Investigating how students' learning environment, social and physical well-being influence their resilience and feelings of depression and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands

In response to COVID-19 pandemic-related social restrictions, university students have reported being more depressed, lonelier, and less resilient, potentially affected by changes within the academic system. The present study investigates how students' social and physical well-being affect their psychological well-being and additionally explores the role of the learning environment. To this end, we analyzed secondary data collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with multiple regression and explorative analysis. Results indicate that social resources - in particular, the quality rather than the quantity - positively influenced students' psychological well-being. Engaging in physical exercise appeared beneficial, whereas consuming drugs remained a contradictory predictor. Emergency remote teaching appeared a main factor that predicted students' well-being. This powerful effect masked the positive influence the teachers could have had. Given the profound changes in the academic system due to persistent social distancing requirements, these insights could provide valuable input when designing a healthy post-pandemic learning environment.

Mental Health and Higher Education in Australia

This book addresses a broad range of issues related to mental health in higher education in Australia, with specific reference to student and staff well-being. It examines the challenges of creating and sustaining more resilient cultures within higher education and the community. Showcasing some of Australia's unique experiences, the authors present a multidisciplinary perspective of mental health supports and services relevant to the higher education landscape. This book examines the different ways Australian higher education institutions responded/are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, with reference to domestic and international students. Through the exploration of practice and research, the authors add to the rich discourses on well-being in the higher education. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

COVID-19-induced academic stress and its impact on life satisfaction and optimism. A panel study of Swedish university students between 2020 and 2022

In this article, we analyse the level of and development in students' academic stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We devote particular attention to students that first entered university in 2020, ‘the COVID cohort', who had fewer opportunities to integrate in ways that theoretically should mitigate the impact of pandemic-induced disruption to their studies. Using four waves of data, collected 2020–2022, we find evidence of both pandemic and cohort effects among Swedish university students (N = 3138). During the pandemic's first year academic stress due to COVID-19 increased regardless of pre-pandemic university experience. The stress, in turn, negatively impacted students' life satisfaction, a factor theoretically linked to key student outcomes like persistence and academic performance but had limited effect on students' long-term optimism. The COVID cohort expressed higher levels of academic stress and experienced a greater drop in life satisfaction compared to the most senior students (3 years or more), but largely overlapped with students with some university experience (1–2 years). These group differences persisted in spring 2022. Finally, we found that the higher levels of pandemic-induced academic stress in the COVID cohort were mitigated by experiences that foster academic and social integration, specifically by teacher support and social cohesion. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Predicting how a disrupted semester during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted student learning

Tertiary education faced unprecedented disruption resulting from COVID-19 driven lockdowns around the world, leaving educators with little understanding of how the pandemic and consequential shift to online environments would impact students' learning. Utilising the theoretical framework of a student's affective field, this study aimed to investigate how student achievement, achievement-related affect, and self-perceived well-being contributed to predicting how their learning was impacted. Questionnaire responses and academic achievement measures from students (N = 208) in a New Zealand second-year, tertiary mathematics course were analysed. Despite a return to in-person teaching after eliminating community-transmission of the virus, students reported larger impacts of the disruption to semester on both their learning and well-being at the end of the term than during the lockdown. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that gender, prior achievement, performance on low-stakes assessment, as well as exam-related self-efficacy and hope, made significant, independent contributions to explaining students' perceived learning impact. Even when controlling for achievement and achievement-related affect, students' perceived impact to their well-being made a significant and substantial contribution to the impact on their learning. The findings provide motivation to further investigate whether attempts to address student achievement-related affect can help mitigate the effects of major life disruptions on studying. We suggest that frequent, low-stakes assessment can identify students who are more likely to report greater negative impacts to their learning. We finally conclude that student well-being is paramount to how students perceive their own learning, even when controlling for actual measures of and about their achievement. © 2022 The Author(s).

Students' well-being and factors impacting it during COVID-19 pandemic–early findings from Delft University of Technology

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, student well-being was highlighted as an important public health issue. The study aims to gain insights into the exact factors that bachelor and master students from engineering fields at Delft University of Technology are impacted by. Multiple interviews were performed to identify the key areas of impact and then incorporated into a comprehensive survey. The questionnaire was divided into five blocks: course work factors, thesis, communication, study environment, the COVID-19 pandemic and disseminated between June and September of 2021. A convenience sample of 165 responses was collected and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) test was employed to quantify the well-being of the students. The survey analysis found different well-being scores between the students from the bachelor and master programs and concluded that having a consistent work environment played an important role in students' welfare. The COVID-19-related findings revealed that the recordings of lectures and remote studying were the most appreciated. The thesis-related section showed that the clarity and objectives of the thesis writing are particularly impactful. Although some of the findings are university specific, the recommendations could be considered by other universities as they refer to general indicators and relationships. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

What Do You Find Beautiful about Viruses? A Post-COVID Assessment Strategy.

In the age of an ongoing pandemic and the ungrading movement, many instructors have been taking a closer look at their assessment methods. Assessment in science courses typically focuses heavily on checking understanding of underlying vocabulary and processes rather than highlighting an emotional connection to the material. For the final exam in a senior-level virus biotechnology course in Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022, an additional assessment question asking students what they found beautiful about viruses was implemented. Students highlighted a surprisingly large range of concepts, and all students received full marks for their thorough descriptions of their chosen concept. These responses were also interesting and joyful to grade as the instructor. Examples of responses and potential benefits of this approach are provided and discussed.

Student well-being in times of covid-19 in the netherlands: Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration within the academic learning environment

The COVID-19 pandemic affected student well-being through measures such as closing educational institutions and social distancing, which forced universities to adapt the student learning environment. Previous research has demonstrated that the learning environment influences student well-being by satisfying their basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The present study therefore aimed to investigate, against the background of the pandemic, (1) how the basic psychological needs related to student well-being, (2) how students perceived interaction within the academic system, and (3) how they would like the "new educational normal" to look. To address these aims, we implemented a cross-sectional survey which included both quantitative measures and qualitative open-ended questions and distributed it at a Dutch university (n = 653). To identify the predictive strength of need satisfaction and frustration, we ran multiple regressions. We found that need satisfaction and frustration were significantly related to the well-being measures, of which relatedness was only weakly related to student well-being. Moreover, students reported restricted interactions with their teachers and fellow students, leading to feelings of disconnectedness, as well as struggles to establish or maintain relationships. In contrast with the quantitative findings, students highlighted relatedness as an essential, currently lacking part of their experience. They suggested a potential hybrid learning environment with a focus on social cohesion. This study emphasizes the relevance of interpersonal connections within higher education and provides practical ideas for post-pandemic academic structures. These insights can support systemic investments of universities in student well-being and creating a healthier learning environment for the future. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The framework of Systematic Assessment for Resilience (SAR): development and validation.

BACKGROUND: Burnout and depression among health professions education (HPE) students continue to rise, leading to unwanted effects that ultimately jeopardise optimal medical care and patient health. Promoting the resilience of medical students is one solution to this issue. Several interventions have been implemented to foster resilience, but they focus on aspects other than the primary cause: the assessment system. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to promote resilience in assessment planning and practice. METHODS: We followed the guidelines suggested by Whetten for constructing a theoretical model for framework development. There were four phases in the model development. In the first phase, different literature review methods were used, and additional students' perspectives were collected through focus group discussions. Then, using the data, we constructed the theoretical model in the second phase. In the third phase, we validated the newly developed model and its related guidelines. Finally, we performed response process validation of the model with a group of medical teachers. RESULTS: The developed systematic assessment resilience framework (SAR) promotes four constructs: self-control, management, engagement, and growth, through five phases of assessment: assessment experience, assessment direction, assessment preparation, examiner focus, and student reflection. Each phase contains a number of practical guidelines to promote resilience. We rigorously triangulated each approach with its theoretical foundations and evaluated it on the basis of its content and process. The model showed high levels of content and face validity. CONCLUSIONS: The SAR model offers a novel guideline for fostering resilience through assessment planning and practice. It includes a number of attainable and practical guidelines for enhancing resilience. In addition, it opens a new horizon for HPE students' future use of this framework in the new normal condition (post COVID 19).

Student Voices on the COVID-19 Crisis: An Australian Christian Higher Education Study

The COVID-19 escalation of cases in Australia in March 2020 instigated a swift and comprehensive conversion of classroom instruction to online learning for all students and staff at Christian Heritage College (CHC), a private Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Brisbane. Technology integration exploded on "all fronts,” including online lectures, tutorials, student meetings, staff meetings, counseling services, devotions, and prayer meetings. This research examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the students of CHC and their reported sense of support in the areas of their faith, well-being, and academic progress. The study followed an exploratory research design that involved a mixed-methods approach and principles of "Appreciative Inquiry” (AI) during the process of data analysis. Data collection comprised an online survey (n = 124) and a qualitative interview subsample (n = 8) with the goal of painting a comprehensive picture of student experiences during the 2020 period of massive upheaval on campuses. The findings highlighted the importance of human connection in an online-dominated learning environment. Students rated meaningful communication with their peers and the CHC community members as being among the most critical factors for their sense of well-being. COVID-19 has provided HEIs with an opportunity to (re)examine their academic practices, student well-being support processes, and Christian faith imperatives to enable student flourishing into the future. By analyzing student learning experiences during the COVID-19 year retrospectively, this research adds to the understanding of institutional preparedness prospectively. Experiences and lessons conveyed in this article are useful for HEI policy and practice, thus serving the cause of Christian education in Australia and beyond. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Racial and ethnic minority disparities in COVID-19 related health, health beliefs and behaviors, and well-being among students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate racial/ethnic disparities in physical, mental, behavioral, and psychosocial COVID-19 impacts. Participants: In May 2020, 403 undergraduates (74% women; Mage = 20.4; 65% White, 19% Asian, 10% Latinx, 6% Black) were recruited. Methods: Participants completed a survey 2 months after their university switched to remote instruction due to COVID-19. Results: 15.2% reported either COVID-19 diagnosis or perceived symptoms, but there were no racial/ethnic disparities in this health outcome. Latinx and Asian students experienced higher COVID-19 related threat and negative beliefs than White students. Asian students experienced more discrimination and Latinx students experienced greater economic impacts. There were no differences in mental health or health behaviors. Conclusion: Results suggest that psychosocial impacts of a pandemic on undergraduate students vary by race/ethnicity, although mental health responses may be more universal. Implications for how colleges and universities can best serve student needs are discussed.

Impact of the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Student Well-Being: a Multisite Survey.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted medical student experiences. Little is known about the impact of the pandemic on student well-being and protective factors for burnout. OBJECTIVE: Assess US medical student burnout, stress, and loneliness during the initial phase of the pandemic, compare results to pre-pandemic data, and identify risk factors for distress and protective factors to inform support interventions. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of medical students conducted between May and July 2020. PARTICIPANTS: 3826 students from 22 medical schools. MAIN MEASURES: Burnout (MBI-HSS), stress (PSS-10), loneliness (UCLA scale), and student experiences. Compared burnout and stress to pre-pandemic studies (2010-2020). KEY RESULTS: Of 12,389 students, 3826 responded (31%). Compared to pre-pandemic studies, burnout was lower (50% vs. 52%, P = 0.03) while mean stress was higher (18.9 vs. 16.0, P < 0.001). Half (1609/3247) reported high (≥ 6/9) loneliness scores. Significant differences were found in burnout and stress by class year (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001) and race (P = 0.004 and P < 0.001), with the highest levels in second- and third-year students and Black, Asian, or other racial minority students. Students experiencing financial strain or racism had higher burnout and stress (P < 0.001 for all). Respondents with COVID-19 diagnoses in themselves or family members had higher stress (P < 0.001). Nearly half (1756/3569) volunteered during the pandemic, with volunteers reporting lower burnout [48% (782/1639) vs. 52% (853/1656), P = 0.03]. CONCLUSIONS: While stress was higher compared to pre-pandemic data, burnout was significantly lower. Higher burnout and stress among Black, Asian, and other racial minority students and those who experienced financial strain, racism, or COVID-19 diagnoses likely reflect underlying racial and socioeconomic inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic and concurrent national racial injustice events. Volunteer engagement may be protective against burnout. Schools should proactively support vulnerable students during periods of stress.

Catering for Students' Well-being during COVID-19 Social Distancing: A Case Study from a University Campus

COVID-19 gave rise to discussions around designing for life during the pandemic, in particular related to health, leisure and education. In 2020, an online survey aimed at university students (N=225) pointed the authors to various challenges related to well-being in terms of studying, socializing, community, and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. These results shaped the crowdsensing-enabled service design of a mobile application, Tecnico GO!, aimed at supporting students' well-being. Considering the constant changing context caused by the pandemic, we present a study conducted during the academic year 2021-2022 and if/how the App's features continue to respond to student's needs. The evaluation of the App focused on 12 semi-structured interviews and think-aloud protocols. Findings cluster around three themes: a) Supporting the study experience;b) Building a sense of community;c) Improving gamification for better participation. Discussion elaborates on the student's perceptions around well-being during pandemics. Students' insights of the App are overall positive and highlight that crowdsensing-enabled design does contribute to learning, community and safety, but the gamification as currently deployed does not. © 2022 ACM.

Educational Challenges in a Post-pandemic World

The major educational challenges generated by the COVID-19 pandemic are disrupted learning especially for students from low socioeconomic home backgrounds, a widening digital divide, limited effectiveness of emergency remote learning, and a neglect of holistic education. Consequently, the pandemic has contributed to and intensified the physical, mental, social, and emotional stress experienced by students and impaired their overall well-being. In response, schools around the world have, to varying degrees of success, experimented with blended learning and alternative teaching modes, utilised technologies, and collaborated with educational stakeholders to meet the students' needs. A silver lining in the midst of the difficulties is an opportunity for policymakers and educators to review, rethink, and reimagine the existing educational theories, models, and practices to improve student well-being.

Exploring Factors That Affected Student Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Data-Mining Approaches.

COVID-19-related school closures caused unprecedented and prolonged disruption to daily life, education, and social and physical activities. This disruption in the life course affected the well-being of students from different age groups. This study proposed analyzing student well-being and determining the most influential factors that affected student well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. With this aim, we adopted a cross-sectional study designed to analyze the student data from the Responses to Educational Disruption Survey (REDS) collected between December 2020 and July 2021 from a large sample of grade 8 or equivalent students from eight countries (n = 20,720), including Burkina Faso, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. We first estimated a well-being IRT score for each student in the REDS student database. Then, we used 10 data-mining approaches to determine the most influential factors that affected the well-being of students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Overall, 178 factors were analyzed. The results indicated that the most influential factors on student well-being were multifarious. The most influential variables on student well-being were students' worries about contracting COVID-19 at school, their learning progress during the COVID-19 disruption, their motivation to learn when school reopened, and their excitement to reunite with friends after the COVID-19 disruption.

Disadvantaged Students’ Experiences with Social Studies Distanced Learning: A Phenomenological Study

Distanced learning, for most people, is synonymous with internet-based education and high technology. High technology-based learning in distanced learning contrasts with the distributed learning experienced by children in disadvantaged areas. This topic is complex and requires attention so that no child is left behind;yet it is rarely discussed in literary works, especially the facts of distanced learning without the internet from students' point of view who directly experience the phenomenon. This study aims to explore students’ experiences in disadvantaged areas in Indonesia regarding the implementation of distanced learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process of in-depth individual interviews with seven participants, I used the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach. The results of this study indicate that although students in remote areas have a passion for learning, the distanced learning process without the support of adequate facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic is felt to be severe for the students. This condition causes psychological problems for junior high school students in remote areas;namely, students feel inferior and suffer a learning loss. In the future, it is necessary to develop an effective distance-learning model without internet-oriented for children in remote areas to develop students’ well-being. © 2022 Nova Southeastern University. All rights reserved.

Exploratory Factorial Analysis of ICED-19 Questionnaire: Impact of COVID-19 on doctoral students

Introduction. The health crisis situation due to COVID-19 has led to adaptations in educational institutions and changes in their organizational structures. Modifications have been made in all stages of education. However one of the most vulnerable groups during the pandemic was doctoral students. For this reason, with the aim of assessing the impact on their welfare and research work, an ad hoc instrument has been developed. The participants were doctoral students in education of the Complutense University of Madrid. The objective of this research is to analyze the reliability of the instrument called Impact of COVID-19 in Doctoral Students (ICED-19) and its validity through the Exploratory Factor Analysis. Methodology. This study was carried out through a quantitative and descriptive methodology. Statistical techniques were used for data analysis. Results. The results show a reliable instrument, with 7 factors that explain the dimensionality of the construct: Resilient Attitudes for the Development of the Doctoral Dissertation, Possibilities for Professional Development, Socialization in the Academic Environment, Training received by the Home Institution, Training received by External Institutions, Socio-affective Welfare and Family Support. Conclusions. This validated and reliable questionnaire can be used to assess how COVID-19 has impacted on doctoral students in Education.

Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues

In 2020, we gave a large-scale first-year informatics course an assignment to speculatively design hypothetical solutions for issues they were experiencing due to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we present a speculative design mini-project, then analyse student feedback and present insights about applying speculative design mini-projects around personal issues and in a large-scale technology education context. Our findings indicate that students had strong emotional experiences throughout the process and gained deeper insights into both design and the issues they were engaging with. Through peer reviews, students found new perspectives and feelings of relatedness in the face of shared hardships. From this, we summarise learnings for teaching practice about 1) peer review as a tool for feedback loops and discussions, 2) safety and student well-being when addressing personally experienced issues, 3) abridged design processes for trans-disciplinary competency, and 4) fostering safe spaces for creative vulnerability. © 2022

The "Trade-Off" of Student Well-Being and Academic Achievement: A Perspective of Multidimensional Student Well-Being.

Student well-being and its relationships with academic achievement in China have not been well-investigated. This study aimed at investigating student well-being and the trade-off of the well-being and academic achievement with a sample of 1,353 Chinese high-school students from four cities in China during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic period. The six dimensions of well-being (academic, psychological, self, physical, social, and spiritual) were utilised to test the relationships with three subjects including Mathematics, English, and Chinese using a quantitative analysis. In this study, the relationships between six dimensions of well-being and three academic subject achievements were tested in one statistical model. Results showed that spiritual well-being was ranked the highest, followed by psychological, physical, self, and social well-being. Students gave the lowest ranking to academic well-being. The two significant paths identified were between spiritual well-being and two subjects, namely, Chinese and Mathematics. It is interesting to note that the other five dimensions of well-being were significantly associated with any subjects and English was not significantly related to any dimensions of well-being in this study. Our findings suggested that policymakers and other stakeholders should avoid an "all or nothing" mindset on practice when considering well-being as a multidimensional construct.

Students' self-reported well-being under corona measures, lessons for the future.

As education was forced to go fully online in early 2020 as a consequence of the imposed lockdowns, concerns were raised related to student well-being. This study examines student well-being at the science faculty of a large urban university in the Netherlands within the framework of Basic Psychological Need Theory, a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining the results of an online student survey with 16 Likert-scale questions as well as two open ended questions (2228 participants, corresponding to a response rate of 32%) with a student focus group interview. The Likert-scale questions were subjected to factor analyses and reveal problems with well-being in four areas: study, personal worries, personal well-being, and societal worries. The analyses of the answers to the open ended questions as well as the focus group data show that students are positive on the autonomy offered by the inherent flexibility of online education, e.g., as a consequence of reduced travel time. However, the psychological needs of competence and relatedness are seriously undermined during times of lockdown, mainly because of poorer student-teacher interaction, lack of structure, loneliness, and helplessness. Students state that they need more support in these areas, for example by on-campus meetings whenever possible, psychological support, improvements in online education, online social events, adequate communication, and leniency in the interpretation of regulations and deadlines. Implications are discussed.

Graduate student workload: Pandemic challenges and recommendations for accommodations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of graduate student workers within university settings. At a large Midwestern private university, a Psychology Graduate Student Association (PsychGSA) identified that, in response to the pandemic, different levels of accommodations were being provided by faculty to graduate students. The PsychGSA conducted an evaluative survey that captured the experiences of 50 graduate students in the psychology department. The results highlight the inequitable challenges graduate students are currently facing. Recommendations to faculty to appropriately accommodate students during this unprecedented time, and beyond, are reported.