The Perception of the Online Teaching Process during the COVID-19 Pandemic for the Students of the Physical Education and Sports Domain

Abstract

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic required the implementation of special measures to ensure the continuity and quality of teaching in higher education. The study presented here aims to identify the differences of opinion between the age categories of students in the first year of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports in Galati, Romania, regarding teaching, learning and assessment activities on online platforms. A total of 147 students divided into three age groups (under 20 years, 20–30 years and over 30 years) filled out a questionnaire composed of items with closed and free answers, structured on four factors (attractiveness, accessibility, motivation and efficiency), after participating in the online teaching and evaluation act during the first semester of the academic year 2020–2021. Multivariate and univariate tests were applied, identifying the influence of the independent age variable on the dependent variables (aspects measured by the items of the questionnaire). Values were obtained at significant thresholds of F for some of the investigated aspects: boredom induced by online activities, stress value, participation, involvement, motivation and adaptation to the online program, usefulness and quality of teaching process, value of professional training and involvement in disruptive activities. The analysis of the differences between the average scores of the items for the pairs formed by age categories highlighted insignificant values between those under 20 and those aged 20–30, but multiple significant differences between the group of those over 30 and the other two groups. The centralization of free answers by environment (rural and urban) identified the advantages perceived by the students about the online activities (increasing the amount of free time, low financial costs, high accessibility, personal learning pace), the reported disadvantages (technical problems, low concentration, poor socialization) and contradictory proposals to improve activities (continuing online, returning to classical teaching, simplifying the subject, using video materials, involving all students in activities). The paper aims to evaluate the performance of teaching activities performed in the first year of study for the students of physical education and sports, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, involving questionnaires validated by the specialty center at the university. The analysis of the results highlighted a series of extremely important aspects that have a role in the future design of activities and courses.

Criteria for Teaching Performance in Psychology: Invariance According to Age, Sex, and Academic Stage of Peruvian Students

“…One aspect to keep in mind is that these five teaching performance criteria refer to the didactic competencies that teachers display in their interaction with students in class or in practice, and these can be evaluated differently according to the stage of advancement in the professional training of the student being evaluated. The data from this study regarding differences by stage or academic cycle coincide with findings reported in studies on student evaluation, teaching and teacher performance in the context of higher education (Marsh and Hocevar, 1984;Kamran et al, 2012;Kalender, 2015;Müller et al, 2017;Kitto et al, 2019;Mocanu et al, 2021;Pérez-Villalobos et al, 2021). Furthermore, these differences in student perception may be related to student expectations and prior interest (van de Grift et al, 2016;Feistauer and Richter, 2018).…”

“…A second hypothesis was the existence of significant differences in the evaluation of the didactic performance of the teacher, according to sex, age groups, and academic level (stage) of the psychology students. To date, little is known about possible differences according to the age of the student body in the appraisal of teaching in the context of University education, but differences in students' appraisal of teaching according to their level of advancement in their studies have been reported (Marsh and Hocevar, 1984;Kamran et al, 2012;Kalender, 2015;Müller et al, 2017;Kitto et al, 2019;Mocanu et al, 2021;Pérez-Villalobos et al, 2021). Similarly, differences have been reported according to the gender of the student body, with respect to the students' assessment of teaching and the performance of their teachers, in the context of higher education (Boring, 2015;Boring et al, 2016;Potvin and Hazari, 2016;Eouanzoui and Jones, 2017;Heffernan, 2021;Kreitzer and Sweet-Cushman, 2021;Valencia, 2021).…”

Investigating the Attitudes of First-Year Students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports of Galati towards Online Teaching Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The confidence interval was set at 95% (p < 0.05). For reasons related to the multitude of data obtained from statistical processing, the present paper does not present the influence of the age variable on the opinions expressed or the centralization and interpretation of the answers to open questions, these last 2 aspects being already published in the previous study [37].…”

Teaching Style, Coping Strategies, Stress and Social Support: Associations to the Medical Students’ Perception of Learning during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

“…The use of the cross-sectional design was preferred, given the various profiles of students' exposure, across different classes and study years, to the three types of teaching taken into consideration in the study. Moreover, the cross-sectional design was successfully used in previous literature on the same theme [43], including in Romania [54,55].…”