Conference Agenda

In March 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic forced universities to close their campuses and change their delivery from in-person to remote teaching (e.g. Crawford et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2020). When reopening following lockdown, many universities were inclined to use a blended model of learning and teaching (Chigeza & Halbert, 2014) more regularly than in the past. This new mode of learning has been found to make education more accessible and student-focused, with teachers becoming more engaged with students (Kintu et al., 2017). On the other end of this field of research, some researchers have shown that the increased workload resulting from online learning can lead to higher learner dropout (Park and Choi, 2009). More recently, Sriwichai (2020) found that the effectiveness of remote learning was influenced by limited access to online sessions; difficulties with online interaction with teachers and peers; lack of experience and skills (both staff and students) in using digital tools and time management. This, in combination with the abrupt and radical changes to the academic lives of Higher Education students due to the pandemic calls for more research into the experiences of blended learning for Higher Education students. The present study will focus on HE learners with learning difficulties whose academic achievement and motivation can be challenged in remote learning environments (Zawadka et al., 2021). As blended learning and teaching is becoming the norm in the post-Covid era, this presentation will discuss the implications of remote learning learners with learning difficulties and explore measures for the provision of appropriate inclusion and support practices.

The COVID 19 pandemic heavily affected the education system regardless of grade level. The impact on lower grade levels, Primary and Secondary was heavier than in Higher Education (HE).

All over the world, the main effect of the pandemic on education system was to trigger a transition from on-site classes to online classes or a hybrid system. Furthermore, this transition had to take place fast. In Portuguese education system for grades lower than HE it took place in just one month. Teachers had to learn how to use the online platforms to teach online.

To implement this transition, students needed to have computerslaptopscell phones and internet access to be able to follow classes online. For students from poorer and lower level of education families, this could only have led to serious failures in learning, lack of motivation.

The impact of Covid 19 pandemic most probably affected students’ expectations to enroll HE in post Covid 19 pandemic times leading to a step back on the trajectory to overcome the gap in HE graduates between Portugal and EuroArea average levels [28,3% against 30,4% in 2021 (EUROSTAT DATABASE)] and the Millenium Sustainable Goals (Goal 4) subscribed by Portugal.

Literature survey shows that expectationsmotivation are important factors in the decision making process related to transition to Higher Education and that Covid 19 pandemic had a great negative impact on expectations [Chaturvedi, K. et al (2021)] .

The OCDE PISA results 2015 (OECD 2017) emphasizes that expectations and motivation matter in the transition to Higher Education. This study showed that performance during Upper Secondary trajectory determines expectations and motivation. It also found that parents’ and peers’ expectations have impact on students’ones as well as age, sex, type of course followed in Upper Secondary in line with studies from Heagney & Benson 2017; Pinxten et al 2014; Brandle 2016; Mitchall & Jaegaer 2018; Goldrick-Rab et al (2007).

The positive influence of anticipation and temporal consistency of expectations is also corroborated by Sá e Tavares (2017), Britton et al (2019) and Toledo & Martinez (2018); The positive influence of motivation is mentioned as decisive by several authors [Martinez & Toledo (2018), Schlesinger, et al. (2016)].

In a previous study we looked at the impact of economic cycle on expectationsmotivation regarding transition from Upper Secondary to Higher Education.

We also analyzed how expectations were conditioned by individual and family’ socioeconomic background. Now we intend to see to what extent the impact of COVID -19 pandemic has reinforced these previous results.

Literature review shows us a strengthening of inequality in access to HE, due to the impact of COVID 19 on household income, mainly for those that had not recovered from the 2011 crisis, as in Greece, as well as difficulties in accessing essential ICT to follow classes, etc. (Aristovnik et al 2020; Kara 2021; Tsolu et al 2021).

It also reveals an increase in the levels of anxiety and depression in students in USec as well as in HE, which is enhanced by the aforementioned situations of inequality (Aristovnik et al, op cit, 2020, Schmits et al 2021).

While technology is already transforming many fields, educational institutions are typically conservative, so they are still resisting its affordances in many aspects, as was seen with the Covid-19 outbreak. For instance, Conole and Fill (2005) state that few academic staff have the expertise to design and implement courses in new mediums, despite technology's ubiquity of time and space removal. It became even more critical to possess these skills during times such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when not only did education materials have to be designed but lessons needed to be delivered almost exclusively online.For many educators, this was a new way of teaching, posing certain challenges, including creating pedagogically sound lessons in this medium. The ways in which teachers design have not been widely studied, and researchers have examined design practices, design processes, and supports when designing learning and factors affecting the design thinking of both novice and experienced academic staff at universities (Goodyear, 2005; Bennett, Agostinho & Lockyer, 2017; Agostinho, Lockyer & Bennett, 2018).

Taking into account these factors, the study aims to understand the factors that influence faculty members' designing courses during Covid-19 pandemics at a private university in Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of 12 faculty members selected through purposive sampling, who represent 5 faculties at the university the study was conducted at. A qualitative methodology was used in this study in order to understand the factors that played a role in course-design processes in relation to Covid-19 pandemic in depth. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews in 2020-2021 Spring semester. The data in this study were analyzed following Bronfenbrenner's (1979) multi-level ecological model. The analysis of the first interviews reveal that a number of factors were at stake for faculty members when it comes to course design during Covid-19 pandemic. In other words, as a response to Covid-19, in the format of Emergency Remote Teaching, faculty members had to consider a number of factors. What's more, in order to create pedagogically-sound designs for online courses during pandemics or other emergencies, faculty members need to be informed and provided trainings that cater their needs. Therefore, the study might have implications for teaching personnel at higher education institutions as well as instructional designers, policy makers within and outside universities, curriculum developers and other support personnel at the universities.

The first part of the worldwide lockdown starting in March 2020 forced teachers in higher education to implement emergency remote teaching (ERT) in an online learning environment. ERT is a kind of online instruction delivered in pressing circumstances, which contrasts with deliberate and well-planned online learning education (Daniel, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020; Huang, & Wang, 2022; Murphy, 2020). Some students appreciated the autonomy they acquired and the appeal to their self-discipline. Other students, preferring structure and guidelines, perceived these new learning circumstances as ambiguous and unclear. Pressing circumstances, such as a pandemic forcing students into a new learning environment, pose a challenge to their academic motivation. In this study, we used one of the leading theories on motivation, the self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000). Deci and Ryan (2000) contributed to the field of motivation theory by making a distinction between two types of motivation regulation, i.e. controlled motivation and autonomous motivation. We used SDT to highlight the processes of motivation within the learning environment (Deemer, & Smith, 2018). Following the self-determination theory, one could promote autonomous motivation by fulfilling the three basic psychological needs of students: the need for autonomy, relatedness and competence. The learning environment is one of the most important factors of learning that affects motivation to learn (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1990). Students are more likely to experience positive outcomes when the learning environment responds to their needs (Gutman & Eccles, 2007). According to Moos (1974, 2002), the learning environment is a psychosocial situation with three dimensions of experience: the relationship dimension, the growth dimension and the change dimension. The dimensional framework of Moos (1974) closely aligns with Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT; Vansteenkiste, Ryan, & Soenens, 2020) (Deemer, & Smith, 2018). During the pandemic, a more autonomously regulated learning environment was introduced, in the form of ERT-learning: students needed to appeal more to their self-discipline to decide when and how to study (autonomy), find new ways to relate to their peers (relatedness) and to feel that they had learned effectively (competence). On that premise, this study suggests that the sudden change of learning environment following ERT has had an impact on the fulfilment of the basic psychological needs of learners and consequently, on their motivation. The level of motivation will steer behavior, hence students’ activities to learn, develop their competences, and succeed in their academic curriculum. In this embedded mixed method study, motivation was measured among students from the Royal Military Academy (RMA), a Belgian university, before the WHO’s declaration of the pandemic (December 2019) and during the pandemic (June 2020). We found that the first college year students’ motivation was the most negatively affected, followed by that of the second college year students. In addition, we found that ERT affected perceived competence suggesting that lower perceived competence contributes to a lower academic motivation. Based on these results, this study underlines the importance of assessing learners’ sense of competence before immersing them into an online learning environment or changing their learning environment in any other way.