"I Lost Track of Things": Student Experiences of Remote Learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in the beginning of 2020, which forced many educational institutions to shift their classroom-based or face-to-face courses to remote or online mode. Students, instructors and institutions had little time to prepare for this sudden, unanticipated shift. Students who prefer learning face-to-face with instructor in a classroom are more likely to face challenges in learning remotely. To understand the experiences of such students, the author conducted a pilot survey of students whose face-to-face courses were moved to remote learning. This paper reports on the results of the analysis of participant responses. Participants experienced a mix of benefits and challenges due to the unanticipated move to remote learning. Based on the findings, this paper makes some suggestions on the design of remote learning.