At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, students and educators across the nation and around the world were forced to quickly pivot into a distance or remote learning model for education delivery. Much is still being learned about the impact that time period had on students, and two professors from Cal State Fullerton are contributing to that conversation with a study they conducted on Titan business students at the end of the fall 2020 semester.

Associate professor Sinjini Mitra in CSUF’s Information Systems and Decision Sciences department within the university’s College of Business and Economics teamed up with a longtime colleague and CSUF professor of economics, Denise Stanley. Knowing that most college students had not experienced online classes or remote learning prior to the pandemic, this was an area she and Stanley wanted to know more about.

CSUF professor of economics, Denise Stanley (Courtesy of CSUF News Media Services)

“It was natural to do a study to look at students’ learning and what students’ experiences, in general, were like during the pandemic,” Mitra said. “It was a very unique and different situation, something we had never faced before.”

At the close of the fall 2020 semester, when instruction was delivered through a synchronous remote format, 125 undergraduate students enrolled in CSUF’s business statistics and business economic courses completed an online survey about their experiences. Mitra’s and Stanley’s article on their findings, “Pandemic Studies: Remote Learning During COVID,” was published in the April issue of Significance Magazine, a popular data statistics publication.

Of those surveyed, 50% were female, 42% were of Hispanic origin and 42% were first-generation college students, representative of the university’s minority-serving student body. Additionally, 60% of surveyed students had not participated in online classes prior to that timeframe.

Overall, nearly half of those students surveyed (48%) rated their “overall learning in the virtual format as average or poor,” with only 4% reporting that “their learning in the new situation was the same as in the face-to-face context.”

Associate professor Sinjini Mitra in CSUF’s Information Systems and Decision Sciences department (Courtesy of CSUF News Media Services)

A significant factor that students reported was the lack of an appropriate learning environment at home. Many Titans are working students who commute, and challenges at home ranged from distractions from pets or family members to housing insecurity. These barriers were most present among first-generation students, with 62% reporting the lack of space in which to effectively study at home, compared to 33% among other students. Mental health also played a role, with nearly 25% of respondents indicating pandemic-related issues in this area.

“I think the whole research is an eye-opener, just understanding all these challenges the students faced,” Mitra said. “It was surprising to see how many students had those issues.”

Conversely, the data showed that technology-related challenges were only reported by 4-5% of the participants, showing that the university was able to meet a significant amount of the technology needs of its student body.

“Much attention has been given to the digital divide and how technology access affected remote learning during the pandemic,” Stanley said. “We find another factor — the study space environment for the student — to be significant in shaping student preferences around whether they would like to continue with online courses in the future.”

Mitra and Stanley took the data analysis a step further to begin to understand how students’ experiences with remote learning would impact those future preferences and how the university can best respond in the delivery method of its course offerings.

Not surprisingly, the data clearly showed less interest from students toward registering for online classes by those who had a negative remote learning experience, with lack of access to a healthy study environment playing a large role. Additionally, those students who had a positive online class experience were more open to pursuing that model again for course instruction, and nearly 17% of respondents had a preference for the flexibility online classes provide in regard to balancing school, work and family life.

Moving forward, the data points to universities offering a variety of learning options for class instruction, both in-person and remote, and within remote learning models, both synchronous and asynchronous or hybrid approaches, with a defined set of tools that support online interaction. Access to spaces on campus, such as libraries or study rooms, also plays a role in supporting students’ learning needs.

Mitra and Stanley hope to be able to expand their data gathering in these areas as it relates to graduate students, but for now, the undergraduate student voices give great insight as to the impact of this unique time period for education. It undoubtedly forced students to evaluate what mode of course delivery works best for them in supporting their educational goals.

“Many instructors worked hard to incorporate new tools into their online classes, so I think that’s a positive impact,” Mitra said. “I’m thankful for this important research, and I think it gave us some good ideas.”

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