RAPID: Measuring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on STEM Student Engagement and Learning in Online Learning Environments

COVID-19大流行导致本科教育突然前所未有地转向在线学习。 教师和学生，其中许多人有有限的经验，教学和学习在线，突然沉浸在一个完全虚拟的学习经验。 这种转变伴随着学生的日常活动，社会交往和就业机会的严重限制。 鉴于目前系统的中断是暂时性的，迫切需要收集和分析所需的数据，以了解疫情对本科生的影响。 为此，本项目将研究疫情对本科生情绪健康、日常运作和学习的直接和长期影响。 该研究旨在提供关于中断如何影响学习者的压力，参与度和学习成果的见解，无论是在在线学习体验期间，还是在返回到类似于中断之前的学习条件期间。 该项目的结果将有助于高等教育机构和决策者制定战略，以减轻当前流行病对学生学习的影响，并计划应对未来的干扰。 该项目的目标是了解大流行对本科STEM学生的情绪状态（如压力，焦虑，抑郁症状和挫折感），日常生活（如社交孤立，久坐，进入户外环境和接近疫情热点）以及学习参与度和结果的纵向和动态影响。 将利用心理调查、访谈、基于计算机视觉的分析和可穿戴传感器等信息，评估疫情期间和之后学生日常功能和情绪状态的波动。 学习成果将通过学习成绩和自我评价进行评估。 对所得数据进行定量和定性分析，以了解日常生活中断对学生情绪状态和学习成果的影响。 该项目旨在促进STEM教育界对教育系统中断与学生学习之间关系的理解，并可能揭示在危机严重阶段期间和之后促进学生恢复力的特征。 该奖项由本科教育部（教育和人力资源局）的改进本科STEM教育计划颁发，使用冠状病毒援助，救济和经济安全（CARES）法案的资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sudden and unprecedented shift of undergraduate education to online learning. Instructors and students, many of whom have limited experience teaching and learning online, have suddenly been immersed in an exclusively virtual learning experience. This shift has been accompanied by drastic limitations in students’ daily activities, social interactions, and job opportunities. Given that the current disruption in the system is transient in nature, it is urgent to collect and analyze the data needed to understand the impact of the pandemic on undergraduate students. To this end, this project will examine the immediate and long-term impacts of the pandemic on undergraduate students’ emotional well-being, day-to-day functioning, and learning. The study aims to provide insights on how disruptions can affect learners’ stress, engagement, and learning outcomes both during the online learning experience and during the return to learning conditions that are similar to those prior to the disruption. Results from this project will help inform higher-education institutions and policymakers as they develop strategies to mitigate the effects on student learning resulting from the current pandemic and to plan responses for future disruptions. The goal of this project is to understand the longitudinal and dynamic impact of the pandemic on undergraduate STEM students’ emotional states (such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and frustration), day-to-day life (such as social isolation, sedentariness, access to outdoor environments, and proximity to outbreak hotspots), and learning engagement and outcomes. Fluctuations in students’ day-to-day functions and emotional states will be evaluated during and after the pandemic, using information from psychological surveys, interviews, computer vision-based analytics, and wearable sensors. Learning outcomes will be assessed using grades and self-evaluation of learning. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the resulting data will be used to understand the effects of the disruptions in daily life on students’ emotional states and learning outcomes. This project aims to advance the STEM education community’s understanding of the relationship between disruptions in the education system and student learning, and potentially reveal characteristics that promote resilience of students during and following the acute stages of a crisis. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Education and Human Resources Directorate), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.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.