Education & Social Work

Investigating student’s learning satisfaction and well-being in the context of imposed remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis

The department of Education and Social work launches a survey to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on student’s learning ability. This survey will be disseminated to all the students of the University of Luxembourg. The findings will help researchers to gain useful insights into weaknesses and strengths of imposed remote teaching.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Luxembourg, as many other countries, has chosen a strategy of minimized physical social contacts. In this context, quick changes in teaching methods have taken place in the educational system. The University of Luxembourg has rapidly moved to remote teaching for all programs since Monday, March 16th 2020. There are good reasons to believe that the manifold changes that have been occurring in our lives since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic are having an impact on the University’s students’ learning, and possibly on this year’s educational outcomes. The Institute of Lifelong Learning and Guidance (Department of Education and Social Work) developed a survey that aims at contributing to the question to which extent this is happening.

Individual life conditions of the students can influence their experience of the current changes, and ultimately, the crisis we are facing can enhance pre-existing social inequalities. This is why this new research project includes aspects such as their housing, the learning context in their homes, technical settings, their socioeconomic position, or a possible financial impact.

Learning satisfaction & well-being

The impact of the current situation on the students is approached by focusing on their own subjective experience. This includes two major dimensions: learning satisfaction and well-being. Learning satisfaction is a major motivational aspect and a possible predictor of learning outcomes. In the survey, learning satisfaction is investigated through elements such as student satisfaction with course contents, teaching techniques and their effectiveness, computer self-efficacy, learning climate, or technical aspects of e-learning. The other dimension, student well-being, is investigated through elements such as social interaction and isolation, general well-being and satisfaction with life, subjective physical and mental health perception, and feelings associated with learning.

Several objectives have guided the development of this study. The Coronavirus crisis is remarkable in that it has prompted very quick changes on a very big scale. One of the central aims of this survey is to understand how students (and teachers) have been able to adapt to an abrupt change in teaching and learning, and to which degree the new practice is working or not. Useful insights into weaknesses and strengths of imposed remote teaching are expected, with the objective to help improve the experience in the future. Another important aim of the survey is to better understand the impact of a major external event on learning. Aspects such as well-being, social isolation, health anxiety, or financial worries will help understand and assess the magnitude of COVID-19’s effect on the student’s learning ability and experience.

The entire student population of the University of Luxembourg

The survey is completely anonymous and is conducted using a 20-minute online questionnaire, which will be submitted to the entire student population of the University of Luxembourg. This procedure will ensure a representative sample, which will allow for meaningful results. Through this study, we hope to contribute to the insights gained out of this crisis.

This research project has been approved by the Ethics Review Panel of the University of Luxembourg (ERP 20-027-C IRT-SATIS).

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