Research Outputs
Smartphone use among undergraduate STEM Students during COVID-19: An opportunity for higher education?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students worldwide have continued their education remotely. One of the challenges of this modality is that students need access to devices such as laptops and smartphones. Among these options, smartphones are the most accessible because of their lower price. This study analyzes the usage patterns of smartphone users of undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional descriptive study included 365 students: 162 (44.4%) women and 203 (55.6%) men from a Chilean university. The results revealed that students often accessed the learning management system (LMS) with their computers rather than with their smartphones. Students were connected to the LMS for more hours on their computers than on their smartphones. However, they spent more hours simultaneously connected on their computers and smartphones than just on their computers. During the day, students accessed the LMS mainly from 13:00 to 1:00. The number of connections decreased from 1:00 to 8:00 and increased from 8:00 to 13:00. The LMS resource that students accessed the most using smartphones was discussion forums, while the one they accessed the least was wiki pages. We expect these results to motivate faculties to schedule their activities during the hours students tend to be online and promote discussion forums.
Return to Face-to-Face classrooms in higher education: Students experiences in Chile, Venezuela, and Ecuador
Emergency remote teaching (ERE) triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges to higher education institutions worldwide. Although it had several negative consequences, it also enabled advances in the integration of technology into the teaching and learning process. The purpose of this study was to examine and characterize the key elements of the process of returning to face-to-face courses. The study was based on a mixed quantitative and qualitative design. 631 students from Chile, Venezuela, and Colombia were surveyed about their experiences returning to face-to-face classes (in terms of virtual tools, their feelings, and their expectations for academic success). The survey also included questions about the lockdown caused by the pandemic, specifically regarding instructional and didactic design, participation in online sessions, and the role of faculty during the pandemic. Descriptive and correlative analyses were performed to examine relationships among variables. Qualitative data were analyzed within a hermeneutically-oriented framework. Our analyses show that virtual classrooms or learning management systems (LMS) continued to be used after the pandemic. However, their use is strongly associated with a more traditional approach to teaching; LMSs and virtual classrooms are primarily used as filing locations and for receiving and storing homework assignments and assessments. In terms of interaction, qualitative analyses have shown that relationships with faculty and between students are better in face-to-face classes and that there is not much difference in perceptions of collaborative work in online learning compared to face-to-face classes. Finally, students' expectations of academic success are low in the short term, while they are higher in the long term. Students also indicated that it is important to them that teachers take care about the didactic design of the course, including strategies that encourage interaction and participation in both synchronous and asynchronous sessions. In addition, students mentioned that teachers should incorporate strategies to promote academic motivation, self-regulation, and a safe environment. An important finding of this study is that students prefer a blended learning format when comparing online and face-to-face instruction. This article also provides recommendations for the new post-pandemic education scenario.
Prácticas docentes para promover la autorregulación del aprendizaje durante la pandemia COVID-19: Escalas de medición y modelo predictivo
Los objetivos principales de esta investigación fueron confirmar la estructura factorial de escalas sobre variables docentes para la promoción de la autorregulación del aprendizaje en estudiantes y estimar un modelo predictivo de las prácticas docentes durante la pandemia COVID-19. El método consideró un diseño psicométrico y predictivo para cada fase. Participaron 765 docentes de seis universidades de Chile. Los resultados mostraron cuatro escalas (creencias, autoeficacia, conocimiento y prácticas docentes) con adecuadas propiedades psicométricas. Se detectaron efectos indirectos de las variables “conocimientos de aprendizaje autorregulado” y “autoeficacia para la promoción de aprendizaje autorregulado” sobre la variable “prácticas docentes de promoción del aprendizaje autorregulado”, siendo esta una mediación de tipo parcial. El modelo de mediación estimado predice en un 33.7% las prácticas docentes para la promoción de aprendizaje autorregulado. En conclusión, se disponen de escalas válidas y confiables y de un modelo predictivo con adecuado ajuste para comprender la promoción de la autorregulación de aprendizaje por parte de docentes universitarios.
Mental health in school teachers: An explanatory model with emotional intelligence and coping strategies
Introduction. Even before the pandemic began, teachers faced multiple challenges such as diverse student populations with widely varying needs, excessive workloads, lack of community support, and adverse working conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these problems. The teachers have been increasingly susceptible to stress, anxiety, and depression. The objective of this research was to evaluate the mediation effect of coping strategies on the relationship between emotional intelligence and teachers' mental health. Method. The design was explanatory with latent cross-sectional variables. The sample was 1668 Chilean school level teachers, 331 (19.8%) were men, and 1337 (80.2%) were women; the mean age was 42.08 years (SD = 11.50). Three scale self-report were used: the emotional intelligence WLEIS, the scale DASS-21 was used to measure mental health levels y, the short version of the COPE-28, for coping strategies. Results. This study showed that high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress are significantly related to the lower emotional intelligence of teachers. The strongest relationships are between mental health variables and the emotional intelligence evaluation and regulation of emotions. The results indicated that the dimensions of emotional intelligence predicted 22%, 26%, and 23% of the variance in anxiety, depression, and stress, respectively. The estimated mediation model showed satisfactory fit indices. For anxiety, active coping and religion were mediated, and for stress, substance abuse, self-distraction and disengagement were mediated. Also, the results showed indirect effects of two maladaptive coping strategies (denial and self-blame) between the relationship of emotional intelligence the dimensions and depression, anxiety, and stress. Discussion and Conclusion. Explanatory models can be the basis for specific strategies to treat stress, anxiety, and depression in teachers. Considering the importance of the teaching role, the results of this study are useful to guide intervention actions that strengthen the management of emotions and the identification and use of effective coping strategies for the promotion of mental health.
Learning beliefs, time on platform, and academic performance during the COVID-19 in University STEM students
Due to the closure of universities worldwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching methods were suddenly transformed to an emergency remote teaching (ERT) modality. Due to the practical nature of STEM courses, students cannot participate in activities in which manipulating objects is necessary for accomplishing learning objectives. In this study, we analyze the relation among STEM students learning beliefs at the beginning of ERT (T1) with their Learning Management systems (LMS) time-on-task and their final academic performance (T2) during the first semester of ERT. We used a prospective longitudinal design. 2063 students (32.3% females) from a university in Chile participated, where the academic year starts in March and finishes in December 2020. We assessed their learning and performance beliefs through an online questionnaire answered at the beginning of the academic period (T1). Then, using learning analytics, time invested in the CANVAS LMS and the academic performance achieved by students at the end of the semester (T2) were assessed. The results show that students mainly stated negative beliefs about learning opportunities during ERT (n = 1,396; 67.7%). In addition, 48.5% (n = 1,000) of students stated beliefs of “medium” academic performance for the first semester (T1). Students with lower learning beliefs at T1 spent less time in the LMS during the semester and had a lower academic performance at T2 than students who had higher learning beliefs at T1. The implications of these findings on the role of instructors and institutions of higher education are discussed.