Students’ coping with the self-regulatory demand of crisis-driven digitalization in university mathematics instruction: do motivational and emotional orientations make a difference?

First-year university students' self-regulated learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative longitudinal study

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many universities switched to fully online teaching. This unexpected switching to online teaching was challenging for both teachers and students, and restrictions that were put in place because of pandemic made this challenge even greater. However, new ways of teaching might also open new opportunities for students' learning. The research question driving our study was as follows: how do students regulate their learning and specifically their choice of resources and peer learning in university mathematics classes that are fully taught online as offered during the COVID-19 pandemic? We report on a longitudinal, qualitative study in which students recorded a brief audio diary twice a week over one whole semester (14 weeks). We focused on three students who completed 70 interviews in total and finished the semester with varying degrees of success. The results show how the students structured their studying (e.g., the roles that deadlines or synchronous teaching events played). They illustrate the strengths and limitations of digital materials provided by the lecturer and the use of complementary media. Further, the pandemic uncovered the double-edged role of simple, often anonymous exchanges (e.g., via Discord servers), with few binding forces for either side, and the significance of stable learning partnerships for students' success. Our research highlights aspects that should be focal points when comparing traditional instruction and online instruction during the pandemic from a self-regulatory perspective. Practical implications refer to how these aspects can be combined sensibly in fully online courses, but also in blended learning contexts.

Changes in university students' behavioral intention to learn online throughout the COVID-19: Insights for online teaching in the post-pandemic era

Many researchers investigated university students' behavioural intention to undertake online courses during COVID. However, few examined how students' intention might change throughout COVID by incorporating their learning capability and approaches. The universities in China went through a process from lockdown in February to reopening in September 2020. It provided a unique context for university students in China to experience emergent online learning for approximately six months before returning to normal face-to-face or blended learning on campus. The researchers conducted a questionnaire survey among 193 Chinese university students to investigate the changes in their behavioral intention to learn online throughout COVID. Additionally, the researchers explored the relationships between the participants' behavioral intention and the factors of learning capability in general, application of specific online learning strategies, online course engagement levels, and academic performance. It was found that the participants' intention to study online significantly increased during COVID and then slightly decreased after the university reopened. The participants' intention of online learning after COVID was predicted by their prior intention, learning capability, application of online learning strategies, and online course engagement. The participants' perceptions about online learning revealed that, when choosing future course delivery modes, they would a) reflect on their own disposition, capability, and needs, b) compare different learning modes, and c) examine course quality and teachers' competency. The participants also shared advice regarding their expectation of future online courses which may help shape university educators' pedagogical practices and provide insights for university online and blended course delivery from learners' perspectives.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-022-11320-0.

Student teachers’ perceived changes of learning conditions during COVID-19: The role of internal resource management strategies, intrinsic motivation, and preferences for lesson formats

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an abrupt change in higher education that had a profound impact on students. Pandemic distance learning required students to regulate their learning more independently and to find new ways of communicating with their peers and instructors. This study focused on how students perceived the learning conditions that they encountered during the first semester that took place online compared to the time before distance learning. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether students’ internal resource management strategies, intrinsic motivation, and instruction format (synchronous, asynchronous, and face-to-face) preferences were associated with the perceived changes of the learning conditions. Students enrolled in a German university (N = 330) answered an online questionnaire at the end of the summer term in 2020. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that the regulative resources of attention and intrinsic motivation were significant factors that predicted how students perceived changes in relevance, quality, and support of online instruction compared to the time before distance learning. However, our results show that these factors did not impact perceived changes in social relatedness. Moreover, the results demonstrate that preferences for digital formats were significant related to student perceptions of changes in relevance, quality, and support, whereas preferences for the face-to-face format had significant negative effects on these factors. Only the face-to-face preference had a significant (negative) effect on social relatedness. Finally, the study revealed an indirect effect of attention on students’ perceived changes of learning conditions through preferences for lesson formats. This study has important implications for digital integration in higher education and suggests that institutions should implement various methods that foster social interaction and internal regulation strategies.

Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Mathematics Achievement? A Case Study of University Students in Social Sciences

This study examines the effects of COVID-19-related measures on the mathematics achievement of university students in social sciences in Slovenia. Our particular concern was to compare two student populations (pre-pandemic and pandemic) in terms of factors affecting student performance in mathematics courses. Data were collected over nine consecutive academic years (from 2013–2014 to 2020–2021) and analyzed using two-stage structural equation modelling (SEM). The analyses confirmed that the conceptual model developed before the pandemic was applicable during the pandemic period. For both populations (pre-pandemic and pandemic), mathematics confidence, perceived level of math anxiety, background knowledge from secondary school, and self-engagement in mathematics courses at university were confirmed as factors influencing mathematics achievement. Moreover, both populations perceived the effects of the factors in the same way, and the magnitude of the effects is comparable. The rather high values of determination coefficient for mathematics achievement (greater than 0.66 for both student populations) indicate that the variables “Perceived Level of Math Anxiety” and “Self-Engagement in Mathematics Course at University” together explain a significant proportion of the total variance before and during the pandemic. Consequently, the results of our case study indicated that pandemic measures did not have a significant impact on our students’ mathematics achievement. Although a more in-depth study of a broader sample of academic courses would be needed to confirm our findings, our experience indicates that mathematics courses at the tertiary level of education can be successfully delivered online.

Academia's responses to crisis: A bibliometric analysis of literature on online learning in higher education during COVID-19

This paper aimed to provide a holistic view of research that investigated online learning in higher education around the globe during COVID-19 utilizing a bibliometric analysis. The researchers used co-citation analysis and text mining afforded by VOSviewer to document and analyze research patterns and topics reported in peer-reviewed documents published between January 2020 and August 2021. Findings of this study indicated that scholars from 103 countries or regions from the Global North and Global South investigated a wide array of topics, such as use of various technologies and strategies, redesigned curriculum, student perceptions and psychological impacts of the pandemic-imposed online learning. Many researchers applied technology acceptance theories and structural equation modeling to investigate factors associated with adoption and impacts of the pandemic-imposed online learning. Of the large quantity of research, medical education and chemical education were the most investigated disciplines. Inquiry-based learning, discovery learning, hands-on learning and collaborative learning emerged as instructional approaches frequently discussed or utilized across the target studies. This paper discussed (a) ongoing and emerging challenges to online higher education, (b) placing innovative pedagogies at the forefront of online learning, and (c) rapid, but imbalanced distribution of evolving literature based on the findings.

Factors Influencing Pre-service Teachers' Intention to Use Digital Learning Materials: A Study Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an abrupt change in university teacher education, in that most face-to-face courses were replaced by online education, which had a profound impact on students. Pandemic distance learning required students to possess a high degree of self-regulation concerning their learning environment and to find new ways of communicating with their peers and instructors. At the same time, the novel situation offered opportunities to experience new educational applications. To learn more about the possible benefits of distance learning, this study examines how the first online semester during the pandemic contributed to pre-service teachers' intentions to use digital learning materials in the future. Pre-service teachers enrolled in a German university (n = 348) answered an online questionnaire at the end of the summer term of 2020. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that the perceived quality of teacher training during the online semester and self-reported improvements in digital skills predicted significantly students' intentions to use digital learning materials for future teaching. Moreover, results revealed that attentional regulation predicted perceived quality of teacher training and self-reported improvements in digital skills during distance learning. Thus, attentional regulation had a significant indirect effect on pre-service teachers' behavioral intentions. The indirect effects of other resource management strategies (effort and time management) and intrinsic motivation were not significant. Our results show that the quality of online instruction was an important factor in student teachers' learning processes during the pandemic. Based on our results, we discuss implications for the promotion of pre-service teachers' intentions to use digital learning materials for teaching in schools.

University students’ fully digital study of mathematics: an identification of student-groups via their resources usage and a characterization by personal and affective characteristics

We investigated university students’ study of mathematics in the digital setting context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We gathered data from a survey of 89 students enrolled in a ‘Linear Algebra 1’ course including affective variables, learning strategies, social relatedness and resources considered useful. The results indicate students’ high effort and self-regulation and a high variation in affective characteristics and social relatedness. All the traditional aspects of mathematics teaching (lecture, tutorials and lecture notes) were rated as particularly useful. In addition, the videos from external resources were rated as equally useful as the teaching team’s videos. In contrast, traditional literature such as textbooks was rarely considered useful. The most useful resource rated was communication with peers, underlining the important role of social learning despite fully digital learning environments. Finally, a cluster analysis based on students’ rated usefulness of the resources led to three different user-types. Whereas the ‘digitals’ find the external digital resources very useful (videos, webpages, etc.), the ‘traditionalists’ rate the digitalized traditional resources best (lecture, tutorials, etc.). All resources receive uniformly good ratings from a third group (‘all resource users’). We reflect on our findings in light of the pandemic and describe directions for future research.

Increasing the effect of a remedial mathematics course by switching to an online format during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence from a German university

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many courses have been offered digitally. Using data from n = 1,173 business students participating in a preparatory mathematics course at a German university that covered the same content as in 2018, 2019 and 2020, we examine how students’ participation and the effect of the preparatory course changed. The data show that the participation rate has fallen slightly, but students’ participation is rather similar to preceding years. Interestingly, students have participated more intensively. There are clear signs of dishonesty in the self-test (use of a calculator) and significant changes in predictors of performance. In particular, the effect of students’ engagement in the course on their performance substantially increased. Further, we found a gender gap in performance affecting women. Finally, the data show that digital courses can be as effective as on-campus courses.