Digitalisation of the University by Covid-19: Impact on Students’ Learning and Psychosocial Factors

Abstract

The academic sphere has been particularly affected by Covid-19 due to the limitations of mobility and social distancing facilitated by the increase in contagions during the various waves that have occurred in Spain, which has led to the digitalisation of teaching in most Spanish universities. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of Covid-19 on the learning of university students in Andalusia, and how psychosocial (fear of Covid-19, life satisfaction, stress, uncertainty), learning (learning strategies, motivation, study time and habits, facilitating conditions, self-regulation) and socio-demographic factors (gender, age, course, address, scholarship, future employment, mobility, dropout) have been influenced. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study design was applied based on the distribution of an online survey. A total of 1873 university students, aged between 17 and 59 years (M = 22.42, SD = 4.45) participated in the study. The results revealed that: 1) the pandemic has affected students differently depending on the population strata to which they belong; 2) there has been an increase in the levels of stress and uncertainty affecting students’ mental health; 3) academic dropout is a factor that has been and is present during the incidence of the pandemic; 4) learning has been affected by the pandemic due to fear and uncertainty which has had a significant impact on students’ motivation and self-regulation. Finally, the future lines of research of this work are discussed, highlighting the richness of the data obtained to advance knowledge on the impact of Covid-19 on university learning.