Data_Sheet_2_Undergraduate Surveys Reveal That Instructors Are Key in Students Overcoming Classroom Struggles During the COVID-19 Pandemic.DOCX

Many undergraduate students encounter struggle as they navigate academic, financial, and social contexts of higher education. The transition to emergency online instruction during the Spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these struggles. To assess college students’ struggles during the transition to online learning in undergraduate biology courses, we surveyed a diverse collection of students (n = 238) at an R2 research institution in the Southeastern United States. Students were asked if they encountered struggles and whether they were able to overcome them. Based on how students responded, they were asked to elaborate on (1) how they persevered without struggle, (2) how they were able to overcome their struggles, or (3) what barriers they encountered that did not allow them to overcome their struggles. Each open-ended response was thematically coded to address salient patterns in students’ ability to either persevere or overcome their struggle. We found that during the transition to remote learning, 67% of students experienced struggle. The most reported struggles included: shifts in class format, effective study habits, time management, and increased external commitments. Approximately, 83% of those struggling students were able to overcome their struggle, most often citing their instructor’s support and resources offered during the transition as reasons for their success. Students also cited changes in study habits, and increased confidence or belief that they could excel within the course as ways in which they overcame their struggles. Overall, we found no link between struggles in the classroom and any demographic variables we measured, which included race/ethnicity, gender expression, first-generation college students, transfer student status, and commuter student status. Our results highlight the critical role that instructors play in supporting student learning during these uncertain times by promoting student self-efficacy and positive-growth mindset, providing students with the resources they need to succeed, and creating a supportive and transparent learning environment.

众多本科生在应对学术、财务以及高等教育的社会环境中遭遇挑战。由于2020年春季COVID-19疫情的爆发，转向紧急在线教学进一步加剧了这些挑战。为了评估大学生在本科生物学课程转向在线学习过程中的挑战，我们对美国东南部一所R2级别的研究型大学的238名多样化学生群体进行了调查。调查内容包括学生是否遭遇挑战以及他们是否能够克服这些挑战。根据学生的回答，我们要求他们详细阐述（1）他们在无挑战的情况下如何坚持不懈，（2）他们如何克服挑战，或（3）他们遇到的哪些障碍使他们无法克服挑战。每个开放式回答都进行了主题编码，以揭示学生在坚持或克服挑战能力方面的显著模式。我们发现，在转向远程学习的过程中，67%的学生经历了挑战。最常报告的挑战包括：课程格式转变、有效的学习习惯、时间管理和外部承诺的增加。大约83%的遭遇挑战的学生能够克服它们，他们最常提到的是教师的支持和过渡期间提供的资源是成功的原因。学生还提到，改变学习习惯和增强信心或信念，相信自己能够在课程中脱颖而出，是他们克服挑战的方式。总体而言，我们没有发现课堂中的挑战与我们所测量的任何人口统计学变量之间存在关联，这些变量包括种族/民族、性别表达、第一代大学生、转学生状态和通勤学生状态。我们的结果强调了在不确定时期，教师通过促进学生的自我效能感和积极成长心态、为学生提供成功的所需资源以及营造一个支持性和透明度高的学习环境，在支持学生学习方面发挥的关键作用。