activities to ensure their teaching presence in times of emergency
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Student dropout, defined as the temporary or definitive suspension of the exercise of the right to education, is attributable to multiple variables classified into individual, academic, institutional, and socioeconomic determinants which may be exacerbated in the context of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Consequently, this work aims to synthesize, from the available evidence, the behaviour and influence of the explanatory variables of school dropout in infant school, primary school and, high school in Colombia for the period 2014-2019 compared to the period 2020-2021 under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. The research methodology consisted of a systematic review of 125 indexed articles for 2014-2019 and 32 reports related to dropout in Colombian Basic education for the 2020-2021 period. The systematic review of the 157 articles revealed that dropout was studied and explained in both time periods, mainly from the academic determinant whose most cited explanatory variables were: 'teachers', 'curriculum' and 'methodologies used'. Moreover, it could be perceived that in the period 2014-2019, the socioeconomic variable was the second dropout determinant, considering 'family income" as the most important indicator, while in 2020-2021 the "infrastructure" and the 'political environment' remained as the most dominant. Lastly, in 2020-2021, the variable 'teachers' was highly cited showing that their practice made students maintain their interest despite the physical distance.
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Purpose: This study investigates the interrelationship among COVID-19 anxiety, mindfulness, COVID-19 information avoidance, preventive behavior, and academic performance. Research methodology: The study assessed protective factors as mediators of COVID-19 anxiety and academic performance using WarpPLS. The study participants were K-12 Filipino students from a secondary school in Cagayan, Philippines, identified through convenience sampling. Results: COVID-19 anxiety, mindfulness, information avoidance, and preventive behavior were found to be negatively correlated. Preventive behavior is associated with improved academic performance. Conversely, there was a negative correlation between mindfulness, COVID-19 information avoidance, and academic performance. The association between COVID-19 anxiety and academic achievement is only mediated by mindfulness and preventive behavior. Limitations: Preventive factors that may affect COVID-19 anxiety and academic achievement are only considered. Also, the participants are limited to a secondary school in Cagayan, Philippines. Contribution: With the pandemic having a substantial influence on the municipality, the study would be helpful to manage and control the effect of the outbreak on the academic performance of the learners.
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The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the relationship between volunteer leadership competencies and stewardship action-taking experiences among Master Gardener (MG) and Master Watershed (MW) volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from 1196 Penn State Extension MG and MW respondents. The mean summative score for the volunteer stewardship action-taking experience was 2.32 (SD = 0.79), and volunteer leadership competencies was 3.45 (SD = 0.60). The results of this study showed a significant moderate association between volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences and volunteer leader competencies (r = 0.34, p [less than or equal to] 0.001). Volunteer leadership competencies can explain approximately 11 % of the variation in volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new knowledge that our research brings can significantly contribute to the practice in leadership teaching and learning of Extension organizations' volunteers. Future leadership trainings on the enhancement of the MG and MW volunteer leaders' stewardship action-taking capacity can help contribute to the greater good in their communities in a more confident and efficient manner. Further research should focus on identifying other factors that can affect MG and MW stewardship action-taking experiences, including the impact of the demographics and motivation.
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Our goal in the current study was to identify the degree to which instructional setting (remote versus traditional) predicted students' academic achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. A matched sample of data from 194 undergraduate students who were continuously enrolled at a private university in the southeastern United States from the spring semester of 2020 through the spring semester of 2021 was selected for this study. Data from students enrolled remotely across 37 majors were matched by sex, enrollment status, and Spring 2020 GPA. Our findings showed that neither instructional setting, students' sex, nor the number of hours they attempted were important predictors of students' academic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the academic performance of students enrolled remotely on average remained unchanged from Spring 2020 through Spring 2021. Incidentally, our results revealed that the preceding academic performance was the only important predictor of students' academic achievement during this period. This finding confirms former research on the role that previous performance plays in the academic performance of undergraduate students.
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This paper investigates the phenomenon of technostress in medical students and its predictors during pandemic-prompted distance education. From a sample of 259 students in a school of medicine at a public university in Turkey, the data were collected using convenience sampling through an online questionnaire based on person-environment misfit theory and were analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptively, the participant students reported experiencing relatively mild level of technostress. As a result of the multiple regression analysis, regular attendance and participation, adequate learning environment, perceived negativity of distance education, perceived need for psychological support, and year at medical school were all found to be significant predictors of technostress in medical students. This is the first study evaluating technostress on medical students. Students who do not attend classes regularly, do not have an adequate learning environment, have higher degree of perceived negativity of distance education, have need for psychological support and are at higher grade levels experience more technostress. Finally, according to the person-environment misfit theory the major component of technostress in medical students originated from the tool-related component. Although the level of technostress was relatively low, technological tools generate pressure even on the digital native generation.
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Increasing the quality of education with the use of technology has been one of the main goals of education for many years. In this direction, e-learning systems have attracted great interest from higher education institutions and large-scale investments have been made in these systems. The transition to online education worldwide with the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has made e-learning systems much more critical. At this point, students' e-learning systems acceptance have assumed a vital role for the success of online education. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the factors that affect the intention of university students to use e-learning systems, to examine the relationships between factors and to verify an extended technology acceptance model for higher education. The data were collected from 1709 university students studying online. The data of the study, in which the structural equation modeling method was adopted, was analyzed with PLS-SEM technique. According to the analysis results, the developed model explains 76.2% of the intention, 67.9% of the perceived usefulness and 62.9% of the perceived ease of use. In addition, 11 of the 12 proposed hypotheses were supported. The only relationship that is not significant belongs to perceived usefulness, which is a very important determinant in the context of technology adoption. Compatibility had the greatest effect on intention, and all relationships related to the emotion based constructs were found to be significant. The findings of the study are valuable in terms of better understanding the e-learning system use of university students during the pandemic.
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This study was to examine student satisfaction in remote online learning environments during COVID-19 in Indonesia. The participants were 65 undergraduate Informatics students from a private university in Surabaya, Indonesia. Data from Strachota's Student Satisfaction survey responses were examined using quantitative analyses. According to the findings, there was a strong and statistically significant relationship between student satisfaction and interaction. According to predictive models, every type of interaction could predict student satisfaction, with student interaction with content being the most powerful predictor. Furthermore, the findings revealed that self-ability in digital learning, good internet accessibility and connectivity, the presence and feedback of the teacher, website content, and the ability to learn from peer feedback and group discussions all played important roles in influencing student satisfaction. Students reported that they were generally more satisfied with their improved spoken communication skills, which helped them achieve their learning objectives. The findings suggest that integrating synchronous and asynchronous learning effectively promotes student learning and improves student satisfaction in Indonesia's remote online learning environment.
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To mitigate adverse consequences of campus closure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many higher education institutions shifted from traditional to one hundred percent e-learning overnight. This study aims to identify salient determinants of business undergraduates' future preferences for e-learning and discuss its implications. 251 business undergraduates from a private university in Malaysia participated in an online survey conducted in July 2020, during campus closure. Data were analysed using multiple regression analysis to empirically identify salient determinants of future preference for e-learning. Multiple regression results inferred that the two most significant determinants of business undergraduates' future preference for e-learning were the disadvantages of e-learning, followed by learning outcomes. Limitations of this study include: (1) the survey was carried out in July 2020 when all courses were conducted using one hundred percent e-learning for the first time;(2) some salient determinants may not be captured because literature on e-learning during COVID-19 is evolving rapidly;and (3) the findings are not generalisable to other contexts. E-learning, whether in the form of one hundred percent e-learning or hybrid learning, is expected to be the new norm post-pandemic. As such, a better understanding of the determinants of business undergraduates' future preference for e-learning will enable stakeholders to overcome barriers to e-learning and improve learning outcomes.
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This study examines mathematics teachers' views on distance education and their beliefs about integrating computer technology in mathematics courses in terms of their gender, years of teaching experience and grade level taught. Moreover, this study investigates whether beliefs about integrating computer technology in mathematics courses can be a predictor of teachers' views on distance education. Data were collected from the 133 middle school and secondary school mathematics teachers at the end of the fall term of the 2020-2021 academic year in Sivas, Turkey. Data collection tools were Distance Education Perceptions of Teachers Scale (DEPT) and Belief Scale towards Using Computer Technology in Mathematics Instruction (BSMI). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results showed that mathematics teachers' general DEPT scores were at a moderate level. And there was no significant difference in teachers' DEPT scores regarding their gender, grade level taught and experience. The results also revealed that teachers' BSMI scores were mostly at a high level and there were no differences in their BSMI scores with respect to their gender, grade level taught and experience regarding. Moreover, these beliefs have been found to have an effect on their views on distance education;the BSMI variable explains 13% of teachers' DEPT.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a worldwide revolution in our understanding of how to conduct education. International lockdowns were the catalyst for a global shift from traditional face-to-face learning to distance learning. This comparative study utilized a mixed method approach to investigate the readiness of Higher Education instructors and students and the challenges arising from the shift to distance education in two different Arab countries, Qatar and Jordan. Generally, the findings gleaned from the questionnaires (230 instructors and 551 students) revealed certain inconsistencies with the findings that emerged from the interviews (18 instructors and 38 students) in terms of both the level of readiness and the challenges faced. The results showed a substantial variation in instructors and students' readiness at both participating universities. While factors like country, age, gender, specialization, years of experience/year in the program, and the number of online training courses prior to the COVID-19 epidemic proved to cause statistically insignificant differences in instructors and students' readiness, variables including age, gender and prior experience in online courses were relatively influential for students in terms of the challenges they faced.
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The aim of this study is to reveal whether physical education and sports teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge levels and some variables are significant predictors of distance education evaluation levels. The correlational design, in which the direction and strength of the relationship between more than one variable were investigated, was used in the study. The research group consists of 213 physical education and sports teachers. The data of the research were collected with the Technologic Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale and Distance Education Evaluation Scale Technologic pedagogical content knowledge general level has increased distance education evaluation general level. Technology knowledge increased distance education evaluation general level, technical level and learning process level. Based on the results, it can be recommended that physical education and sports teachers should be given trainings to increase their technological pedagogical content knowledge levels with the aim of minimizing the problems experienced by physical education and sports teachers in the distance education process and increasing the quality of education.