Samantha Ruggiero
Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the day-to-day lives of individuals around the world, particularly students. As a result of the pandemic, remote learning rapidly became commonplace for students of all ages across international borders (Gillis & Krull, 2020; Miller, 2021). While remote learning was considered essential to protect public health during the beginning and middle stages of the pandemic, the widespread transition to this learning system was fraught with challenges for college students, administrators, and professors. Research suggests that many students were dissatisfied with the quality of their remote courses and faced difficulties in maintaining engagement and motivation with course materials (Gillis & Krull, 2020; Miller, 2021), potentially decreasing their levels of academic self-efficacy. As academic self-efficacy is integral to academic performance, the current proposal seeks to investigate the impact of remote learning on college students’ academic self-efficacy and academic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Challenges of Remote Learning During COVID-19
The abrupt shift to remote learning resulted in a variety of obstacles for college students; remote learning led to a collective decline in students’ course satisfaction levels dropping from 87% pre-pandemic to 59% after the transition to remote learning (Miller, 2021). Findings of one study suggest that only 55% of students found live-Zoom lectures to be effective, with only 36% reporting the lectures to be enjoyable (Gillis & Krull, 2020). Moreover, 42% of college students cited staying motivated while taking classes remotely as a challenge (Miller, 2021). Furthermore, half of college students reported facing technical difficulties that disrupted their access to remote learning resources, which further compounded the obstacles associated with remote learning (Gillis & Krull, 2020). In another study, a majority of college students reported concerns about their academic performance during COVID-19 (Son et al., 2020). These findings demonstrate that many students did not feel able to perform at their full academic potential during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the rapid nature of the emergency switch to remote learning during the pandemic, universities struggled to deliver high-quality education to college students (Johnson et al., 2020). For many professors, teaching remotely was an uncharted endeavor; in one national study, over half of college administrators and professors reported that increasing support for students during the transition to remote learning was a high priority to them, indicating a demand for resources to have better-supported college students during the pandemic (Johnson et al., 2020). Yet, 64% of professors reported having no previous remote teaching experience before the transition to remote learning (Johnson et al., 2020). Furthermore, as of June 2020, only 47% of college and university presidents felt confident in their attempts to train less-experienced faculty members in using remote teaching technologies, and only 55% believed that they were able to uphold high academic standards through remote learning (Miller, 2021). It is, thus, evident that not only have students felt as if the quality of their education was compromised due to the transition to remote learning, but that university administrators and professors did not feel entirely equipped to prepare students to succeed while engaging with remote learning.
Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance
When exploring online academic learning, it is important to consider the ways in which academic self-efficacy impacts academic performance. Academic self-efficacy, or one’s confidence in their ability to achieve desired academic outcomes (Sharma & Nasa, 2014), has been reported to have a significant and positive relation with academic performance (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Sharma & Nasa, 2014; Zajacova et al., 2005). Much of the extant literature in this area emphasizes the importance of academic self-efficacy in the learning process and in predicting academic performance (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Schunk & Pajares, 2002; Sharma & Nasa, 2014; Zajacova et al., 2005). In particular, academic self-efficacy has been observed to sustain the initiation and completion of academic goals (Schunk & Pajares, 2002). Research supports that high academic self-efficacy is associated with increased motivation towards academic goal persistence, which is an essential component of academic success (Schunk & Pajares, 2002).
The relation between academic self-efficacy and academic performance might be cyclical, such that mastery experiences (i.e., experiences in which the desired outcome is achieved) serve as a source of academic self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994). This means that experiences of academic success, such as getting exceptional grades, may reinforce high levels of academic self-efficacy in students (Bandura, 1994). This hypothesis has been supported by the finding that academic self-efficacy and academic performance are more strongly correlated in new college students at the end of the semester compared to the beginning of the semester, as students accumulate mastery experiences over the course of the semester (Gore Jr., 2006). In another study (Chemers et al., 2001), past academic achievement (i.e., high school GPA) was shown to influence levels of academic self-efficacy in first-year college students, further exhibiting how academic mastery experiences can impact levels of academic self-efficacy.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread shift to remote learning resulted in a decrease in student motivation and a widespread negative outlook on remote learning (Miller, 2021), which might negatively impact students’ levels of academic self-efficacy. In turn, the influence of remote learning during the COVID-10 pandemic on academic self-efficacy levels might negatively impact students’ academic performance (Miller, 2021).
Proposed Study
The reliance on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns about a potential decrease in academic self-efficacy (Alemany-Arrebola et al., 2020; Rohmani & Andriani, 2021). While several studies have explored the challenges of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Gillis & Krull, 2020; Johnson et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2020; Son et al., 2020), there has been a lack of literature investigating the relation between the remote learning, academic self-efficacy, and the academic performance of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current proposal thus seeks to address the following research question: How does remote learning impact the academic self-efficacy and academic performance of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Proposed Method
Participants
Random sampling will be used to obtain a sampling pool of 1,000 undergraduate students from across all Title IV degree-granting institutions in the United States to produce a diverse and generalizable sample. To qualify for this proposed study, participants must be between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, speak fluent English, and have been enrolled in remote classes for at least one semester during the pandemic. In addition, participants must have finalized their choice of major to be eligible for this proposed study, so that academic performance can be measured in relation to each participant’s major area of study. The study will aim to recruit a gender diverse sample of participants.
Procedure
Participants who qualify and consent to participate in the study will complete a Qualtrics form regarding their participation in remote courses (e.g., semesters enrolled in remote classes; fully remote or hybrid; number of courses completed). Participants will then complete the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (Kunnathodi & Ashraf, 2007). The scale includes 20 positive (e.g., “Irrespective of the subject, I am competent in learning”) and 20 negative (e.g., “Often I fail to comprehend the actual meaning of what I study”) statements relating to academic self-efficacy, which participants respond on a 5-point Likert scale (Kunnathodi & Ashraf, 2007). Following the measure guidelines, composite scores ranging from 40 to 200 will be calculated and included in the analyses. The scale has high validity and reliability, with a test-retest coefficient of .85 and split-half reliability of .90 (Gafoor & Ashraf, 2007).
Participants will then be asked to provide information regarding their academic performance, including 1) the number of classes they took related to their major area of study in during the semester(s) they were enrolled in remote courses, 2) an objective report of their grades in these courses, and 3) responses to an adjusted version of the Pearlin Mastery Scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978), to capture their academic performance from the participants’ perspectives. The Pearlin Mastery Scale is typically used to measure the level of control participants feel that they have over important life outcomes (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). The scale has seven items to measure a sense of mastery, to which participants respond on a 4-point Likert scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978), and has a high Cronbach’s alpha (i.e., .89), and statistically significant convergent, predictive, and discriminant validity (Edwards et al., 2000). The scale is scored on a range between 7 and 28, with higher scores indicating a higher sense of mastery (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). For this study, participants will be asked to frame their responses to the scale in terms of the classes related to their major. For instance, the item “There is really no way I can solve some of the problems I have” (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) will be changed to “There was really no way I could solve some of the problems I had in online classes related to my major,” (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) and so on. Items in the original scale using the term “life” will be replaced with the phrase “classes related to my major.” Item analysis will be run to ensure that the adapted measure has strong internal reliability.
Discussion
This proposed study has implications for college students, administrators, and professors at universities across the United States. This proposed study can serve as a platform to reflect the attitudes college students have had towards remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their levels of academic self-efficacy during this time. In turn, such insights can inform university administrators and professors of students’ academic performance and levels of academic self-efficacy during what was a prolonged period of remote learning. University administrators and professors can serve as an important resource and source of support for students during difficult times, especially amid a pandemic (Zhai & Du, 2020). Thus, the proposed study can serve as an important resource to prompt university administrators and professors to monitor the academic self-efficacy of students and provide a space in which high academic self-efficacy and success are attainable if a transition to remote learning returns. Thus, this study could be essential in determining the teaching styles, resources, and levels of support provided to students by universities during any future experiences with remote learning.
Further research might explore how remote learning impacts a diverse population of college students across the United States. One way to expand on the current proposal is to explore how academic self-efficacy and remote learning, as well as academic self-efficacy and academic performance during remote learning, differ amongst types of Title IV degree-granting institutions attended. Furthermore, future research might explore how the relationships between the variables differ by demographics such as gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. COVID-19 has impacted certain racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately in terms of health and quality-of-life (CDC, 2020), and students with lower socioeconomic statuses may lack access to the technological resources needed to succeed in a remote learning environment, with the procurement and distribution of resources for students varying across universities. In addition, college students with mental health disorders and learning difficulties may be more susceptible to difficulties in remote learning than other students. Therefore, research regarding the disparities between samples that vary in demographics and neurodiversity could provide more insight into which students require the most support from their professors and administrators to maintain academic success.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of many individuals across the world. This unparalleled time proved to be particularly difficult for college students who were required to attend classes virtually and balance other life activities. Thus, this proposed study can provide insight into how the pandemic and subsequent transition to remote learning impacted the past academic self-efficacy and academic performance of college students. By gaining valuable metrics regarding the relationships between these variables, university administrators and professors can be more equipped to provide college students with engaging and supportive learning environments over remote platforms in the future. Such insight may allow universities to provide more opportunities for all students to succeed during stable and turbulent times alike.
References
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