IMPACTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON DISTANCE LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis has affected all areas of society, including education, resulting in the suspension of face-to-face classes at schools and universities, affecting more than 90% of students worldwide. This study aims to describe some impacts of the pandemic on the lives of Distance Learning (DE) students in higher education. This is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, in which the participants were students enrolled in the final semester of Chemistry Undergraduate Course at Instituto Federal do Maranhão (IFMA). The results obtained showed that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the performance in completing the course activities within the deadline decreased. In the participant survey, 61% of the responding students indicated that they had better study time before the pandemic, dropping to 17% during the pandemic. Sleeping time dropped from 53%, before the pandemic, to 6% during the pandemic. It was found that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that showed the highest increase in use during the pandemic were videoconferences (56%) and chats (28%). Regarding the feelings experienced, 64% of the participants felt unmotivated in relation to the course during the pandemic, 42% experienced stress; 58% anxiety; and 42% reported being unable to maintain focus. It is expected that this research can contribute by enriching the current literature with new knowledge. Hopefully, this research can contribute to the current literature by enriching it with new information.