Transition in Learning
For almost four centuries now, students have been studying in-class, in-person, and doing their work on paper. Here, we want to focus on the rise of online education through virtual learning, the relation and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virtual Education
The accessibility to online classes has been around for over a decade, however, the rush to put most coursework and lectures online for higher education happened on the Spring of 2020. Classes met on virtual platforms, homework and exams are now on canvas websites, and even some laboratory work went online.
Transitioning from in-person work to web-based was a struggle for most college students, especially for those who have not taken an online course beforehand. A study conducted by Penrod et al. (2022) confirmed this statement by surveying 156 students.
This research article also discussed the key factors to student success when it comes to online learning, "...the ability to communicate, be self-motivated, be self-disciplined, ability to set a schedule, and actively engage with the instructors" (pp. 270-271).
Don't be discouraged or intimidated by trying to achieve all these characteristics, just do your best - You're doing great!
Covid-19 Effects
During the pandemic, a lockdown was initiated that closed schools, restaurants, fitness gyms, and many more non-essential establishments. This resulted in college students being unable to go out to socialize or stay active.
Increase in sedentary behavior happened due to confinement to their home and prolonged sitting for work and/or coursework. Online learning made it so that college students were at their desk, in front of their electronic devices for hours on end. The decrease in physical activity and the increase of sedentary behavior is not good for a person’s physical health. See our section on Sedentary Lifestyle for more information on this.
Throughout this lockdown, many peoples motivation to be active or exercise decreased tremendously. Specifically in college students, due to the limitations brought upon by COVID-19 which affected their “abilities to engage in sufficient amounts of physical activity was curtailed” (Chen & Lim, 2022).
Further in this article by Chen and Lim, they saw that after COVID-19 hit, college students reported a 16.34% decrease in physical activity per week (p. 5).
Check out our page for at-home workouts.
MENTAL HEALTH
Having to stay indoors all day due to both virtual learning and COVID-19, college students not only had a decrease in physical activity, but students started feeling a lot of stress and burnout. A literature review by Mheidly et al. (2020) explored this situation along with the relationship between mental health and telecommunication.
The review views stress as "...emotional, physical, or mental reaction that causes tension." (p. 2) and burnout as "a mental health state from work-related distress, involving a continuous reaction to persistent interpersonal stressors" (p. 2). It was seen that there was definite increase on burnout especially with extroverted individuals, while an increase in stress was more easily seen in introverts. Not to mention that the increase time usage of social media resulted in sleep deprivation and heightened depressive symptoms.
Since the pandemic also affected the economy, job termination and decrease in wages was prevalent throughout the nation. College students not only felt stress, burnout, and depression from staying indoors and coping with the transition to virtual education, but they also felt pressure and anxiety from worrying on how to provide for themselves throughout the pandemic (p. 3).
Coping Strategies
It is important to address your mental health struggles and we want to give you some ideas from Mheidly et al. (2020, p.4) to cope with it appropriately.
Meditation & Yoga
Taking time to just sit and meditate, focus on your mind and energy can help alleviate stress. We recommend a really good yoga video to try on our Workout page.
Take much-needed breaks
While working hard and studying take up your time, it is important that you take breaks in-between those long hours.
Find a community
It could be extremely challenging to just communicate online with your friends and family, but keeping personal connections can help you through tough times.