RAPID: Psychosocial Determinants of Successful Remote Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study of Promoters and Barriers faced by HBCU Students

RAPID：Covid-19 大流行期间成功远程学习的社会心理决定因素：HBCU 学生面临的推动者和障碍的研究

• 批准号: 2033926
• 负责人: Adrienne Morgan
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-15 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2033926&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Psychosocial; Determinants; Successful; Remote

The unprecedented and fast evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted STEM education, negatively impacting students’ persistence and success. Social aspects of race and class predict health and education outcomes. Public health crises, like COVID-19, disproportionately impact African Americans (AAs), lower income Americans, and individuals with psychosocial risk factors. This disparate impact has been linked to poor baseline health and environmental factors that make it difficult to adhere to social distancing orders. National education-related disparities show similar patterns across sociodemographic groups. Low-income college students have unequal access to computers, electronic devices, and internet service. They also encounter, higher instances of barriers, such as family violence and hunger, and greater concerns around stress and coping. At North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T), the nation’s largest Historically Black College and University (HBCU), over 1,700 students failed to show up for classes when COVID-19 forced transition of all classes to online instruction modes in March 2020, placing them at risk for dropping out of college or extending their time in school; an additional financial burden. Furthermore, many of the students at HBCUs work part-time while attending school, mostly in the essential services sector. This places them at greater risk for exposure to COVID-19, exacerbating their anxieties and stress levels. A multidisciplinary team of investigators from NC A&T seeks to understand the risk factors for these college students and use the information to develop effective interventions to prevent disruptions in remote learning success in preparation for fall 2020 and subsequent semesters. This is critical because resumption of classes using “normal” face-to-face formats is unlikely to happen until a drug or vaccine for COVID-19 is developed, a scenario that could take years. If the barriers to online and remote learning are not addressed, these students will literally be left behind. This study seeks to highlight the extent to which psychosocial risk factors, including poor access to technology resources, related to the current COVID-19 pandemic and extenuating circumstances are having an impact on student learning outcomes. To better understand the correlations between psychosocial risk factors and remote learning success in times of crisis, this study will utilize a mixed-methods approach for students at NC A&T. An online survey will be administered to collect data on various metrics: sociodemographic characteristics, experience with COVID-19, attitudes and behaviors in response to COVID-19, perceived stress and coping, depression, family violence perpetration and victimization, food insecurity and self-efficacy, and familiarity with computers and technology. This will be followed by interviews with randomly selected survey respondents to contextualize quantitative findings and uncover additional barriers and promoters. Survey data will be analyzed using regression modeling, and interview data will be analyzed using content analyses. The survey and interview data will be triangulated by comparing and contrasting findings to develop a comprehensive understanding of psychosocial risk factors that impact remote learning success. The outcomes will inform development of a mobile Application (App) to engage these students and connect them to resources needed to sustain their learning in these disruptive conditions. Findings from this study will produce new knowledge regarding psychosocial determinants of successful remote learning during a critical disruption in the academic journey. As the nation’s largest HBCU and top producer of African American STEM undergraduates, NC A&T is positioned to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted vulnerable students and develop suitable interventions for academic success. This work will inform future policy and development of prevention strategies so that institutions are better prepared for future pandemics that make remote and online learning necessary for all students. This work will produce insights that may be applied more generally to how HBCU students’ and students from similar backgrounds transition to online learning. This research will aid intervention development by identifying factors impacting student success under extreme disruptive conditions.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.

新型冠状病毒疫情史无前例且迅速演变，扰乱了STEM教育，对学生的坚持和成功造成负面影响。种族和阶级的社会方面可以预测健康和教育结果。 公共卫生危机，如COVID-19，对非洲裔美国人（AAs），低收入美国人和具有心理社会风险因素的个人的影响不成比例。这种不同的影响与基线健康和环境因素有关，这些因素使人们难以遵守社交距离命令。在社会人口群体中，与国家教育有关的差异显示出类似的模式。低收入家庭的大学生在使用电脑、电子设备和互联网服务方面存在不平等。他们还遇到更高的障碍，如家庭暴力和饥饿，以及对压力和应对的更大担忧。在全国最大的黑人历史学院和大学（HBCU）北卡罗来纳州AT州立大学（NC A T），当2020年3月COVID-19迫使所有课程过渡到在线教学模式时，有超过1，700名学生未能上课，使他们面临辍学或延长在校时间的风险;这是一个额外的经济负担。此外，HBCUs的许多学生在上学时兼职，主要是在基本服务部门。这使他们面临更大的COVID-19风险，加剧了他们的焦虑和压力水平。来自NC A T的多学科研究人员团队试图了解这些大学生的风险因素，并利用这些信息制定有效的干预措施，以防止远程学习成功中断，为2020年秋季和随后的学期做准备。这一点至关重要，因为在开发出COVID-19药物或疫苗之前，恢复使用“正常”面对面形式的课程不太可能发生，这种情况可能需要数年时间。如果在线和远程学习的障碍得不到解决，这些学生实际上将被抛在后面。这项研究旨在强调与当前COVID-19大流行和情有可原的情况有关的心理社会风险因素（包括难以获得技术资源）对学生学习成果的影响程度。为了更好地了解危机时期心理社会风险因素与远程学习成功之间的相关性，本研究将采用混合方法对NC AT的学生进行研究。本集团将进行网上调查，以收集有关各种指标的数据：社会人口特征、对COVID-19的经验、应对COVID-19的态度及行为、感知压力及应对、抑郁、家庭暴力实施及受害、食物不安全及自我效能，以及对电脑及科技的熟悉程度。随后将与随机选择的调查受访者进行访谈，以了解定量结果的背景，并发现其他障碍和促进因素。调查数据将使用回归模型进行分析，访谈数据将使用内容分析进行分析。调查和采访数据将通过比较和对比调查结果进行三角测量，以全面了解影响远程学习成功的心理社会风险因素。结果将告知一个移动的应用程序（App）的开发，以吸引这些学生，并将他们连接到在这些破坏性条件下维持学习所需的资源。这项研究的结果将产生新的知识，成功的远程学习的心理社会因素在学术旅程的关键中断。作为全国最大的HBCU和非洲裔美国人STEM本科生的顶级生产商，NC A T的定位是评估COVID-19大流行如何影响弱势学生，并制定适当的干预措施以取得学业成功。这项工作将为未来的政策和预防战略的制定提供信息，以便各机构为未来的流行病做好更好的准备，使所有学生都有必要进行远程和在线学习。这项工作将产生的见解，可以更普遍地适用于HBCU学生和来自类似背景的学生如何过渡到在线学习。这项研究将通过确定在极端破坏性条件下影响学生成功的因素来帮助干预发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。