Open AccessStudent Choices and Perceptions of Online-Only Courses During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author(s) -
Jana M. Thomas Coffman
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of systemics, cybernetics, and informatics/journal of systemics cybernetics and informatics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1690-4524
pISSN - 1690-4532
DOI - 10.54808/jsci.20.01.225
Subject(s) - pandemic , covid-19 , pace , globe , distance education , online learning , perception , psychology , schedule , higher education , medical education , mathematics education , computer science , medicine , political science , multimedia , geography , disease , geodesy , pathology , virology , neuroscience , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , operating system
Online learning is a growing phenomenon in higher education (Chem, Home, Florell, & Thomas, 2002; Reagan, Evmenova, & Baker, 2014). This study explored the COVID-19 pandemic's influence upon undergraduate university students' decisions to take courses in a traditional in-person format or an online-only format, an issue that has impacted education around the globe (Besser, Gordon, & Zeigler-Hill, 2020). Understanding this issue is a growing convern during the COVID-19 pandemic and understanding it has implications for future K-12 and higher-eduacation online enrollment projections for the future. The study utilized a survey with multiple-choice questions and the opportunity for participants to select "other" and write their own answers. The survey also included open-ended questions soliciting participant beliefs on the advantage and disadvantes of online-only learning formats. The results of this study indicate that students take online-only classes for many reasons, including the need for a more flexible schedule, the ability to work at their own pace, the physical distance from the university, and, in 2020, concerns about health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.