Confidence in Crisis: Student Self-Efficacy and the Online Pivot

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak required a pivot to remote education mid-semester. Instructors and students alike were forced to adjust to the online platform even though many lacked the training or interest to do so. This qualitative study focused on the following research question: How did satellite campus students from a university in the United States perceive their educational experience was affected by the alternative educational offerings put into place during the COVID-19 campus closure of March 2020? The results suggest that students (n = 106) perceived barriers would affect their educational experiences. All of the barriers, including barriers to social presence and decreased self-regulation, were driven by one central theme: low self-efficacy. Students believed that online instruction would result in decreased social presence and an inability to self-regulate. To tailor effective approaches to online learning in the future, we must give instructors the tools they need to not only move materials online but also enhance student self-efficacy.

“The best year” / “I struggled with everything”: Widening participation experiences of pandemic online learning

“…Reilly et al (2021) found that WP students were less confident about asking their instructors for help as compared to their peers, which aligns with MacKay et al's (2021) work on WP students using lecture capture to help navigate asking for help. In context of covid, self-efficacy may have suffered from having fewer opportunities to experience vicarious success due to reduced interaction with peers (whether real or imagined), as well as a more negative emotional state (Garner et al, 2022). Students from disadvantaged backgrounds and minority groups report lower self-efficacy (Satici & Can, 2016) and so taken together, there is evidence to support the idea that the WP experience of online learning during covid may have compounded the challenges these students face.…”