RAPID: Impacts of COVID-19 Out-of-School Stressors on Executive Function and E- Learning

在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间，学生们不仅面临健康问题，还面临与环境强制性变化相关的其他压力因素。其中包括大学参与和学习几乎完全依赖于技术，获得同伴和社会支持网络的机会发生了变化，工作空间发生了变化，以及可能出现的财务不确定性。在这个许多动荡的时刻，这个项目将收集数据，以了解随着大学转向在线教学，美国本科生的压力经历可能会如何影响他们的学习能力。众所周知，在最好的情况下，通过在线教学进行高质量的学习是具有挑战性的；这些困难可能会因为大学生们现在所承受的巨大压力而加剧。以一所多元化、少数族裔服务的公立四年制大学本科生的经历为重点，收集的数据将评估压力源类型与学生使用电子学习技术学习之间的关系。随着疫情的持续，立即收集这些信息对于支持学生至关重要。结果将对改善教学基础设施和实践产生广泛影响，以更好地支持学生在这些紧张时期的学习。此外，这些知识将有助于高校制定有效的策略来满足学生的需求。执行功能（EFs）是成功学习的关键；这些是控制注意力的认知资源，使学生能够处理复杂的想法，并在脑海中保存信息。当学生处于压力下时，ef会被课税，导致外部关注或环境警惕对言语工作记忆的负荷增加。这意味着，经历高水平压力的学生将有更少的EF资源来扩展他们的学习，由于缺乏对电子学习的熟悉，可能会变得更具挑战性。将进行两项时间敏感的实地研究，以收集有关美国一所少数族裔公立四年制大学的本科生在疫情期间面临的压力类型的信息。目的是评估不同压力源（或其组合）对学习的相对影响，以便最好地设计干预措施以减轻破坏性影响。两种理论驱动的方法将被评估为对抗潜在不利压力影响的手段：1)作为执行功能的关键方面的注意力管理，以及2)学习过程中情绪的管理和调节。除了我们对压力如何影响学生学习的理解取得进展外，该项目的研究结果还将有助于为正在进行的COVID-19大流行期间提供的电子学习课程的机构应对和教学设计提供信息。更一般地说，这项工作将告知该领域在未来应用中改进电子学习的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, students are not only facing health concerns, but also other stressors tied to mandated changes in their environments. These include a near-complete reliance on technology for college participation and learning, changes in access to peers and social support networks, changes in works-spaces and possible financial uncertainties. At this juncture of many upheavals, this project will collect data to understand how U.S. undergraduates’ experiences of stress may be impacting their ability to learn as universities switch to on-line instruction. High quality learning through online instruction is known to be challenging in the best of times; these difficulties are likely to be exacerbated by the myriad stresses that undergraduates are experiencing now. Focusing on the experiences of undergraduates at a diverse, minority-serving public four-year college, the data collected will assess the relationships between types of stressors, and student learning using e-learning techniques. Gathering this information immediately will be crucial to supporting students as the pandemic continues. Results will have broad impact on improving instructional infrastructure and practices to better support student learning in these stressful times. Moreover, this knowledge will be useful to colleges and universities in the development of effective strategies to meet their students’ needs. Executive Functions (EFs) are crucial to successful learning; these are cognitive resources that control attention, allow students to grapple with complex ideas and hold information in mind. EFs are taxed when students are under stress, leading to increased load on verbal working memory from external concerns or environmental vigilance. The implication is that students experiencing high levels of stress will have fewer EF resources to extend to their learning, potentially made more challenging by lack of familiarity with e-learning. Two time-sensitive field studies will be conducted to gather information about the types of stressors that U.S. undergraduates in a minority-serving public four-year college are facing during the pandemic. The goal is to assess the relative impacts of different stressors (or their combinations) on learning, in order to best design interventions to mitigate damaging effects. Two theory-driven approaches will be assessed as means to counter potential adverse stress impacts: 1) management of attention as a key aspect of executive function, and 2) management and regulation of emotions during learning. In addition to advances in our understanding of how stress affects student learning, findings of this project will help inform institutional responses and instructional design for e-learning courses offered during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. More generally, the work will inform the field’s ability to improve e-learning in future applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.