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Impact of COVID-19 on Education

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 27528

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Christos Malliarakis

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Informatics, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece
Interests: serious games; game development; augmented reality; learning analytics; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Katerina Tzafilkou

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Guest Editor

1. School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
2. SMILE Lab, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: technology enhanced learning; mobile game based learning; student emotions; distance education; face tracking; eye tracking; mouse tracking

Dr. Ioannis Kazanidis

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Guest Editor

Department of Computer Science, International Hellenic University, 570 01 Nea Moudania, Greece
Interests: educational technology; immersive technologies in education; learning analytics; serious games
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for a substantial transition in the way education is perceived, designed, and provided from early childhood to adulthood in recent years.

This Special Issue looks into the various ways that may be used in education to improve the ecosystem that allows students to learn how to think critically, solve issues, and communicate their ideas. This better approach must take into account how educators and education administrators can engage and contribute.

We welcome you to submit original research articles and reviews that address pertinent solutions for this Special Issue.

The following research fields may be considered (but are not limited to):

Effective usage of educational approaches for skill development and better performance.
Effective use of technology for student-centered learning.
Obstacles and constraints in efforts to improve education systems.
In education, effective assessment/evaluation procedures.
Effective training of educators to successfully reform education.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Christos Malliarakis
Dr. Katerina Tzafilkou
Dr. Ioannis Kazanidis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

COVID-19
transversal skills
learning analytics
artificial intelligence
student-centered learning
game based learning
serious games

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 552 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Online Learning and Experiences in Higher Education during COVID-19: A Systematic Review

by Liliana Pedraja-Rejas, Emilio Rodríguez-Ponce, Camila Muñoz-Fritis and David Laroze

Sustainability 2023, 15(21), 15583; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115583 - 3 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1029

Abstract

This paper aims to learn about Chilean teachers and students’ experiences and positions to understand how they coped with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article focuses on student engagement, virtual professional practices, and the difficulties teachers perceive. A review of articles published in Web of Science, Scopus, and SciELO is carried out to meet the objective. The results show different levels of behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement of students. Different complications were also identified in the realization of professional practices in virtual modality. The profound impacts that this area had on teacher training were mainly highlighted. Finally, university professors raised difficulties in five aspects: acceptance and use, domestic, technological, organizational, and with students. These findings provide several recommendations for the post-COVID-19 era, which can serve as a guide for policymakers, university managers, and academics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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20 pages, 575 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Drivers of Change for Future Learning: How Teachers Were Taught in the COVID-19 Crisis and What Will Come Next?

by Usama M. Ibrahem, Hussein M. Abdelfatah, Dalia M. Kedwany, Abdullah Z. AlMankory, Ibrahem M. Diab and Rabab A. Abdul Kader

Sustainability 2023, 15(20), 14766; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014766 - 11 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1030

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on education and resulted in huge changes. This research paper investigates on the factors driving change for future learning by studying the training of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis and their perceptions regarding the future of teaching. The study employed the methodology of opportunistic or emergent sampling to collect data from teachers aged 30–50 years who had experience in conducting online classes in different schools in KSA. The study suggests that effective virtual education depends on careful instructional design, audience consideration, and a systematic implementation model that produces various forms of teaching tailored to educational objectives. The research findings can guide future decisions about implementing online teaching, and the dimensions identified in this research can be compared with previous studies to derive key learning axes for future schools. The pandemic transition presents an opportunity to develop sustainable paradigms for future generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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24 pages, 5952 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Hybrid Framework of Deep Learning Techniques to Predict Online Performance of Learners during COVID-19 Pandemic

by Saud Altaf, Rimsha Asad, Shafiq Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mali Abdollahian and Mazen Zaindin

Sustainability 2023, 15(15), 11731; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511731 - 29 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1095

Abstract

COVID-19’s rapid spread has disrupted educational initiatives. Schools worldwide have been implementing more possibilities for distance learning because of the worldwide epidemic of the COVID-19 virus, and Pakistan is no exception. However, this has resulted in several problems for students, including reduced access to technology, apathy, and unstable internet connections. It has become more challenging due to the rapid change to evaluate students’ academic development in a remote setting. A hybrid deep learning approach has been presented to evaluate the effectiveness of online education in Pakistan’s fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. Through the use of multiple data sources, including the demographics of students, online activity, learning patterns, and assessment results, this study seeks to realize the goal of precision education. The proposed research makes use of a dataset of Pakistani learners that was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. To properly assess the complex and heterogeneous data associated with online learning, the proposed framework employs several deep learning techniques, including 1D Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. With the 98.8% accuracy rate for the trained model, it was clear that the deep learning framework could beat the performance of any other models currently in use. It has improved student performance assessment, which can inform tailored learning interventions and improve Pakistan’s online education. Finally, we compare the findings of this study to those of other, more established studies on evaluating student progress toward educational precision. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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15 pages, 412 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lessons Learned during COVID-19 and Future Perspectives for Emerging Technology

by Tiziana Guzzo, Fernando Ferri and Patrizia Grifoni

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10747; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410747 - 8 Jul 2023

Viewed by 2113

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to the education sector, forcing schools at a worldwide level to quickly adapt their activities to remote learning. Despite the obstacles and challenges, the pandemic also represented an opportunity for reflection and innovation in education. A survey with 558 teachers from primary and middle schools in several regions of Italy was carried out to analyse challenges and lessons learned by Italian schools, aiming to improve the quality of digital education. The lessons learned highlighted the importance of developing strategies to address challenges such as the necessary infrastructure, digital skills, student engagement, collaboration, and personalised online learning. On the one hand, government-initiated interventions, like the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, aim to bridge the digital divide and improve education quality. On the other hand, the potentialities of immersive technologies like the Metaverse can provide exciting opportunities for interactive and engaging learning experiences, encouraging interaction and collaboration among students. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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17 pages, 2720 KiB

Open AccessArticle

COVID-19, Didactic Practices, and Representations Assumed by Preservice Teachers at Universidad Técnica del Norte-Ecuador

by Frank Guerra-Reyes, Miguel Naranjo-Toro, Andrea Basantes-Andrade, Eric Guerra-Davila and Andrés Benavides-Piedra

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 4770; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15064770 - 8 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1994

Abstract

As an alternative for university students to continue their professional training during the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions implemented virtual learning modalities. In this context, it was proposed to determine the social representations assumed by university students who are pursuing their studies as future educators. It is presumed that representations related to didactic practices are composed of content (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) and organization (central core and representational system). This is an ethnographic study, with an available nonprobabilistic sample of 227 students from the primary education major at Universidad Técnica del Norte. Verbal association techniques and documentary research were used for information collection. To analyze the data, the IRaMuTeQ software (R interface for texts and questionnaire multidimensional analysis) was used. Two types of analyses were conducted: hierarchical classification and factorial correspondence. In conclusion, a virtuality with difficulties and a careful and responsible face-to-face modality are expressed as meanings associated to the representations, both of which require qualitative changes. Regarding the organization, didactic practice complementarity is assumed to be integrated in a hybrid learning modality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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15 pages, 930 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Satisfaction with Online Study Abroad Predicted by Motivation and Self-Efficacy: A Perspective Based on the Situated Expectancy–Value Theory during the COVID-19 Epidemic

by Yu Sun, Jon-Chao Hong, Jian-Hong Ye and Jhen-Ni Ye

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4070; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054070 - 23 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1949

Abstract

Due to the globalization of the economy, studying abroad has been widely recognized as bringing many benefits to students. However, the closure of campuses and borders around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, has brought about significant changes in studying abroad as learning has moved online. In the context of emergency management, a new way of studying online has arisen. Despite this change, few studies have focused on the value perception of and satisfaction with online study abroad (OSA) in the context of the pandemic or have focused on students enrolled in overseas universities. To address this gap, this study proposed six research hypotheses and a hypothesis model based on the situated expectancy-value theory. The study used the snowballing technique to survey Chinese university faculty members who had studied online at overseas universities during the pandemic. A total of 481 valid data were collected, including 214 (44.5%) male and 267 (55.5%) female respondents. The data were then confirmed to have reliability and validity, and the research model was tested. Results indicated that all of the research hypotheses were supported. More specifically, the perceived value of OSA can be positively predicted by academic and career self-efficacy. Academic and career self-efficacy can be positively predicted by OSA motivation. The perceived value of OSA is positively related to satisfaction with OSA. This shows that promoting satisfaction with OSA for international students is a feasible international education program when international mobility is not possible in particular situations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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18 pages, 702 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Analysis of Factors Influencing the Intention to Use “Untact” Services by Service Type

by Hyunsuk Liu, Changjun Lee, Keungoui Kim, Junmin Lee, Ahram Moon, Daeho Lee and Myeongjun Park

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 2870; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15042870 - 5 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1463

Abstract

Since COVID-19, social distancing has become common, and the demand for untact services has increased rapidly, resulting in an economic phenomenon centered on untact worldwide. Due to social distancing, the untact service area is expanding not only to shopping but also to online learning, home training, and telemedicine, and untact services are expected to expand to more diverse areas in the future. This study investigates four types of untact services: online lectures, online meetings related to work and study, online seminars, and online performances, and the effects of concerns about untact services on the intention of use have been examined using a path analysis model. As a result of the analysis, the perceived usefulness had a positive effect on the user’s continuous intention to use untact services. However, depending on the type of untact service, it can be confirmed that the factors that affect the intention to continue using the service differ from each other. Practitioners can use the results of this study when designing untact services in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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22 pages, 17530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Achieving Personalized Precision Education Using the Catboost Model during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period in Pakistan

by Rimsha Asad, Saud Altaf, Shafiq Ahmad, Adamali Shah Noor Mohamed, Shamsul Huda and Sofia Iqbal

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2714; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032714 - 2 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1650

Abstract

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to physical education on campus became difficult for everyone. Therefore, students and universities have been compelled to transition from in-person to online education. During this pandemic, online education, the use of unfamiliar digital learning tools, the lack of internet access, and the communication barriers between teachers and students made precision education more difficult. Customizing models from previous studies that only consider a single course in order to make a prediction reduces the predictive power of the model because it only considers a small subset of the attributes of each possible course. Due to a lack of data for each course, overfitting often occurs. It is challenging to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the student’s participation during the semester system or in a broader context. In this paper, a model that is flexible and more generalizable is developed to address these issues. This model resolves the problem of generalized models and overfitting by using a large number of responses from college and university students as a dataset that considered a broader range of attributes, regardless of course differences. CatBoost, an advanced type of gradient boosting algorithm, was used to conduct this research, and enabled the developed model to perform effectively and produce accurate results. The model achieved a 96.8% degree of accuracy. Finally, a comparison was made with other related work to demonstrate the concept, and the experimental results proved that the Catboost model is a viable, accurate predictor of students’ performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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11 pages, 734 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Extensive Questionnaire about Metacognition during Emergency Remote Teaching Involving More Than 3000 Engineering Students

by Roberto Mazzola, Matteo Bozzi, Italo Testa, Susanna Sancassani and Maurizio Zani

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2295; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032295 - 26 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1546

Abstract

By 11 March 2020, the phrase “COVID-19” had officially entered everyday life across most of the word. Each level of education suddenly faced new changes and new challenges. Emergency remote teaching became widespread, and new methodologies to deliver classes and courses were adopted by educational institutions. In this paper, we focus on the impact of the remote learning experience of engineering students enrolled at the Politecnico di Milano. The subjects were recruited from all engineering courses from the first to the fifth year and were asked to complete a multidimensional survey. The survey featured 66 items regarding the participants’ perceptions of the challenges of emergency remote teaching compared with pre-COVID-19 in-person teaching. The questionnaire addressed six dimensions: the organization of emergency remote teaching, subjective well-being, metacognition, self-efficacy, identity, and socio-demographic information. In this paper, we describe the entire survey and discuss a preliminary analysis. Using Cronbach’s alpha test, a confirmatory factor analysis, and the t-test, we performed a more in-depth analysis concerning the outcomes of metacognition and self-efficacy. The data analysis suggested a small, unexpected change in the metacognition strategies. The students, in some regards, improved their learning strategies. Some other answers underlined their appreciation of the courses’ organization and the lack of relationships with their peers and teachers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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24 pages, 5434 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative and Predictive Analysis of Electrical Consumption during Pre- and Pandemic Periods: Case Study for Romanian Universities

by Paul Cristian Andrei, Marilena Stanculescu, Horia Andrei, Ion Caciula, Emil Diaconu, Nicu Bizon, Alin Gheorghita Mazare, Laurentiu Mihai Ionescu and Marian Gaiceanu

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11346; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811346 - 9 Sep 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1324

Abstract

The pandemic period was caused by COVID-19 and it has been an unprecedented event in the last 100 years of human history. Regarding universities, major changes have occurred both in the online method of education as well as in the patterns of their electrical consumption, respective of both students’ and teachers’ residential electrical consumption. The focus of this research is to conduct and assess a comparative analysis of universities’ electrical consumption during the pre- and pandemic periods. Polynomial regression is used to model the electrical consumption of four Romanian universities during the period 2019–2021. Also, this study proposes a method for predicting the electrical consumption of universities in three months of 2021, compared to that of the same months in 2020. The data analysis shows that the electrical consumption had decreased between 20.6% and 36.29% in the pandemic period of 2020 compared to that of 2019. Additionally, this study evaluates the electrical consumption of universities due to their use of computers, which represents an important percentage of the total consumption; this was between 11.28% and 60.5% in the pre-pandemic year 2019, but this was substantially reduced in 2020, to be between 57.13% and 77.27%. Based on the data that has been provided by students and teachers, the calculated values show that the electrical residential consumption increased by about 20 kWh per month and per computer unit during the pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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12 pages, 1125 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Affecting Undergraduates’ Academic Performance during COVID-19: Fear, Stress and Teacher-Parents’ Support

by Nor Aishah Abdullah, Nurulaini Abu Shamsi, Hashem Salarzadeh Jenatabadi, Boon-Kwee Ng and Khairul Anam Che Mentri

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7694; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137694 - 24 Jun 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5741

Abstract

The emergency transition from physical to online learning during COVID-19 has affected university students in various aspects, especially their academic performance. It can be caused by many factors, such as individual, environmental and social factors. Therefore, this study aims to determine the impact of fear, stress, well-being, teacher and parents’ support (independent variables) on undergraduates’ academic performance (dependent variable) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A structured online questionnaire has been developed and administered to 400 undergraduates. A structural equation model that integrated all variables under investigation was built and statistically validated using AMOS. The results demonstrated that well-being, teacher emotional support and teacher academic support have the highest significant impact on the respondents’ academic performance. It can be concluded that teachers’ support is the most substantial influence in ensuring student learning sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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Review

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23 pages, 2886 KiB

Open AccessReview

You Can Handle, You Can Teach It: Systematic Review on the Use of Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Online Higher Education

by Gizéh Rangel-de Lázaro and Josep M. Duart

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3507; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043507 - 14 Feb 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4596

Abstract

Over the past year, defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed a boom in applying key emerging technologies in education. In such challenging situations, technology and education expanded their work together to strengthen and interactively impact the learning process in the online higher education context. From a pedagogical perspective, extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) were accessible toolboxes to amplify an active and learner-centered teaching method. Whether and how such activities will continue in a post-COVID-19 situation remains unclear. In this systematic literature review, we document the application of XR and AI in online higher education settings and build up an accurate depiction of their influence after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. A significant contribution of the thorough analysis conducted was the corroboration of the growing interest of these fast-emerging technologies and their impact on learner agency and outcomes, making online education more accessible, effective, engaging, collaborative, self-paced, and adapted to the diverse academic trajectories. The momentum brought about by the pandemic has served as an impulse for educators and universities to expand the use of these technologies progressively, meet new challenges, and shape the future of online higher education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of COVID-19 on Education)

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