The SARS-COV-2 pandemic has influenced multiple domains on various levels, including the field of education. The research analyzes how Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) affects students. Since online education is usually the topic that researchers examine when conducting studies, research regarding ERT is necessary to analyze the current state of education and how it negatively, positively, or neutrally affects students. The study results illustrate that ERT does not adversely affect grades and proves that the new implementation is effective.
The research has been conducted due to the lack of information on the topic of the effectiveness of ERT. The recent pandemic has created an environment that requires urgent educational measures. Professors and students have so widely used ERT, and it is essential to examine the subject in terms of effectiveness and influence on students’ results. Moreover, the researchers were interested in examining grades since most studies have been conducted regarding ERT and mental health. The lack of information on the subject created an informational gap that the researchers have filled in with new data.
For this quantitative research, an experimental design was used. Almost 400 students were enrolled in the experiments and placed in an experimental and controlled group (Bawa, 2020). The experimental group consisted of students who had experienced ERT, while the controlled one consisted of individuals who only had face-to-face lectures. The undergraduate students were all enrolled in courses within colleges in the Midwest region of the US. Moreover, the four professors who participated in the experiments were lecturing on such disciplines as English, Business, Computer Programming, and Communication.
The researchers contacted the professors, explaining the experiments and the data they were interested in collecting and examining. The participants selected at least two of the courses they have taught and shared information regarding students’ overview of the ERT. Moreover, grade books have been examined to determine a possible change in results due to the new emergency implementation. The effect size test has been used to measure the practical effect. The odds ratio was calculated to examine the exposure versus outcome ratio regarding the shift from face-to-face to online learning, allowing the findings to be more accurate and precise.
The results showed no significant difference in grades between students with the face-to-face learning experience and individuals who have participated in ERT practices during the pandemic. The academic scores of the control group, which consisted of 190 students, and the experimental group consisting of over 200 students, have not shown drastic statistical differences. While students have discussed certain apprehension towards remote learning, the results have illustrated that ERT does not negatively impact academic results.
The article has improved my understanding of the process of conducting quantitative research based on several aspects. The researchers took into consideration such information as feedback received by professors from their students regarding ERT. Instead of solely focusing on direct conversations with the experiment and control group, researchers analyzed prior communications between students and faculty. This allowed for unbiased results and a broader perspective on the subject. Moreover, the research examined multiple disciplines while collecting information regarding grades and academic performances prior to ERT and after the new policy. This method improved the overall data validity and the importance of the findings within ERT implementations as effective emergency measures within the academic field.
References
Bawa, P. (2020). Learning in the age of SARS-COV-2: A quantitative study of learners’ performance in the age of emergency remote teaching. Computers and Education Open, 1, 100016. Web.