College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States

Laurie Murphy; Nina B. Eduljee; Karen Croteau

doi:10.29333/pr/8485

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Laurie Murphy ¹ ^* , Nina B. Eduljee ¹, Karen Croteau ¹

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¹ Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Standish, ME, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study examined undergraduate college students’ perceptions, general preferences, emotional responses, and comment themes with the transition to a virtual learning classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic from a college in the northeast United States. A total of 148 students (44 males, 104 females) completed an 18-item transition to virtual classes survey. Students indicated that their professors utilized the Learning Management System effectively with virtual coursework, and that their professors adapted and communicated changes in course content during the transition, while indicating their preferences that professors communicate changes in course syllabi or schedule in a timely manner, and that both course syllabi and grades be available on the Learning Management System. Students expressed negative emotions like uncertainty, anxiety, and nervousness when transitioning to virtual classes. Four open-ended questions generated six comment themes with students indicating the need for constant communication, the use of the learning management system, leveraging technology, instructor support, flexibility and characteristics, classroom engagement, and course management.

Keywords

undergraduate college students
virtual classes
learning management system
emotional responses
COVID-19
pandemic

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

PEDAGOGICAL RES, Volume 5, Issue 4, October 2020, Article No: em0078

https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

Publication date: 29 Aug 2020

Article Views: 7150

Article Downloads: 2739

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How to cite this article

APA

Murphy, L., Eduljee, N. B., & Croteau, K. (2020). College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

Vancouver

Murphy L, Eduljee NB, Croteau K. College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2020;5(4):em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

AMA

Murphy L, Eduljee NB, Croteau K. College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2020;5(4), em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

Chicago

Murphy, Laurie, Nina B. Eduljee, and Karen Croteau. "College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States". Pedagogical Research 2020 5 no. 4 (2020): em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

Harvard

Murphy, L., Eduljee, N. B., and Croteau, K. (2020). College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

MLA

Murphy, Laurie et al. "College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States". Pedagogical Research, vol. 5, no. 4, 2020, em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485