Siew-Chen Sim, Siew-Wei Gan, Yu-Hoe Tang, Vengadeshvaran J. Sarma
{"title":"Learning experience during the pandemic: perspectives of foundation students","authors":"Siew-Chen Sim, Siew-Wei Gan, Yu-Hoe Tang, Vengadeshvaran J. Sarma","doi":"10.1080/0309877x.2023.2251914","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis study examines the learning experiences including academic performance and assessments of Foundation students at a British University’s campus in Malaysia during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A focus on foundation students is important because First-Year Experience is crucial to their academic success in higher education. Using a mixed methods approach to enrich our study, we triangulate data from focus group interviews, a structured survey, and student performance – from two cohorts of students. One group transitioned from physical to online learning while the other group had their learning entirely online. The findings reveal challenges they faced as a result of the abrupt change to online learning, their adaptation and mitigation strategies and their responses to online assessments. Findings from this study show that many students struggled with synchronous learning and found it difficult to focus or attend synchronous classes due to a lack of conducive learning environment or technological challenges. Interestingly, students’ performance did not vary between cohorts that joined pre-pandemic and during the pandemic; across quantitative and qualitative modules, even though additional time allowance was allocated for online assessments. These findings are important for us to provide recommendations to improve existing institutional frameworks and strategies necessary to enhance support for student learning experience during times of crisis.KEYWORDS: COVID-19learning disruptiononline learningfoundation yearMalaysia Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. O-level equivalent/SPM certificate refers to qualification obtained upon successful completion of 11 years of education.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the CELFE Small Grant Scheme [002].","PeriodicalId":47389,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2023.2251914","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study examines the learning experiences including academic performance and assessments of Foundation students at a British University’s campus in Malaysia during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A focus on foundation students is important because First-Year Experience is crucial to their academic success in higher education. Using a mixed methods approach to enrich our study, we triangulate data from focus group interviews, a structured survey, and student performance – from two cohorts of students. One group transitioned from physical to online learning while the other group had their learning entirely online. The findings reveal challenges they faced as a result of the abrupt change to online learning, their adaptation and mitigation strategies and their responses to online assessments. Findings from this study show that many students struggled with synchronous learning and found it difficult to focus or attend synchronous classes due to a lack of conducive learning environment or technological challenges. Interestingly, students’ performance did not vary between cohorts that joined pre-pandemic and during the pandemic; across quantitative and qualitative modules, even though additional time allowance was allocated for online assessments. These findings are important for us to provide recommendations to improve existing institutional frameworks and strategies necessary to enhance support for student learning experience during times of crisis.KEYWORDS: COVID-19learning disruptiononline learningfoundation yearMalaysia Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. O-level equivalent/SPM certificate refers to qualification obtained upon successful completion of 11 years of education.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the CELFE Small Grant Scheme [002].
期刊介绍:
Journal of Further and Higher Education is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly work that represents the whole field of post-16 education and training. The journal engages with a diverse range of topics within the field including management and administration, teacher education and training, curriculum, staff and institutional development, and teaching and learning strategies and processes. Through encouraging engagement with and around policy, contemporary pedagogic issues and professional concerns within different educational systems around the globe, Journal of Further and Higher Education is committed to promoting excellence by providing a forum for scholarly debate and evaluation. Articles that are accepted for publication probe and offer original insights in an accessible, succinct style, and debate and critique practice, research, theory. They offer informed perspectives on contextual and professional matters and critically examine the relationship between theory and practice across the spectrum of further and higher education.