Online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic: How university students' perceptions, engagement, and performance are related to their personal characteristics

University students faced unexpected challenges in online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings from early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic and before show that online learning experiences may vary from student to student and depend on several personal characteristics. However, the relative importance of different students' personal characteristics for their online learning experiences at later phases of the Covid-19 pandemic is still unclear. This cross-sectional, correlational study investigates how personal characteristics of university students are related to five dimensions of online learning perception and to their engagement and performance in online courses. In an online survey, 413 students from German universities provided full information on their online learning experiences and personal characteristics in terms of demographic information, Big Five personality traits, self-regulation skills, three facets of self-efficacy, and two types of state anxiety. Results of multiple regression analyses show that students' age was significantly positively related to all online learning perceptions and engagement in online courses. Our findings also confirm that self-regulation skills and academic and digital media self-efficacy are important factors in various online learning experiences. In contrast, students' personality traits and state anxiety were less important for most online learning experiences. Noteworthy, several bivariate associations between personal characteristics and online learning experiences are not reflected in the multiple regression model. This underscores the need to consider relevant variables simultaneously to evaluate their relative importance and to identify key personal characteristics. Overall, our results show valuable starting points for theory development and educational interventions.

Online learning experiences among nursing and midwifery students during the Covid-19 outbreak in Ghana: A cross-sectional study

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in Ghana were compelled to suspend routine learning activities and shut down to avert a possible public health crisis. As such, online learning was introduced as a temporary measure to ensure continuity in learning. For nursing and midwifery students who are usually more engaged in face-to-face practical learning, it will be interesting to ascertain how they experienced online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in a technologically deprived country. Hence, data was collected from March to June 2021 using online methods and a cross-sectional study design among students of nursing and midwifery training colleges in the five regions of Northern Ghana. Logistic regression and descriptive analysis were conducted using SPSS (version 22) to determine the association between (1) socio-demographic factors, (2) internet exposure and accessibility factors, and the outcome variable; students' experiences. The results for 318 students revealed that pleasant experiences were below average (42.8%) and that reliable college internet connectivity, older age, year of study, and residence in southern Ghana were significant predictors of pleasant experiences. However, high cost of data and home distractions were identified as the main challenges to online learning. Therefore, it is important for nursing and midwifery training colleges in northern Ghana to establish robust information and communication technology infrastructure on their campuses to ensure reliable internet connectivity.