Within the research associated with the project Academic Excellence: resilience and development of the quality of the didactic activity, a survey was developed to investigate the perceptions of students regarding the quality and evaluation of the didactic activity, academic ethics, and well-being, in relation to the transition to exclusively online education, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire was launched after the start of the 2022-2023 academic year, accumulating 534 responses. Considering the large volume of data, as well as the need to analyze it according to the rigors of academic research, the investigation in question will be the subject of a separate research report.
In the preliminary analysis presented here, only aggregate data will be included, which may provide a brief synthesis of the main insights into the perceptions of SNSPA students.
The sample
Students from all the didactic structures of SNSPA answered the questionnaire, but two-thirds of them are enrolled in two of the five structures of the university. The majority of those who answered the questionnaire are enrolled in the second and third years of the bachelor’s degree. Also, a significant segment is enrolled in the second year of the master’s degree. The structure of the sample indicates that the great majority of those surveyed have experience with online education within SNSPA during the pandemic. Three-quarters of the respondents are women.
Almost half of the responding students declared that they resided in Bucharest during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). A similar percentage of the respondents are employed, therefore combining professional activity with studies.
Main findings
The responses of the participants to the questionnaire related to well-being during the pandemic indicate that they express an attitude of resilience, although the reactions related to feeling a state of anxiety, fear, or the power of concentration show mixed responses. The majority of respondents (58.98%) declared themselves satisfied with the quality of relations with teachers during the pandemic. 86.2% of the research participants declared that they have the necessary technical means to access online platforms and resources, and 91% believe that they have the necessary digital skills. 91.2% of respondents state that they have the necessary financial resources to pay for data traffic.
The majority of respondents (64.79%) declared themselves satisfied with the quality of the online didactic processes and the content of the materials, considered appropriate for the pandemic context (70.22%). These evaluations confirm the positive perception of teachers’ efforts to adapt to new forms of teaching and interaction with students.
Regarding the possibility of participating in teaching activities, the absolute majority of respondents (91.6%) indicated that the use of the online environment allowed them to be present, while only 8.4% indicated the opposite. However, 27.7% of the participants answered that their interest would have been captured more easily in the case of didactic processes in physical format. When the participants were questioned about their interest in conducting online didactic activities, most of them (70.8%) expressed themselves in favor of online education, being appreciated the flexibility offered to students, interactivity, and the pleasant character of the methods used.
Satisfaction with online education may also be related to the fact that respondents perceive an improvement in collaborative relationships with colleagues, which may even lead to increased cohesion and a sense of community. Also, the cooperation with the professors has been positively evaluated by most respondents. The teacher is perceived as a facilitator, a binder even for collaboration between students. Respondents were also mostly satisfied with the online evaluation methods used (73.78%), as they were considered adequate, transparent, and objective.
Responsible for researching the quality of didactic processes: Dr. Elena Dinu
