Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful

In a world changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 universities had to completely rethink and immediately transform their teaching to a fully online setting. As a result, students had to learn from home and organize their learning by themselves. In a natural experiment, data about learning process...

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Main Authors: Florian Berens, Sebastian Hobert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1549202/full
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author Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Sebastian Hobert
Sebastian Hobert
author_facet Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Sebastian Hobert
Sebastian Hobert
author_sort Florian Berens
collection DOAJ
description In a world changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 universities had to completely rethink and immediately transform their teaching to a fully online setting. As a result, students had to learn from home and organize their learning by themselves. In a natural experiment, data about learning processes indicate that students learned more engaged and achieved higher learning success in this new situation compared to the traditional learning process. However, the students experienced a three-fold isolation: (1) physical isolation, (2) social isolation, and (3) learning isolation, which resulted in a stressful learning experience. In conclusion, these affective challenges indicate that this exceptional learning setting should not be normalized, even though positive outcomes were achieved during COVID-19. Beyond the situation in the pandemic, it can be deduced that students who learn at a distance need additional support to not (only) learn in isolation.
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spelling doaj-art-dcaf246ca9974d8fbad4885077ac740b2025-08-20T02:26:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2025-05-011010.3389/feduc.2025.15492021549202Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successfulFlorian Berens0Florian Berens1Florian Berens2Sebastian Hobert3Sebastian Hobert4Center of Methods in the Social Sciences, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, GermanyCampus Institute Data Science, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, GermanyHector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Tübingen, GermanyCampus Institute Data Science, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, GermanyChair of Application Systems and E-Business, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, GermanyIn a world changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 universities had to completely rethink and immediately transform their teaching to a fully online setting. As a result, students had to learn from home and organize their learning by themselves. In a natural experiment, data about learning processes indicate that students learned more engaged and achieved higher learning success in this new situation compared to the traditional learning process. However, the students experienced a three-fold isolation: (1) physical isolation, (2) social isolation, and (3) learning isolation, which resulted in a stressful learning experience. In conclusion, these affective challenges indicate that this exceptional learning setting should not be normalized, even though positive outcomes were achieved during COVID-19. Beyond the situation in the pandemic, it can be deduced that students who learn at a distance need additional support to not (only) learn in isolation.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1549202/fullCOVID-19 pandemicdistance educationonline learningemergency remote teachinglearning analyticsnatural experiment
spellingShingle Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Florian Berens
Sebastian Hobert
Sebastian Hobert
Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
Frontiers in Education
COVID-19 pandemic
distance education
online learning
emergency remote teaching
learning analytics
natural experiment
title Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
title_full Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
title_fullStr Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
title_full_unstemmed Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
title_short Learning during COVID-19: (Too) isolated yet successful
title_sort learning during covid 19 too isolated yet successful
topic COVID-19 pandemic
distance education
online learning
emergency remote teaching
learning analytics
natural experiment
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1549202/full
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