Covid-19 Survey at UHOH
Mixed Reports On Digital Semester [19.03.21]
Image: Uni Hohenheim / Clipdealer
The third and possibly last Covid-19 semester is coming up. For the University of Hohenheim, this is an opportunity to review what can be improved in the digital courses. At the same time, the question arises as to whether selected online formats should also play a greater role in the future.
In order to better assess the experiences of students and lecturers to date, the "Quality Management | Teaching Strategy" unit in the Executive Management Office conducted an online survey for this purpose in December 2020, the results of which have now been fully evaluated.
Students place high demands on themselves
Students' opinions of the digital semesters vary widely in individual aspects. All in all, however, around two-thirds of students are satisfied or very satisfied with the University of Hohenheim's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 13%, on the other hand, draw a negative conclusion.
"Among other things, it is also clear that students continue to have high expectations of themselves during the Covid-19 pandemic," reported Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber, who initiated the survey as Vice President of Academic Affairs. "For example, 38% of Bachelor's students and 27% of Master's students said they planned to do more than usual at the beginning of the semester. Only 9% of Bachelor's students and 13% of Master's students wanted to take a more relaxed approach to their studies during Covid-19. What concerns me is that two-thirds complain of increased psychological stress."
Students vary in how well they cope with digital teaching
How well students cope with digital formats can vary widely from person to person.
"One of the things we asked students to do was to compare online and face-to-face teaching," reported Dr. Heike Behle of the Executive Management Office, who led the survey. "On many points, the answers show a wide spread. For example, 44% of the students surveyed said they found it easier to organize their daily study routine before Covid-19, 33% managed to structure themselves better during the digital semester, and 23% saw no major differences."
Do students find it harder to speak up in online events? This also seems to be at least partly a question of character type: 36% of students felt greater inhibitions during the digital semester, and 27% found it harder to participate in the lecture hall or seminar room. For 37%, the format was irrelevant in this regard.
Remarkably, digital events actually perform slightly better on average for students when it comes to comprehending content: 34% stated that they were able to follow better in online events, whereas 27% found it easier to understand in face-to-face events. 40% are undecided on this question.
Organization satisfactory, but not enough practical experience
As far as the scope of digital teaching materials and information about online tools is concerned, the majority of students felt that they were adequately provided for. In the opinion of the students, the lecturers also communicated the learning content and learning objectives of the modules clearly and comprehensibly. However, 11-16% of the respondents were not satisfied with regard to the points mentioned. Almost a quarter also complained that teaching materials were not uploaded in time.
The variety of teaching and learning formats was also sufficiently given in the Covid-19 semesters in the view of 58% of the students, one in five did not feel this way.
On the other hand, students clearly felt that opportunities to gain practical experience to deepen theoretical knowledge were lacking: 82% of students missed this during the online semesters. A good third said there were also fewer opportunities to get involved in research projects during their studies themselves.
The challenge of running exams
Running exams has recently been a particularly challenging task for the university due to strict hygiene requirements.
About 40% of lecturers report that they have changed the format of exams due to Covid-19, e.g., term paper instead of exam, poster instead of presentation. About one-third of Bachelor's students and one-fifth of Master's students reported that they had withdrawn from one or more exams. The main reasons they gave were too many exams around the same time, difficulty preparing for exams, and problems with exam organization.
For just under half of the students, whether the module in question took place online or on campus played no role in smooth exam preparation. One-third found it easier to prepare for exams in face-to-face formats, while one-fifth found it easier in online modules.
Less interaction, more motivation problems
The disadvantages of virtual formats are clearly noticeable on a social level: 57% feel that contact with lecturers is more direct in on-campus formats. Only 13% rate the relationship in online seminars as better.
71% of students also said that they exchange ideas about subject content more frequently with fellow students during face-to-face teaching. More than half report that there are no online learning groups in their degree program. The majority of students also rate face-to-face learning groups as more effective.
The verdict is negative when it comes to concentration and motivation: more than half of the students struggle more during online teaching. Only 19% and 24% respectively report that difficulties occur more frequently during face-to-face courses.
High psychological stress
One result in particular worried Vice President Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber: "65% of the students stated that they suffer more from psychological stress during the online semesters. There were hardly any differences between Bachelor's and Master's students in this regard, and even the semester in which they studied did not play a role. We have to take this very seriously."
Particularly frequently cited as reasons for psychological stress were: Loneliness, isolation, and lack of social networks, but also uncertainty about the how their studies were going and problems organizing and motivating themselves. 62% of the students felt that they were not sufficiently informed about counseling options for psychological problems.
The Covid-19-induced digital semesters have not left the lecturers unscathed either.
Almost all of them state that the additional workload caused by the conversion to online teaching has led to stress. More than one in two also complained about the lack of separation between work and private life when working from home. One-third suffered from psychological stress, such as social isolation or increased pressure to perform. 29% felt that they were not well enough equipped to meet the demands of digital teaching, and one-fifth experienced a particular burden due to caring for children or those in need of help.
Technical problems tend to play a subordinate role
Technical problems such as the lack of a laptop, poor Internet connection, etc., tended to play a subordinate role for the majority of university employees. Two-thirds said they had not experienced any difficulties at all. Moreover, many technical problems could be solved with assistance in the early days.
"I am pleased that most students and lecturers coped comparatively well despite the exceptional technical situation. Nevertheless, however, 13-14% of the students and 5% of the lecturers stated that they constantly experienced technical problems. Of course, that is still far too many," emphasized the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber.
Students' suggestions for improvement
825 students took the opportunity to indicate in an open-ended question which concrete measures would have helped them to better adapt to digital teaching.
High on the list were organizational points, such as clear scheduling and communication of events during the week, use of the same online tool in all events, clearly communicated and consistent times at which documents are uploaded, synchronous events that are recorded as videos. Many students also wanted clearer information about deadlines and exams.
The desire for more networking opportunities, office hours, learning groups, and live chats was also mentioned several times.
Goal for the future: more quality in digital teaching
So can digital teaching formats adequately replace theoretical classroom teaching? Opinions differed particularly strongly on this question. On a 5-point scale from "completely agree" to "not at all agree," the students' answers were almost evenly distributed.
"I feel confirmed in our decision that we do not want to become a distance learning university in the future. However, the survey also shows that digital formats offer potential for making teaching more modern and flexible," concluded Vice President Prof. Dr. Huber. "It should not be forgotten that at the moment we are operating in many cases with stopgap solutions that were brought into being under time pressure. If we focus in the future on selected, very high-quality formats, quite a few of the current problems can certainly be reduced or eliminated. Digital courses could be particularly interesting when it comes to networking even more closely with our international partner universities. The discussion about the future of academic teaching at the University of Hohenheim must be started intensively in the next few months and will certainly accompany us for a few years."
Text: Leonhardmair / Translation: Neudorfer
