Sarbottam Bhagat & Dan J. Kim (2020) Higher Education Amidst COVID-19: Challenges and Silver Lining, Information Systems Management, 37:4, 366-371, DOI: 10.1080/10580530.2020.182404

Higher education amidst COVID-19: challenges and silver lining

- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.5 billion students across 190 countries have not been able to physically attend school.
- It’s been determined that just transitioning contents to an online format hasn’t been enough, and overlooking online pedagogy can be just as detrimental as lackluster content.
- This article adds to the conversation about addressing issues about the quality and preparedness of online learning, as well as the potential theoretical solutions.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Introduction

- One of the most difficult challenges stems from the level of preparedness on the parts of the educational institutions to handle crises similar to this pandemic.
- Poorly managed/resourced institutions coupled with socially-disadvantaged students with limited access to internet and technology have affected how educational institutions adequately respond to learners’ needs and their inability to engage in an online learning environment.
- Students with limited or no access to the resources to afford the technology, and students with learning disabilities run the risk of being left out, and the fact that it was happening before the pandemic hit is an indication that the pandemic will only continue to exacerbate the rate at which the inequalities are affecting students’ performance.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Challenge: preparedness for crisis

- Higher educations’ movement toward remote learning has raised questions about the value of online learning due to limited or inadequate access to technology, as well as the overall quality of online learning.
- Research indicates that students in vulnerable population categories struggle more often than not just to complete online courses, let alone achieve positive learning outcomes.
- Students also find online learning options to be more expensive than the conventional learning environment, and that online learnings do not provide favorable returns given their investment.
- Only 50% of institutions surveyed in this study employ educators with prior online teaching experience.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Challenge: quality concerns for remote learning

- The pandemic has severely affected the financial situations of most new and current college students, implying that students might need more financial aid than previously anticipated.
- Colleges and universities are facing severe budgetary challenges due to cash flow and uncertainties in enrollment.
- This challenge could persist as long as students feel dissatisfied with online education, and institutions' capacity to manage funds for education in the present economic condition is minimal.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Challenge: financial

- The majority of educational institutions have now resorted to alternative forms of learning, each with carrying degrees of online learning and face-to-face conventional learning (These include temporarily halting learning to transition to an online format, and altering face-to-face learning to include supplemental online resources).
- Educators, as a result of the online format, are still facing difficulties in maintaining the same level of student engagement and attention as they would achieve in a face-to-face setting.
- Limited capabilities or capacities of universities to make the transition to online learning may stem from large enrollments, inadequate or limited access to the needed technologies, systems, dedicated tech support, and storage capacity.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Challenge: online delivery

- Adapting to the online learning environment requires that we delve more into the science of learning, while we take steps to introduce various technological innovations to facilitate online learning.
- Higher education sectors will need to place greater emphasis on the most vulnerable student populations, and ascertain that all online learning solutions will facilitate better student engagement and connectedness, in order to help them achieve the desired level of outcomes from the online learning process.
- It is imperative for educational institutions to develop strategies to overcome the challenges discussed already, such as online delivery of courses, financial roadblocks, and quality concerns to fill the holes that the pandemic has created in higher education.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Overcoming challenges

- It is believed that with a well-thought-out investment in online learning, proper emphasis on the science of learning, the higher education sector may initiate a much-needed revolution in the education paradigm.
- Researchers believe that online learning will become more mainstream in the future due to this pandemic, and students will develop a better attitude towards it as a result.
- Digital resilience is defined as “an organization’s ability to maintain, change, or recover technology-dependent operational capability.”
- The study proposes a three-phase digital resilience-building framework for higher education (figure included):

Higher education amidst COVID-19: The silver lining: digital resilience

The study then proposes a number of changes to make to the online course delivery system, including:
- Performing an assessment to gauge students’ capacity to practically adapt to online delivery plans.
- Offering instructor training to help develop online learning teaching plans.
- Ascertaining policies to evaluate students’ progress during remote learning.
- Ascertaining policies to evaluate instructors and courses.
- Devising a framework to keep vulnerable student populations engaged.
- Offering students with learning experiences backed by rich media contents that go beyond asynchronous, synchronous, live, or recorded lectures.
- Especially, building long-term sustainable digital resiliency to stay flexible to the demand and supply of remote learning.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Course Delivery

- COVID-19 has presented itself as a rude awakening to everyone who is involved in the higher education sector, including learning, instructors, policymakers, and society.
- Digital literacy is crucial for us to operate and advance in the world where social distancing coupled with digitized services and social interactions becomes a norm.
- It is vastly important to understand the current digital resilience of education systems, especially in terms of its strengths and weaknesses, the emerging demand for remote learning, and the supply of digital capabilities and competencies in order to make a learning experience rich and valuable.
- Researchers believe that educational institutions will come to understand the value of diversifying their learner populations, curriculums, and the need for new learning styles.
- It is believed, as a result, more institutions may place emphasis on customized online learning, and pursue adequately servicing historically underserved adult learners markets.

Higher education amidst COVID-19: Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education institutions on a global level, and has presented numerous different challenges according to this study, bringing into question higher education’s preparedness for crisis, quality concerns for remote learning, financial troubles, and issues with the online delivery of learning. The study also brings to light one silver lining among the the issues: the idea of digital resilience.

Boston College

The COVID-19 pandemic affected higher education. Nodes for deeper study on the topic include:
- Higher Education Challenges during Pandemic: A Case Study
- The Balance of Roles: Graduate Student Perspectives during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Philippine Context
- Covid-19 and Medical Students
- Longtitudinal Study on the  effects of COVID-19 on first year college students' mental health
- Reimagining higher education during and post-COVID-19: Challenges and opportunities

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Higher Education

This article is a series of anecdotes from the viewpoints of six graduate students who talk about their struggles with their education during the outbreak of coronavirus. It provides a personal look at how higher education has been shaped by the pandemic.

- a parent/student with two children also attending school who organized her schedule into helping her kids during the day while doing her work in the afternoon
- an instructional designer who had to get used to the shift into online learning, which included learning how to use tools such as WebEx and Zoom
- an online lecturer who had to shift their curriculum to help their students with flexibility in classes while getting used to working at home
- an IT administrator whose work nearly stalled their doctoral dissertation, forcing them to focus on reflection regarding their research
- another instructional designer who had to help people figure out how to change their classes to work with online learning while neglecting their dissertation
- a teaching assistant who had to focus on helping the students get used to online learning while having to put their doctoral work on pause

It suggests that progress in higher education depends on the new work schedule caused by the pandemic and how each person responds to the transition in their own way.

The Balance of Roles: Graduate Student Perspectives during the COVID-19 Pandemic

For many college students, the transition to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to academic difficulties, but also difficulties with their mental health. This study aims to determine the mental health outcomes for college students at a large university in Texas, US through an extensive interview survey. Findings suggest that most students are more stressed and anxious due to the pandemic, and multiple specific stressors were identified to exacerbate their stress level. 

Effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health in the United States: interview survey study

Higher education institutions in the Philippines faced challenges with instructional delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides recommendations for higher education’s response to the pandemic. 

- Integrate Environment and Health Courses in the Curriculum

- Strengthen Environmental Policies and Hygiene Practices

- Incorporate Online Mental Health and Medical Services

- Migrate Courses, Align Curriculum Competencies, and Scale up Teachers’ Training for Online Learning Instruction

- Strengthen Research Efforts, Data Monitoring, and Evidence Based Practices


Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Philippine Context

Though many graduate students are experiencing increased difficulties with completing their education due to Covid-19, medical students are especially affected when it comes to the problems they are faced with during the pandemic. Educational areas that medical students expect to be negatively impacted due to Covid-19 include: 

- Clinical experience
- Research experience
- Finding faculty mentors
- Cancelation of sub-internships 
- Acquisition of surgical skills
- Performance on board examinations
- Conferences/networking opportunities
- Residency applications

With concern about all these educational aspects, it is therefore very important that academic institutions adopt new online educational programing to help medical students continue to make successful progress in their education.

Covid-19 and Medical Students 

The aim of this study was to compare higher education in Spain, Italy, and Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regards to the development of digital literacy. 


Digital Literacy and Higher Education during COVID-19 Lockdown: Spain, Italy, and Ecuador

This article looks at student productivity, engagement, and motiavtion through online forums in comparison to lectures.

- There was an increase of early homework submitters when students were in the online forum, in addition to fewer late submissions (reduced to less than 50% late submission rate compared to the regular online homework submission
- Majority of regular style homework was submitted on the 7th day, which was the final deadline. Amost none submitted it before day 5. The forum based submissions only had 30% of students wait until day 7 to submit
- Students who were asked to do in depth focus on a couple research articles and then give a presentation showed better understanding compared to those asked to write a research paper. They also reported lower stress
- Creating blocked work is better, both for final term papers and final presentations. Teachers that require students work on papers in small incriments over a span of time normally find better productivity with less repetition or plagiarism. 
- Around 80% of students agreed that information diversity could be increased on online discussion and more than 90% agreed that lecture was not enough for learning material
- However, the majority preferred to continue with normal lecture and regular homework (80%)

An experimental case study on forum-based
online teaching to improve student’s engagement
and motivation in higher education

Higher education amidst COVID-19: challenges and silver lining


This study conducted in two waves (2019-2020) sought to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' mental health. Using data from 419 first year students, this study found significant results that the participants had higher moderate-severe anxiety as well as moderate-severe depression after the beginning of the pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic and mental health of first-year college students: Examining the effect of Covid-19 stressors using longitudinal data

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes for undergraduate students, especially when it comes to the negative repercussions on their mental health. This study seeks to explore the experience of stress, anxiety, and depression among undergraduate students in a university in Kentucky during an early phase of the pandemic. Results concluded that 88% of students surveyed experienced moderate to severe stress, 44% experienced moderate to severe anxiety, and 36% experienced moderate to severe depression. This study also identified high-risk populations, as well as how often students utilized the mental health services provided by their university.

Stress, anxiety, and depression among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic and their use of mental health services.

This study was designed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily living, mental well-being, and experiences of racial discrimination among college students from communities of color. Findings suggested that students of color experienced elevated disruption on finances, living situations, academic performance, educational plans, and career goals. The findings also suggest that the primary mental health challenges on these students included stress, anxiety, and depression, especially due to the increased amount of racially-motivated violence against the Black and Asian American communities. The study indicates that higher education institutions would greatly benefit from financially and emotionally supporting students of color during the pandemic.

The impact of COVID-19 on college students from communities of color

College students are a special population facing a myriad of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explains how pandemic conditions have exacerbated already challenging situations college students have faced, including mental health, academic pressure, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and a lack of social connectedness. This study also explains how the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities that students of color and low-income students already face. Researchers offer some recommendations for higher education institutions of how to solve these problems, including data-driven decision making, informative messaging, and expanding student support services.

More than inconvenienced: the unique needs of U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Looking at gender, age, SES, use of camera for lecturer and students, belief of neessity of distanced education, belief about effectiveness, and belief of negtive impact of pandemic on motivation, they looked at the cyclical effect of distanced learning motivation and it's impact on frequency of class attendence, mediated by anxiety, stress, depression and Intolerence of Uncertainty (IU).

- Women showed higher attendence than men
- men's motivation was higher than women's
- use of computers showed more attendence than use of smartphones
- use of computers showed higher motivation compared to use of smartphones
- urban students attended class more often
- urban students had lower levels of motivation
- depression negatively impacted attendence, though stress positively predicted attendence
- stress is not significantly associated with distance learning motivation 
- inhibitory IU was positively associated with depression, anxiety and stress, but negatively with motivation.
- IU predicts increase in relationship between anxiety and stress
- Women show higher rates of anxiety, stress, depression and IU during the pandemic
- gender is not related to student satisfaction with learning.

Psycho-demographic variables effects on higher education students during COVID-19 in Turkey

Malisch, Jessica L., et al. “Opinion: In the Wake of COVID-19, Academia Needs New Solutions to Ensure Gender Equity.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 7 July 2020, www.pnas.org/content/117/27/15378. 

In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solution to ensure gender equity

The pandemic has caused shifts in household labor or childcare that have increased faculty and students' mental health needs and reduced faculty and students' time for academic work. The pandemic exemplifies the privilege that some people possess(access to mental healthcare and financial security) and the inequalities in academia. Additionally, the pandemic has caused an increase in biased decision-making, which hinders the efforts for equity. Consequently, women in academia will be negatively impacted. Hence, there is a need for decisions to be made that will help women maintain their positions in academia.

Effects of COVID-19 on women in academia

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of coping behaviors, resilience, and social support on loneliness in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown. 

Social and emotional loneliness among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: The predictive role of coping behaviors, social support, and personal resilience

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience compounding effects of COVID-19 due to unique social inequalities and existent mental health and substance use challenges. This study was designed to examine the associations between changes in alcohol use since the start of the pandemic, and the reported mental distress among SGM university students in the U.S.. Results suggested that nearly ⅓ of SGM students increased their alcohol use since the pandemic began, and that female students experience more psychological distress in association than male students do.

Changes in alcohol use since the onset of COVID-19 are associated with psychological distress among sexual and gender minority university students in the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant, sustained, and continuing stresses on the socio-psychology of societies and has led to the development of depression, anxiety and PTSD, particularly on college-age populations. This study aimed to assess the psychosocial effects and coping strategies of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results suggested that students reported increased degrees of depression, anxiety, and stress, and dysfunctional coping strategies were less utilized than problem-focused coping strategies.

University students under lockdown, the psychosocial effects and coping strategies during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross sectional study in Egypt

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an abrupt shift from traditional, in-person schooling to remote learning. While faculty and professors in higher education focused mainly on how to maintain rigor and the deliverance of a quality education, they neglected to pay attention to how students may struggle to adjust to virtual learning. It is crucial that professors work with their students to decide how to best meet their needs while simultaneously moving the curriculum over to an online format. Researchers from The State University of New York College at Old Westbury (SUNY-OW) discuss the challenges faced by students, the expectations of faculty, and introduce a series of propositions regarding how to best develop online etiquette in a world of virtual learning.

Reimagining higher education during and post-COVID-19: Challenges and opportunities

This is a paper that goes into detail regarding not only the challenges that exist in higher education but the case study of a university in Romania that responded to the problems that came about out of trying to adapt the educational curriculum to the ongoing pandemic. The decision was made to switch from a focus in face-to-face learning to online learning. The survey that studied the response to this initiative was done with 152 female university students who gave their opinion as to the challenges and advantages that came about because of online learning. The overall results showed satisfaction with this shift in the educational approach and the use of conferencing and other apps, as well as the flexibility in online learning. There were some fears as to how adequate online learning was in providing an education and how the school year would be affected by this shift. It showed that online learning was a capable tool but one that needed some improvement to be truly effective.

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