Abstract

In early 2020, schools across North America and globally have closed their doors for students either partially or completely for in-person learning due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. To allow continuous learning for students, a virtual style of education was adapted as the most popular alternative. However, many students, particularly in younger grades, found it difficult to adjust to this mode of education; sudden change and unpreparedness being the most common reasons. Since online learning started, negative impacts on students’ mental health and reduced physical activity have been reported. To understand more in depth the impacts of online learning on real-life elementary students, we conducted a survey. We designed a questionnaire to characterize the common issues that arose during online learning, relating to social interactions, learning engagement, health habits, parental support and technology that were available during this time. An online survey was sent electronically targeting elementary students from grades 4-8. We analyzed 112 responses. The majority of grades 4-8 students expressed no confusion during online lessons, had a good understanding of what to do to complete assigned tasks, and found it easy to complete assignments. Nevertheless, analysis of students’ responses revealed that online learning had negatively impacted elementary school student’s physical health due to reduced peer-interaction and physical activities with increased snacking. Some students believed they were often distracted during online learning and did not feel comfortable with cameras on, which may have also affected these students’ mental health and learning abilities. There were still some students who lacked technology and/or parental support and their needs should not be overlooked.

1. Introduction

Online learning refers to learning in an environment that uses the internet and other technological devices or tools for synchronous and/or asynchronous instructional delivery and management of academic programs. ¹ During the pandemic, online learning has been one of the best solutions used during the distance learning process. ^{2, 3} Online learning allows students to follow the learning process anywhere and anytime and can condition themselves to be as comfortable as possible to learn. Students can also save time and energy in the learning process, which can result in more time for other activities such as hobbies and other interests. ² The term "online learning" was originally used to describe a system of learning based on internet technology and the use of online resources. ⁴ Online learning was a method of education initially applied at the level of secondary education and higher for students who already understood the use of technology. ^{5, 6} Benefits of online learning include more efficient communication and discussion between teachers and students, particularly among students without teacher intermediaries. It can also facilitate synchronous and complex interaction among teachers, students, and parents. Teachers can also easily provide material to students in various formats, such as text, graphs, pictures, videos, or online websites. Finally, online learning facilitates process of asking and answering questions anytime during and after the class. ²

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted education in over 190 countries worldwide. ⁷ In response to the pandemic and to aim to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, schools promptly adopted different risk mitigation strategies. These included school closure, implementation of social distancing, mandatory mask wearing, and the cohorting of students into smaller units. ⁸ Online learning became the one of the most common mitigation strategies to replace in-person learning and allowed students to continue education under the pandemic restrictions for all students. ⁹ In emergency situations, online learning using modern technology could be a reliable option as a bridge for teaching staff to transfer knowledge to students. ⁶ However, studies had reported on problems experienced by students during online learning, including not being able to adapt well enough, cameras off due to embarrassment or being uncomfortable about their private space or home environment, not having adequate learning tools, subject matter being difficult to understand, and low learning motivation. ^{2, 10} The physical distance and limited in-person interactions between students and teachers due to the virtual learning environment have made it challenging for students to stay connected with their teachers or peers during school time. Because of this, students may feel overwhelmed and fail to maintain efficient learning from home in contrast to previous habits to learn in-person with teachers and their peers. ² It also became harder for students to communicate their struggles or challenges in learning to the teachers. Online learning was not only challenging for students, but also for teachers. One of the significant challenges was that teachers who used to plan, implement, and evaluate students’ progress and learning with a system that was directly face to face were forced to apply it in the online system. ⁶ Furthermore, students had also reported increased stress and anxiety and difficulties in concentrating. This suggested that the obstacles to allow effective online learning were not only technological with instructional challenges but also social and affective challenges of isolation and social distancing. ¹¹

In addition to predicted technical difficulties such as unstable internet connections, power failure, or internet outages, the ability to learn or receive information online may also have been affected due to students’ lack of engagement, since many students may prefer to have cameras off during synchronous learning sessions. Unlike a normal classroom where mainly a teacher is looking at the class, everyone in the online classroom is clearly visible to all participants. Some students may feel uncomfortable since they may not like having everyone being able to look at them or may feel embarrassed by their home environments. Other students may have the desire to maintain privacy about home life and home settings. ¹⁰ With the whole class displayed on one screen, it also presents a challenge for teachers to monitor each and every individual. As teachers cannot limit the use of technology during online class, learners could easily get distracted by social media, comments from the classroom, online games, videos, or internet content unrelated to the teaching topic. Students may also feel less of a need to maintain active learning dialogues, which may further interfere with the learning process. From the other side, teaching staff also reported a challenge in ensuring participants’ engagement and sufficient effective interactions during video-based synchronous meetings or classes; turning one’s camera off or multitasking during work meetings or class being common causes of distraction or the instructor's inability to check on student understanding. ¹² Distractions may also come from home environments such as other siblings learning at home, or noises from pets or outside students’ homes.

Recent publications found reduced physical activity during COVID-19 pandemic in US school students, including decreases in participation and increases in sedentary behavior during home learning periods when compared to pre-pandemic time. ¹³ Physical education (PE) in school represents the largest youth physical activity intervention worldwide, given that PE is a compulsory subject in many school curricula. Although programming the usual in-person PE is not without challenges ¹⁴, closure of schools due to COVID-19 created a new host of obstacles. ¹³ As preschool through 12th grade PE shifted to virtual learning platforms ¹⁵, PE teachers and supportive staff were swiftly required to deliver robust virtual programs without adequate training and provision of appropriate teaching and learning resources. Online learning is by its own nature inequitable for school-aged youth, due in part to unequal access to technology, adult supervision and support, sports equipment, and physical space to participate in online physical education. ¹⁶ Additional inequities are presented for youth with disabilities who are particularly dependent on school PE for physical activities engagement, and face barriers to being physically active in home environments. ^{13, 17}

After two years of the initiation of online learning due to the pandemic in March 2020, it was time to evaluate students' experiences about their online schooling.

2. Material and Methods

To understand grades 4-8 elementary students’ opinions of two years in online learning, a questionnaire was designed to collect students’ characteristics and opinions about online versus in-person learning, student participation, understanding during virtual lessons, health habits, as well as support received by students. To maximize the evaluation of real-life experiences of students aged 9-14, an itemized questionnaire was designed.

The survey was sent electronically from teachers at our elementary public school (Canada) and students from an online course (grades 7-8, USA). The targeted participants were elementary students from grades 4-8. Younger grades were excluded as they may have needed teacher assistance in completing the questionnaires which could possibly influence student responses and introduce bias. Responses were open from 10^th to 16^th of March 2022 to all those who were willing to complete the survey. All student participation was strictly voluntary and anonymous. After the responses were collected, all data-points were entered into Excel spreadsheet. Results were grouped into sub-groups (i.e., grades 4-6 and grades 7-8) for comparison. Collected responses were presented in bar-graphs and percentages. Graphs and statistical analysis were generated using GraphPad Prism (Version 9.3.1). Analysis was performed on responses received for all questions.

3. Results

Of the 112 responses received, there were 40 (35.7%) responses from students in grades 4-6 and 72 (64.3%) responses from grades 7-8. Of those, 54.5% were male, 41.1% were female, and 4.4% identified themselves as “other.” Within grades 4-6, there were 23 (57.5%) males, 15 (37.5%) females and 2 (5.0%) identified as “other”. For grades 7-8, there were 38 (52.7%) males, 31 (43.1%) females and 3 (4.2%) “other” (Table 1).

Question #1: I prefer online learning over in-person learning.

Over 75% of students either disagreed (19.6%) or strongly disagreed (56.3%) that they preferred online learning over learning in person. Only 13.4% felt that they favored online learning (12.5% strongly agreed, 0.9% agreed), and 10.7% had no preference.

Question #2: There was no significant difference in online learning and in-person learning.

Similarly, most participants disagreed (33.9%) or strongly disagreed (42.9%) with the statement that there was no significant difference in online as compared to in-person learning. Only 3.6% agreed or 10.7% strongly agreed with this statement, and 8.9% felt “neutral”.

Question #3: Interacting with my peers was no difference in online learning than in-person learning.

The majority of students disagreed (33.9%) or strongly disagreed (45.5%) that interacting with peers was the same online and in-person, 5.4% felt neutral, and 5.4% agreed or 9.8% strongly agreed. The grades 4-6 and grades 7-8 preferences appeared similar for all three questions (Figure 1).

Question #4: During online learning, I had little to no confusion during lessons.

Over 65% of students strongly agreed, agreed or with neural opinion to this statement. Of those, 40.2% of participants (12.5% strongly agreed; 27.7% agreed) expressed that they had little to no confusion during lessons, 25% expressed “neutral” opinions, and 34.8% disagreed (23.2%) or strongly disagreed (11.6%) that they experienced no confusion during online lessons.

Question #5: I had a good understanding of what to do to complete assigned tasks during online learning.

Over half of the students (54.6% participants; 23.3% strongly agreed, 31.3% agreed) agreed or strongly agreed that they had a good understanding of what to do when completing assignments during online learning. In addition, approximately one-third (31%) expressed a neutral opinion, implying that they had no particularly serious issues with online learning. There were 15.1% of students who found that they had troubles and did not have a proper understanding of what they needed to do to complete assigned tasks (8% disagreed, 7.1% strongly disagreed).

Question #6: I found it easy to complete assignments during online learning.

A majority of the students (72.3% responded strongly agree, agree or neutral) found it easy to complete assignments during online learning. More specifically, 40.2% found it easy to complete assignments during online learning (17.9% strongly agreed, 22.3% strongly disagreed) and 32.1% felt “neutral”. About one quarter (27.6%) strongly disagreed or disagreed (19.6% strongly disagreed, 8% disagreed). Of those who disagreed or strongly disagreed, there were less grade 4-6 (20%) and more grade 7-8 (32%) students. Students’ opinions showed a “normal’’ distribution similar to a classroom that is made up of students with different learning abilities, suggesting that online learning is not more difficult for students when compared to in-person learning. More grade 4-6 students agreed or strongly agreed that online learning lessons were not confusing, and they had a good understanding, and could easily complete assignments as compared to grade 7-8 students (Figure 2).

Question #7: My camera was usually off during google meets.

Over half of the students agreed (27.7%) or strongly agreed (32.1%) that they usually kept their cameras off during online lessons. Of the responses received, 16.1% expressed “neutral” opinion, implying that they might keep their cameras off sometimes. A total of 24.1% disagreed or strongly disagreed (15.2% disagreeing, 8.9% strongly disagreeing) with the statement. Subgroup analysis showed that there was significantly more grade 7-8 (12.5%) than grade 4-6 (2.7%) students (p=0.028) who kept their cameras on.

Question #8: I was easily distracted during online learning.

Overall, 46.4% of the respondents agreed (23.2%) or strongly agreed (23.2%) that they were easily distracted during online learning, 28.6% felt “neutral”, and 25% disagreed (16.1%) or strongly disagreed (8.9%) that they were easily distracted during lessons or work periods. There were more grade 7-8 (10.7%) than grade 4-6 (5.3%) students who responded that they were usually not distracted, but the difference was not significant (p=0.17).

Question #9: Online learning was very easy to follow and very well organized.

When asked if online learning was easy to follow and very well-organized, 37.5% answered that it was organized well and they were able to follow along properly (13.4% “strongly agreed”, 24.1% “agreed”). The remaining 30.4% of students felt neutral, and 32.1% strongly disagreed or disagreed (23.2% disagreed, 8.9% strongly agreed) that they were able to follow along with online learning (Figure 3) Within sub-groups, it was observed that more grades 7-8 expressed “strong” opinions: with 18.8% strongly agreeing and 10.7% strongly disagreeing, as compared to 2.7% strongly agreeing and 5.3% strongly disagreeing in the grades 4-6 group.

Question #10: I found myself snacking during online school more often in comparison to in-person learning.

Of the total respondents, 53.6% agreed or strongly agreed (25.9% strongly agreed, 27.7% agreed) that they found themselves snacking more during online learning. There were more grade 4-6 (34.8%) than grade 7-8 (20.5%) students who strongly agreed that they snacked more.

Question #11: During online learning, the snacks that I was eating tended to be less healthy than in person learning.

Overall, 19.6% strongly agreed or agreed (8% strongly agreed, 11.6% agreed) that they ate less healthy during online learning, 39.2% were neutral and 40% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement (19.6% disagreed, 19.6% strongly disagreed).

Question #12: During online learning, I was able to get the same amount of physical activity in comparison to in-person learning.

Three-fifths (60.7%) of all respondents reported that they disagreed (35.7%) or strongly disagreed (25%) that during online learning they got the same amount of physical activity as they did in school. 18.8% expressed neutral opinions and 20.5% strongly agreed (11.6%) or agreed (8.9%) to the statement. Within sub-groups, there were more grade 7-8 (16.9%) than grade 4-6 (3%) strongly agreed that they got the same amount of physical activity during online as compared to in-person learning (Figure 4).

Question #13: During online learning, I got enough help and support as needed by my parents.

Regarding support (Figure 5), 18.7% of all respondents disagreed (11.6%) or strongly disagreed (7.1%) that they received enough parental support when needed, while the rest of the 81.3% participants reported neutral responses (26.8%), agreeing (17.9%) or strongly agreeing (36.6%) that they got enough help and support as needed from their parents. The responses for the grade 4-6 and grade 7-8 students were very similar.

Question #14: During online learning, I needed to borrow technology from school.

Approximately one-fifth of students (17.9%) needed to borrow technology from the school to participate in online learning. Similar responses were collected between sub-groups: 15% from grades 4-6 and 18.8% from grades 7-8.

4. Discussion

The results of our study showed that most students preferred in-person learning. It is not surprising since students have already been accustomed to in-person learning during previous school years. Another explanation is that there are limited peer-interactions online and students may be unable to participate in certain activities such as sports or games requiring physical interactions (e.g., school organized activities). Adolescents’ social environment is very important for brain development and mental well-being, which means that social development of young students must be strongly considered when designing online learning programs. ¹⁸

The majority of elementary school students are 7-12 years old and they also fall into the Generation Z category. ^{19, 20} Judging from cognitive development, children at this age are in the concrete operational stage. Children have difficulty identifying or analyzing abstract objects at this stage, so they need media that can help them visualize concretely. ¹⁹ Generation Z lives in a time of technological development, and rapidly growing amount of information. ²¹ Their proximity to technology is a potential that can be actualized to improve the effectiveness of online learning. As such, the experience of online learning can be beneficial to students. The student experiences during online learning can train or prepare them to have the technological knowledge required for their future, since the more they participate in online learning, the better they will get at navigating the online world. ³ Students can quickly understand the procedure for using the website as an online learning platform. ²² Relating to student understanding during learning, younger grade students expressed more comfort with online lessons. This could be due to the fact that higher-grade subjects and assignments are more complex and difficult to learn, regardless of whether or not it is online or face-to-face. Based on our results we found that online learning can be successfully implemented as another effective method of education provided that it is used in an appropriate format and setting. We found that most students expressed no confusion during lessons, had a good understanding of what to do to complete assigned tasks, and found it easy to complete assignments. Students of younger grades have less in-person learning experiences pre-pandemic, thus being more easily adaptable to online learning. However, they require teacher’s control as a “manager” in online learning to maintain practical online learning and achieve learning objectives. ²²

In our study we found that most students preferred keeping their cameras off during lessons, most likely diminishing teacher’s control. In addition, students may have felt shy or disliked everyone being able to look at them. Distractions during online learning were also reported to be quite common. It is likely due to the fact that many distractions are easily accessible, or students felt disengaged. This could be another reason students preferred to keep their cameras off, since it would be more difficult for the teachers to tell if the students were “on task” or not. To improve students’ engagement and participation, teachers may implement regular “checks” or ask frequent questions that encourage student’s participation.

It is not unexpected that more students snacked more during online learning compared to being in-person at school, however, it is pleasantly surprising that these snacks were not considered by students as “not less healthy”. This could be due to the fact that the same types of snacks are accessible at home regardless of online or in-person school. Less physical activity has been reported during online learning in our study, likely because activities such as traditional team sports or organized games are limited or not feasible due to limitations in the online environment. For other activities such as recreation breaks, gym classes, or daily physical activity, they are more difficult for teachers to monitor. At school, all of these physical activities are scheduled and promoted, but during online learning participation is driven by the student's own engagement or motivation. This finding is also consistent with report from Dunton et al. ²³ when comparing physical activity pre-COVID-19 as compared to the early-COVID-19 period. It was reported that parents perceived children’s physical activity had decreased whereas children’s sedentary behavior had increased between the pre-COVID-19 period (February 2020) and the early-COVID-19 period (April – May 2020). About 36% of parents reported their child had done much less physical activity in the past 7 days as compared to February 2020, whereas about 11% of parents reported their child had done much more physical activity in the past 7 days as compared to February 2020. ²³

From the technical perspective, it is difficult to capture all students fully or adequately on cameras during physical class online. On top of that, it was difficult for teachers to supervise or provide instructions and individual feedback with the students’ faces all “squeezed” into one monitor. Furthermore, restrictions applied to the coronavirus pandemic outside of school also prolonged disruption of sports and other activities which could make a significant impact on the health of many children. As a result, online learning could potentially lead to weight-gain or other health-related problems for students if these issues are not dealt with. ²⁴ Students’ screen time has also been reported to increase significantly to an average of 9 hours a day for ages 12-14, or 5 hours for ages 8-12 because of the extra time spent on devices during instructional and recreational time according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. ²⁵ Along with increased screen time, inactive lifestyles and irregular sleep schedules, anticipated weight gain during lockdown could lead to complications in the students’ futures if continued. During online learning, students spent more time indoors using electronic media both for education and recreation purposes. ²⁴. Educators and parents should therefore further encourage students to participate in more physical activities and promote the importance of healthy eating and life habits during online learning.

In the study by Stewart et al. ²⁶, the group discussed that one of the biggest technological obstacles and barriers was internet access (i.e., poor bandwidth, limited availability). While this is not necessarily surprising that such issues can occur under regular circumstances, ²⁷ internet and computer access could be more problematic than had been initially anticipated. In our study, we also observed that while most students expressed that they had no problem with technology at home, approximately 20% of students expressed insufficient parental and/or technology support, and it is critical that this group of students are not overlooked during online learning. Regarding parental support, our research showed that students generally recognized that they received enough parental help, which may imply that parents are generally willing and available to provide necessary support to elementary students regardless of online or in-person learning. Similar results were also reported by Novianti et al. ²⁸ who evaluated 148 questionnaires of parents from the first and second grade of elementary school students. They found that most of the parents of grades 1 and 2 are engaged in children online learning activities; including parental engagement in supervising the children study time (81.7%), parent role in accompanying children in learning (80.4%), supervising children study time (71.8%), although there are still those who have obstacles and difficulties in dividing time, attention and explaining the lesson to children.

Our study had several limitations. First it had a relatively small sample size (n=112). Second, most participants were from one school, while the rest attended a US-based virtual class. Regional or country differences could not be analyzed as “locations” were not collected. Additionally, the survey was designed to be completed within five minutes; thus, more detailed issues (e.g., snack types, distraction causes, screen-time duration) were not explored. To allow further in-depth analysis, the questionnaire can include more questions aimed to explore specific issues (e.g., distraction causes) and that it could be sent to multiple schools with a “country” identification that allow evaluation on regional differences.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, majority of the students prefer in-person learning to on-line schooling. Majority of students expressed a good understanding of online lessons. Online learning may have certain negative impacts on elementary school students’ physical health due to reduced peer-interaction and physical activity, combined with increased snacking. In addition, certain students are of the opinions that they were distracted often during online learning and do not feel comfortable with cameras on, which may affect these students’ mental health and learning abilities. There is a considerable proportion of students who lack technology and/or parental support and their needs should not be overlooked.

References