Instructional adaptations, perceptions of onlinecourses, stress, and creative outlets among faculty and students at universities around the world

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic universities all around the world quickly had to adapt their teaching as everyone were encouraged to stay home. On campus teaching was no longer possible and all teaching had to be done online. This was something new to many students and faculty. Quarantine, which many experienced, can also provide social isolation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also created unique opportunities to study how a pandemic affects communities globally. Everyone has been affected both on a personal level with anxiety and concern regarding disease, work, and the social systems in which they work. As the pandemic is global and affects everywhere it is possible to study cultural variations in how faculty and students internationally at different universities have taken on the challenge that COVID-19, quarantine and transition to online teaching have entailed.

Participants in the research study are students and teachers at Jönköping University (JU). Data is also collected from universities in Pakistan, Lithuania, South Africa, Canada and the United States of America. Similarities and differences in how teaching has changed and how the COVID-19 pandemic has been experienced will be studied in relation to Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions. At JU, the experiences of Swedish and International students and teachers are also compared, as international students and teachers are more isolated from family and relatives when staying in Sweden.

The result of this study will describe how students and faculty reacted to the changes the pandemic entailed with focus on studies and teaching. Adaptation of the form and content of teaching that have been made at educational institutions in different countries, but also locally at the different schools at JU. How students and faculty experienced these as well as how they spend their free time during the pandemic and different degrees of quarantine.

Participants are asked to respond to a web-based questionnaire about changes in teaching, perception about participating in distance learning, stress and creativity. The instruments of the web-based questionnaire have been selected to represent the six dimensions of Hofstede´s theory (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, and Indulgence.

Project leaders: Maria Björk and Lilly Augustine

Project information and publications Pdf, 151.4 kB.