A Prince George political science class has found the move to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has had an overall negative impact on the quality of education and student’s ability to meet academic goals.
Students in POLS 320, a third-year program at UNBC studying Canadian Politics and Policy with instructor Jason Morris, conducted a survey between March 25 and April 12 targeting post-secondary students throughout northern B.C.
The online study received a total of 250 responses.
The majority of respondents felt that their education over the past year has been negatively affected, with 79.21 per cent stating their education has been much worse or somewhat worse.
Only 15 per cent of the participants experienced a positive transition to online learning.
“Going into the study, we had our own thoughts of what the survey might reveal based on our own experiences and opinions," explained student Brianna Stinson in a statement to PrinceGeorgeMatters.
"Some of the results were surprising, however. It was helpful that so many students participated, and it speaks to students’ really wanting their voices heard on the matter."
A full 64 per cent of respondents stated the pandemic and transition to online learning negatively affected their ability to meet their goals.
Only 16 per cent felt they were able to achieve their academic goals better during the pandemic, and around 20 per cent found their ability to meet their goals was unchanged.
However, the desire to go back to face-to-face learning was not as high as expected.
Almost 59 per cent of respondents stated they find returning to face-to-face learning to be desirable whereas 16 per cent feel neutral about returning. Just over 28 per cent of students did not support returning to face-to-face learning.
“We suspected that post-secondary students were affected but we wanted to know more fully, in what ways,” says political science student Devin Croin.
“Now that we have the results, it’s been a good opportunity for students of this class to get real-world experience on putting their ear to the ground and capturing what is happening to a community, in the moment. By taking the time to capture real data, we have moved beyond anecdotal discussions and gained a clearer picture of what is happening to the students.”
UNBC is currently planning for a safe return to campus for the fall 2021 semester.
