article writing on covid 19 in english for students pdf

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• Published: 22 September 2023

How does the COVID-19 pandemic influence students’ academic activities? An explorative study in a public university in Bangladesh

• Bijoya Saha 1 ,
• Shah Md Atiqul Haq   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9121-4028 1 &
• Khandaker Jafor Ahmed 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  602 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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The global impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spared no sector, causing significant socioeconomic, demographic, and particularly noteworthy educational repercussions. Among the areas significantly affected, the education systems worldwide have experienced profound changes, especially in countries like Bangladesh. In this context, numerous educational institutions in Bangladesh decided to temporarily suspend classes in situations where a higher risk of infection was perceived. Nevertheless, the tertiary education sector, including public universities, encountered substantial challenges when establishing and maintaining effective online education systems. This research uses a qualitative approach to explore the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the academic pursuits of students enrolled in public universities in Bangladesh. The study involved the participation of 30 students from a public university, who were interviewed in-depth using semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was conducted using thematic analysis. The findings of this study reveal unforeseen disruptions in students’ learning processes (e.g., the closure of libraries, seminars, and dormitories, and the postponement of academic and administrative activities), highlighting the complications associated with online education, particularly the limitations it presents for practical and laboratory-based learning. Additionally, a decline in both energy levels and study hours has been observed, along with an array of physical, mental, and financial challenges that directly correlate with educational activities. These outcomes emphasize the need for a hybrid academic approach within tertiary educational institutions in Bangladesh and other developing nations facing similar sociocultural and socioeconomic contexts.

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Introduction and background.

The current global issue, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, is impacting both developed and developing nations (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020 ). Many countries have implemented worldwide lockdowns, enforced social isolation measures, bolstered healthcare services, and temporarily closed educational institutions in order to curb the spread of the virus. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2020a ), the closure of schools, colleges, universities, and other educational establishments due to COVID-19 has impacted over 60% of students worldwide. The pandemic is inflicting significant damage upon the global education sector. University students, in particular, are grappling with notable disruptions to their academic and social lives. The uncertainties surrounding their future goals and careers, coupled with the limitations on social interaction with friends and family (Cao et al., 2020 ), have left them contending with altered living conditions and increased workload demands compared to the time before traditional classroom teaching was suspended. Despite these challenges, the university setting and its associated activities have become the sole familiar constant amidst their otherwise transformed lives (Neuwirth et al., 2021 ). The pandemic’s interference with academic routines has substantially interrupted students’ educational journeys (Charles et al., 2020 ). The shutdown of physical classrooms and the halt of academic operations due to university closures (Jacob et al., 2020 ) have disrupted students’ study routines and performance. Prolonged periods of solitary studying at home have been linked to heightened stress levels (e.g., depression), feelings of cultural isolation (e.g., loneliness), and cognitive disorders (e.g., difficulty in retaining recent and past information) (Meo et al., 2020 ). Many educational institutions have responded to COVID-19 by transitioning from traditional face-to-face instruction to online alternatives to minimize educational disruptions. However, research indicates that students often feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied with online learning methods (Al-Tammemi et al., 2020 ). Beyond the challenges posed by online education, such as limited access to electronic devices, restricted internet connectivity, and high internet costs, students are also faced with adapting to new online assessment techniques and technologies, engaging with instructors, and navigating the complexities of the shift to online delivery (Owusu-Fordjour et al., 2020 ).

Bangladesh, a South Asian developing nation, has also been significantly impacted by COVID-19. To prevent the virus’s spread, the country opted to close its educational institutions, leading to students staying home to maintain social distancing (Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research [IEDCR], 2020 ). The higher education sector in Bangladesh encountered challenges during this period. The closure of educational institutions disrupted students’ learning activities (UNESCO, 2020b ; Al-Tammemi et al., 2020 ). Modern technology tools and software have become the means through which most university students engage in study-related tasks at home during their free time. The shift to online education is seen as a fundamental transformation in higher education in Bangladesh, departing from the traditional academic approach. However, for many teachers and administrators at Bangladeshi institutions, online education is a new frontier. Face-to-face teaching and learning have been the predominant mode at Bangladeshi universities for a long time, making it challenging to embrace the shift to an advanced online environment.

Bangladesh hosts more than 5,000 higher education institutions, encompassing both government and private universities, vocational training centers, and affiliated colleges, with an enrollment of 4 million students (Ahmed, 2020 ). In response to the health crisis, the government introduced emergency online education methods to enable students to continue learning despite temporary school closures. Challenges such as overcrowding, unequal access to technology compared to pre-COVID-19 times, and the difficulties in swift adaptation led to delays, teaching interruptions, and the adoption of extended distance learning. These issues were further exacerbated by the ongoing overcrowding, which posed a risk for the resurgence or spread of COVID-19 if in-person teaching were to resume. Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has left a profound impact on university education in Bangladesh. Despite numerous studies on COVID-19’s impact on a range of topics, the effects on higher academic activities in Bangladesh have received limited research attention. Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), a public institution and one of Bangladesh’s universities, stands as an example. Given the COVID-19 regulations, this study aims to investigate the effects of online learning on the academic endeavors of university students in Bangladesh. The study also seeks to assess students’ satisfaction with online education, their adaptability to this new format, and their participation in extracurricular activities during the COVID-19 period, in addition to their academic pursuits.

Literature review

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a notable impact on the landscape of online teaching and learning (Aldowah et al., 2019 ; Basilaia and Kvavadze, 2020 ; Khan and Abdou, 2021 ). Notably, Rameez et al. ( 2020 ) emphasize that a critical hurdle faced in Sri Lanka revolves around the lack of virtual teaching and learning proficiency among both educators and students, impeding a smooth educational process. University shutdowns and dormitory quarantines due to COVID-19 have significantly disrupted students’ learning abilities (Burgess and Sievertsen, 2020 ; Kedraka and Kaltsidis, 2020 ). Difficulties have arisen, encompassing challenges related to online lectures, exams, evaluations, reviews, and tutoring. While Kedraka and Kaltsidis ( 2020 ) laud online learning as modern, relevant, suitable, and advantageous, they also underline its drawbacks. Notably, it has led to a substantial loss of student social interaction, interrupting group learning, in-person interactions, and connections with peers and educators (Kedraka and Kaltsidis, 2020 ; Rameez et al., 2020 ).

In the context of higher education institutions in Bangladesh, Khan and Abdou ( 2021 ) propose adopting the flipped classroom method to sustain teaching and learning during the COVID-19 epidemic, an approach echoed in Alam’s ( 2021 ) comparison of pre-and post-pandemic students. Alam’s findings reveal better academic performance among post-pandemic students. Conversely, Biswas et al. ( 2020 ) report a positive attitude toward mobile learning among most students in Bangladesh, finding it effective in bridging knowledge gaps created by the pandemic. Emon et al. ( 2020 ) highlight discontinuities in learning opportunities in Bangladesh, emphasizing the need for technical solutions to maintain effective education systems during the pandemic. Ahmed’s ( 2020 ) study on tertiary students unveils a lack of technology and connectivity, leading to delays in coursework, exams, results, and class promotions. These disruptions have exacerbated student anxiety, frustration, and disappointment. Burgess and Sievertsen ( 2020 ) note students’ concerns about falling behind academically, missing job opportunities, facing post-graduation employment challenges, and enduring emotional pressure.

Rajhans et al. ( 2020 ) observe that the pandemic has driven significant advancements in academies worldwide, particularly in adopting online learning. A similar impact is seen in India’s optometry academic activities, where quick adoption of online learning supports both students and practising optometrists (Stanistreet et al., 2020 ). Consequently, educational events like commencement ceremonies, seminars, and sports have been postponed or canceled (Liguori and Winkler, 2020 ; Sahu, 2020 ; Shrestha et al., 2022 ), necessitating remote work for academic support staff (Abidah et al., 2020 ).

In higher education, teachers play a pivotal role in implementing online learning. The sudden shift to online education due to the pandemic has left some instructors grappling with limited IT skills and a challenge in maintaining the same level of engagement as in face-to-face settings (Meo et al., 2020 ; Wu et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, the transition has led to concerns about effective scheduling, course organization, platform selection, and measuring online education’s impact (Wu et al., 2020 ; Toquero, 2020 ). Zawacki-Richter ( 2021 ) predicts digital advancements in German higher education, driven by the crisis, faculty dedication, and higher expectations.

COVID-19’s influence on education extends to students’ mental well-being. Some students’ inadequate home networks have hindered access to online materials, exacerbating their distress (Akour et al., 2020 ). Mental health challenges stem from various sources, including parental pressures, financial strains, and family losses (Bäuerle et al., 2020 ). Long-term quarantine intensifies psychological and learning challenges, impacting students’ overall performance and study time (Farris et al., 2021 ; Meo et al., 2020 ). Blake et al. ( 2021 ) advocate for colleges to address students’ isolation needs and prepare for long-term effects on student welfare.

With its large population, Bangladesh grapples with challenges in effective technology adoption, especially with online education becoming an alternative system during the pandemic. The overcrowding issue has been exacerbated by the need for distance learning, causing skill transfer difficulties and delays. Given these circumstances, this study delves into how COVID-19 affects online education and Bangladeshi university students’ academic endeavors, offering insights from the students’ perspective. Unlike prior studies focusing on challenges, this research also uncovers opportunities triggered by the pandemic. Such a nuanced view of the impacts of COVID-19 on education will help formulate effective policies and programs to elevate online learning quality in Bangladesh’s higher education.

Methodology

Research design.

This study employs a descriptive research approach, which aims to portray a situation, an individual, or an event and illustrate phenomena’ connections and natural occurrences (Blumberg et al., 2005 ). A qualitative approach was adopted to analyze specific circumstances thoroughly. Grounded theory, developed by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, served as the overarching framework for this research (Denscombe, 2007 ). Grounded theory follows an inductive research approach that refrains from starting with preconceived assumptions and instead generates new questions as insights emerge. This methodology rests upon participants’ perspectives, experiences, and realities (Bytheway, 2018 ).

For this study, in-depth interviews were employed to assess how the recent pandemic impacted students’ academic engagement and the factors related to COVID-19 that influenced their academic activities. This examination sought to understand the pandemic’s implications on students, the facets of these consequences, and which students might be more susceptible to these effects concerning academic performance and engagement. Conducted over the phone, the in-depth interviews featured a relatively small of participants, leading to the choice of a descriptive study design. This design, however, is unable to establish causal relationships, which could be explored and compared using quantitative methodologies. Moreover, the potential influence of the interviewer’s presence during phone interviews was considered.

Study locations, population, and sample

This study delves into the academic challenges encountered by students during the COVID-19 lockdown. Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), a public university in Bangladesh’s Sylhet district, was purposefully selected for the study due to its high student enrollment. The participants consist of students from diverse disciplines of SUST. Employing purposive sampling, a non-probability sample technique, the research collected qualitative data through volunteers recruited via social media advertisements within a university group on Facebook. Participants were informed of the study’s objectives, and the data collection spanned from September 20 to October 3, 2021, supplemented by additional interviews from December 24 to December 27, 2021, to ensure data saturation. Information from 30 university students was gathered, covering a range of faculties. Table 1 provides an overview of participant’s age, gender, and educational level: 56.7% of participants identified as female, and 43.3% as male. In terms of educational distribution, 87% were enrolled in Bachelor’s degree programs, while 13% were pursuing Master’s degrees. The participants’ ages from 18 to 25 years, with a mean of 21.37 and a standard deviation of 1.99.

Data collection and data analysis

The research team, comprising a graduate student (B.S.) with qualitative research training, a sociology professor (S.M.A.H., PhD) with extensive qualitative and quantitative experience, and a sociology postdoctoral fellow (K.J.A., PhD), handled data collection and analysis. In-depth interviews, facilitated by a semi-structured interview instrument, were employed to gather for this qualitative study. This approach allowed participants to provide substantial insights by responding to open-ended questions on the research topic. The interviews explored the impact of COVID-19 on students’ academic activities, their online learning experiences, and the effects of the pandemic on educational pursuits. Ethical guidelines concerning confidentiality, informed consent, the use of data only for the present study, and non-disclosure were followed throughout the data collection, and the participation was voluntary, and they could withdraw their participation at any time during the research process. Participants were informed about the research through a participation information sheet prior to their involvement, and their consent was obtained in written form through email correspondence. Interviews were carried out in Bengali by the first author (B.S.) phone calls and were recorded. Subsequently, the recorded interviews were promptly transcribed into English using a word processing program.

The collected data underwent thorough analysis involving coding in Microsoft Excel, interpretation, and validation through discussions among the research team. Themes and subthemes emerged during the coding process, guiding the categorization and organization of data. Saturation was achieved after the 30th interview, indicating data sufficiency. The research team, without prior relationship with participants, ensured the reliability and credibility of the analysis through verbatim transcripts, individual and group analysis, and written notes.

The research identified eight themes (see Fig. 1 ) that characterized two main factors: the negative impact on student academic activities (see Fig. 2 ) and the positive impact on academic activities (see Fig. 3 ). The negative impact encompassed themes such as learning disruption, loss of social interaction, physical and mental health issues, financial struggles, and parental involvement. The positive impact included themes such as digital learning, adaptability, and engagement in online/offline activities. In-depth analyses were conducted for each theme, accompanied by citations indicating the participant’s identification number and gender.

Note: see Figs. 2 and 3 for subthemes of academic activities.

Negative impacts on student’s academic activities.

Positive impact on student’s academic activities.

Negative impact on student’s academic activities

Disruption in learning.

In the early months of 2020, the global spread of COVID-19 prompted the government of Bangladesh to close all educational institutions due to suspicious incidents. Participants unanimously expressed their initial surprise and frustration at the abrupt closure but soon recognized its necessity in the face of the pandemic. Libraries, seminars, and dormitories were immediately shut down. This posed a challenge for students residing on campus, who had quickly departed and lacked access to necessary resources. Academic and administrative activities across these institutions came to a halt. Alongside the strain of crowded classrooms, students voiced discontent, uncertainty, and anxiety about their studies, assessments, and outcomes.

Several participants shared their experiences:

“I used to follow the teachers’ instructions, attend lectures, and complete projects. But now that classes are suspended, my studying has come to a halt. I worry this pause might be prolonged.” (M 7 , M 14 , F 17 )

These students identified various obstacles to effective learning. They found the absence of a structured routine for attending classes and lectures at home demotivating. Although they kept busy with other activities, they noted a decline in their enthusiasm for education. They struggled to retain and apply the knowledge gained from classes, attributing it to the sudden disruption. Limited access to educational materials and books, often left behind in campus dormitories, also hindered their learning progress. Reading from the library, they mentioned, was a costly alternative. As a result, the inability to access essential resources posed a challenge. Furthermore, students found it difficult to concentrate on their studies due to unsuitable home environments, impacting their academic performance.

A participant shared:

“I need a quiet study environment, which I can’t find at home. I used to study at departmental seminars or the library. Even though I’ve been home, I still struggle to concentrate.” (M 1 )

Another student added:

“The university closed shortly after I enrolled. As a result, I missed out on getting to know my peers, professors, and seniors. I couldn’t enjoy the university’s cultural activities and events.” (F 30 )

Several participants said,

“The vast majority of their courses are laboratory-based. Taking these classes online during COVID-19 made them difficult to understand, and even the teachers struggled to understand them.” (M 4, M 19, F 29, F 30 )

Loss of social interaction

Students strongly desired to return to their educational environment and reconnect with peers and professors. Collaborative problem-solving and discussions with batchmates were a common practice, and the absence of in-person interactions disrupted this dynamic. They found comfort in studying together on campus, rather than in isolation at home. The prolonged separation from friends and classmates resulted in a breakdown of peer learning processes. While attempts were made to stay connected through digital means, participants found these interactions lacking in the vibrancy of face-to-face communication. Recalling earlier interactions for study or leisure became challenging, eroding the motivation to learn.

One participant noted:

“Group study is no longer possible due to the pandemic, and my interest in studying has waned. This could pose communication challenges even after the pandemic subsides.” (M 19 )

Others explained:

“I can’t interact with my friends or have the same enjoyment as before due to extended periods at home. This saddens me. It’s made studying with them much harder. I anticipate a communication gap post-pandemic, as we might forget how to engage openly.” (F 12 )

Another student expressed:

“I was admitted to the university, but it closed just a month later. This meant that I didn’t have the chance to get to know my fellow students, teachers, or seniors. I also missed out on the university’s cultural activities, concerts, and festivals.” (F 29 )

Physical health challenges

The participants pointed out that COVID-19 had wide-ranging effects on their daily routines. They noted shifts in sleep patterns, eating habits, and physical activity levels, leading to daytime fatigue, disrupted sleep, reduced appetite, and sedentary behavior, resulting in weight gain. These physical symptoms contributed to a sense of exhaustion, weakness, and overall discomfort. Many participants linked these physical challenges to their waning interest in studying at home, creating a disconnect from their academic pursuits.

One participant shared:

“I have gained weight due to excessive eating and spending all day at home. My body feels heavy, my mind feels foggy, and I experience a mix of happiness and lethargy. Is this is an environment conducive to studying?” (M 4 )

Another student explained:

“I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which requires a balanced lifestyle. I exercised and ate well on campus, keeping my physical condition in check. But with the shift to remote learning, my routine changed, worsening my physical health. This has affected my concentration on studies, adding to my frustration.” (F 9 )

Mental health challenges

Stress emerged as a prevailing mental health concern among participants. They exhibited heightened anxiety, not only due to the pandemic itself but also concerning their educational commitments. In addition to fears of contracting COVID-19, participants expressed concern about maintaining organization, motivation, and adapting to new learning methods. Worries extended to upcoming courses, exams, result publication, and starting a new academic year. The post-epidemic landscape was also concerned with the potential pressure to expedite course completion. These uncertainties overshadowed the primary goals of their educational journey.

A number of participants found themselves increasingly frustrated when contemplating their future professional aspirations. Their anxiety and anger stemmed from the inability to finish their final year of university as planned. The pandemic further amplified their concerns about securing employment and setting a stable foundation for themselves. They argued that an extended academic year could impede their career opportunities and create challenges in securing a post-graduation job. Moreover, there was a prevailing fear that their relatively advanced age might hinder their employability in Bangladesh.

Several participants elaborated:

“Most government and private sector jobs in Bangladesh have age restrictions. Exam topics often diverge from the academic curriculum. The prolonged academic year due to COVID-19 makes me uncertain about my job prospects. Global economic instability adds to my worries. This anxiety affects my ability to focus, leaving me disinterested in everything, including studying .” (M 16 , M 4 , F 10 )

For female participants, the pressure to marry before completing their education emerged as an additional concern, leading to emotional distress and academic setbacks. Some female participants added:

“Given the uncertainty surrounding when the pandemic would conclude and when we would have the opportunity to complete our studies, our families urged us to consider marriage before finishing our education. This predicament weighed heavily on us, causing a sense of melancholy, and subsequently, academic performance suffered as we grappled with the idea of getting married before our graduation.” (F 17 , F 20 , F 21 , F 10 )

Financial crisis and parental involvement

COVID-19’s economic impact was deeply felt among participants, who relied on part-time jobs or tuition to support themselves. The abrupt halt in academic and work activities severely impacted their financial stability. With local and global economies suffering, family incomes dwindled, making it harder for students to afford internet connectivity and online resources.

“My ability to attend online classes suffered due to my family’s limited finances. I feared my grades would suffer and I might fail courses.” (F 28 )

Additionally, the prolonged closure of institutions resulted in difficult conditions for many students. Financial hardships and familial challenges, such as job loss, reduced income, and parental pressure, further exacerbated students’ emotional distress. Having lost a parent before the pandemic, some students found it even harder to make ends meet.

One participant explained:

“I supported my family and myself with tuition before COVID-19. Losing my father earlier made me the sole provider. But with COVID-19, I had to forfeit my tuition and supporting my family became a struggle.” (M 27 )

Positive impact on student academic activities

Adoption of digital learning processes.

Amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic, integrating technology into education stands out as a significant advantage. The global situation intensified the strong connection between technology and education. The closure of institutions led to a swift transformation of on-campus courses into online formats, turning e-learning into a vital method of instruction. This shift extended beyond content delivery to encompass pedagogy and assessment methods changes. The participants adapted to Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom platforms for attending online lectures. They found pre-recorded classes accessible through online media, simplifying note-taking. Asking questions online became convenient, and submitting online assignments posed no significant hurdles. Many students also embraced the opportunity to engage with the free online courses from platforms such as Coursera, edX, and Future Learn, further enhancing their skill sets.

“Recorded lectures are a boon; I can revisit them whenever I want. I don’t need to focus on note-taking during class since I can easily access the lectures later.” (F 3 )

Another participant noted:

“I enrolled in several free online courses during COVID-19, using platforms such as Coursera, edX, and Future Learn. These tasks boosted my productivity and introduced me to the world of freelancing.” (F 6 )

Cultivation of adaptability

The pandemic propelled digital technologies to the forefront of education. The transition to digital learning required both educators and students to enhance their technological literacy. This shift also paved the way for pedagogy and curriculum design innovation, fostering changes in learning methods and assessment techniques. As a result, a large group of students could simultaneously engage in learning. Forced to embrace technology due to the pandemic, participants improved their digital literacy.

Participants commended the Bangladeshi government’s shift from traditional face-to-face learning to online education as a necessity. They recognized the efficacy of online learning in the local context and found inspiration in mastering new technologies. Many educators sought to improve the effectiveness of online courses, making the most of available resources. Participants gained familiarity with technology tools and demonstrated their adaptability and commitment to mastering new skills.

A male participant said:

“An unexpected opportunity arose amidst the pandemic. Virtual learning was the need of the hour. Adapting to this sophisticated technology was initially challenging, but I eventually became comfortable with the new mode.” (M 29 )

Integration of online and offline activities

The pandemic prompted students to diversify their activities. They devoted time to hobbies such as farming, painting, gardening, and crafts. Engaging in extracurricular activities such as cooking, volunteering, attending religious events, and using social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram became a norm. Some events created uplifting content for social media, using platforms as a potential source of income. Others embarked on online entrepreneurship ventures, reflecting their entrepreneurial spirit. Volunteering became appealing, bridging the gap between virtual and physical engagement.

Two participants shared:

“I wasn’t part of any groups during my student years. However, I joined several volunteer groups during COVID-19. These efforts included both offline initiatives such as distribution of food and masks, online initiatives.” (F 15 , M 18 )

Another participant shared:

“I had time for myself after extensive studying. I explored various creative pursuits, cooked using YouTube recipes, and found joy in them. I am considering a career in cooking.” (F 11 )

Another participant expressed:

“Amidst this time apart, many companies and organizations offer unpaid internships. I have participated in such an internship, attended seminars, conferences, workshops, and events. This period has enriched both my soft and hard skills, and I have participated in various physical and online events.” (M 22 )

The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the academic activities of university students. The study aimed to understand students’ satisfaction with online education during the pandemic, their responses to this learning mode, and their engagement in non-academic activities. The pandemic has significantly disrupted not only regular teaching and learning at our university but also the lives of our students. Amid this outbreak, several students found solace in spending quality time with their families and tackling long-postponed household chores. It is crucial to acknowledge that a diverse range of circumstances, personalities, and coping mechanisms exist within human communities like ours. Despite these variations, the resilience exhibited by the individuals in this study stands out remarkably.

In recent research, educational institutions, particularly public universities, adopted digital online learning and assessment platforms to respond to the pandemic (Blake et al., 2021 ; Wu et al., 2020 ). Consequently, participants in our study discussed their experiences with digital platforms during COVID-19, highlighting both positive and negative impact on academic activities (see Figs. 1 – 3 ).

Our findings demonstrate that online learning offers benefits by enhancing educational flexibility through the accessibility and user-friendliness of digital platforms. These findings align with those of Kedraka and Kaltsidis ( 2020 ), who identified convenience and accessibility as primary advantages of remote learning. Moreover, Burgess and Sievertsen ( 2020 ) emphasized the potential of distance learning and technology-enabled indirect instruction, while Basilaia and Kvavadze ( 2020 ) underscored technology’s role in driving educational adaptation during a pandemic.

According to our study, the pandemic led to students’ significant loss of social connections. Collaborative group study plays a pivotal role in conceptual understanding and academic progress. However, due to the outbreak, students’ routine group study sessions in libraries or on campus, face-to-face interactions, and conversations with peers and educators suffered setbacks. These disruptions might potentially impact their motivation for sustained high-level learning. Participants voiced concerns about online learning, including the absence of human interaction, challenges in maintaining audience engagement, and, most notably, the inability to acquire practical skills. These limitations have been observed previously, indicating that these teaching and learning methods are hindered by constraints in conducting laboratory work, providing hands-on experience, and delivering comprehensive feedback to students, leading to reduced attention spans (Zawacki-Richter, 2021 ).

Likewise, Naciri et al. ( 2020 ) highlighted educators’ difficulties in sustaining student engagement, multitasking during virtual sessions, subpar audio and video quality, and connectivity issues. In our study, students reported that the quality of their internet connection directly influenced their online learning experience. They also expressed frustration at the extended screen time and feelings of fatigue. To address these concerns, experts recommended utilizing tools such as live chat, pop quizzes, virtual whiteboards, polls, and reflections to structure shorter, more interactive sessions.

Consistent with prior research, our recent poll findings suggested that participants were more surprised than disappointed by the swift decision to close educational institutions nationwide. Moreover, the study revealed that the prolonged closure of universities and confinement to homes led to substantial disruptions in students’ learning, aligning with findings from various studies that highlight disturbances in daily routines and studies (Meo et al., 2020 ), limited access to educational resources due to closed libraries, difficulties in learning at home, disruptions in the household environment, and challenges in retaining studied material (Bäuerle et al., 2020 ). All participants expressed some degree of apprehension. Staying at home exacerbated both physical and mental health issues. Study habits suffered, and interest in learning waned. Physical health concerns excessive daytime sleepiness, disrupted nocturnal sleep patterns, decreased appetite, sedentary behavior, weight gain or obesity, as well as feelings of fatigue, dizziness, and listlessness. Toquero ( 2020 ) noted similar issues, outlining the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health and educational performance. Delays in examinations, results, and promotions to the next academic level intensified student stress, echoing findings by Sahu ( 2020 ).

As an unintended outcome of the pandemic, online alternatives to traditional higher education have gained prominence, particularly in Bangladesh. However, these methods are not without their limitations. The study identified persistent challenges in Bangladesh’s online education system, including a lack of electronic devices such as laptops, smartphones, computers, and essential tools for online courses. Additionally, limited or absent internet access, expensive mobile data packages or broadband connections, disruptions during online classes due to slow or unstable internet speeds, and frequent power outages in both urban and rural areas hamper the efficacy of online learning. These findings echo prior research (Aldowah et al., 2019 ; Liguori and Winkler, 2020 ).

Amidst the challenges, the study also unveiled positive outcomes in academic pursuits. Students reported spending more time engaging with television, movies, YouTube videos, computer and mobile device gaming, and social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram compared to pre-pandemic times. Some students even took a break from their studies due to university closures. They capitalized on online platforms such as Coursera, edX, and FutureLearn during their downtime at home, while others embraced hobbies like cooking and drawing. Furthermore, students actively participated in voluntary extracurricular activities, such as freelancing, unpaid internships, remote jobs, virtual conferences, seminars, webinars, workshops, and various competitions. These findings parallel those of Ali ( 2020 ), underscoring students’ varied engagement during the pandemic. In response, students proposed suggestions for enhancing educational operations, including reducing homework loads, minimizing screen time, and improving lecture delivery. Scholars like Ferrel and Ryan ( 2020 ) have recommended reducing cognitive load, enhancing engagement, implementing identity-based access, introducing case-based learning, and employing comprehensive assessments.

In conclusion, this study sheds light on the multifaceted impacts of COVID-19 on university students’ educational experiences. The pandemic prompted an accelerated shift towards digital learning, demonstrating advantages and limitations. Despite the challenges, students exhibited resilience and adaptability. As we navigate these uncharted waters, embracing the positive aspects of technology-enabled education while addressing its challenges will be pivotal for ensuring continued learning excellence.

Bangladesh boasts diverse educational institutions, ranging from colleges and universities to schools and beyond. The widespread repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have jolted the global academic community. This study delves into how COVID-19 has influenced students’ academic performance, encompassing emotional well-being, physical health, financial circumstances, and social relationships. However, certain aspects of the curriculum, particularly science and technology-focused areas involving online lab assessments and practical courses, present challenges. Despite its adverse effects on academic activities, COVID-19 has ushered in positive outcomes for several students, revealing successful interactions with virtual education and contentment with online learning methods.

This study paves the way for further research to refine the online learning environment in Bangladeshi public universities. The findings indicate that the current strategies employed for online university teaching may lack the motivational impetus required to elevate students’ comprehension levels and actively involve them in the learning process. Consequently, there is room for conducting additional studies to enhance the online learning experience, benefiting both educators and students alike. Higher education institutions need to exert concerted efforts to establish sustainable solutions for Bangladesh’s educational challenges in the post-COVID era. A hybrid learning approach, blending online and offline components, emerges as a potentially effective strategy to navigate future situations akin to COVID-19. A collaborative effort involving governments, organizations, and educators is imperative to bridge educational gaps within this framework. Governments could play a pivotal role by providing ICT training to instructors and students, fostering a more technologically adept academic community.

This research furnishes policymakers with insights to devise strategies that mitigate the detrimental impacts of crises such as pandemics on the educational system. Notwithstanding its limitations, including a confined sample size and the sole focus on a single university within a specific country, the study contributes valuable data. This research serves as a foundation, particularly in a science and technology-focused institution where the transition to online formats is intricate due to the nature of practical courses and lab work. This information could prove invaluable to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Education as it formulates policies to counteract the adverse effects of crises on the educational realm.

Furthermore, this study serves as a springboard for subsequent investigations into the far-reaching implications of COVID-19 on academic engagement. Expanding the scope, larger-scale studies could be conducted in various locations to enrich the data pool. Additionally, considering the perspectives of professors and other stakeholders within higher education is an avenue for future exploration. Employing quantitative research methodologies with substantial sample sizes can ensure the broader applicability of the results. This study offers a multifaceted view of how COVID-19 has permeated students’ academic pursuits, opening doors for comprehensive research and proactive policy-making in education.

Data availability

The data collected from the participants in the study cannot be shared, since participants were explicitly informed during the qualitative data collection process that their information would remain confidential and not be disclosed. Participants provided consent solely for the collection of relevant data for the study.

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Saha, B., Atiqul Haq, S.M. & Ahmed, K.J. How does the COVID-19 pandemic influence students’ academic activities? An explorative study in a public university in Bangladesh. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 602 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02094-y

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Academic writing and ChatGPT: Students transitioning into college in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic

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This paper reflects on an educator's perceived experiences and observations on the complex process of ‘passage’ when students transitioning from high school into their first-year of post-secondary education often struggle to adapt to academic writing standards. It relies on literature to further explore such a process. Written communication has become increasingly popular in formal academic and professional settings, stressing the need for effective formal writing skills. The development of online tools for aiding writing is not a new concept, but a new software development known as ChatGPT, may add to the many challenges academic writing has faced over the years. This paper reflects on the students' struggles as they navigate different courses seeking to adapt their writing skills to formal and structured written academic requirements. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many recent high school students into virtual education, uncertain of its effectiveness in developing the writing skills high school graduates require in academia. Many unknowns exist in using ChatGPT in academic contexts, especially in writing. ChatGPT can generate texts independently, raising concerns about plagiarism and its impact on students' critical thinking and writing skills. This paper hopes to contribute to pedagogical discussions on the current challenges surrounding the use of artificial intelligence technology and how better to support beginner writers in  academia.

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1 Introduction

The COVID-19 crisis highlighted an old problem for most students transitioning from high school into college, the deficiencies in structural and critical analytical writing and reading skills in relation to what is expected of these students in the different courses at the college level [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. This first-year of college is like a ceremony of ‘passage’ into the adulthood of education and the premise of a potentially successful academic and professional life. Students often navigate this new learning environment unaware of the many layers of complexities involved in writing at the academic level.

This paper mainly focuses on three important educational considerations:

Noticeable deficiencies in writing skills preparation among high school graduates as a consequence of systemic challenges in high school curricula and grading policies [ 1 , 2 , 3 ].

The accentuation of education such challenges during the COVID-19 crisis and its pressures on pedagogy, assessment, and mental health at the high school and higher institution levels [ 4 , 5 ].

The popularization of a generative AI illusion of written communications made ‘easy and competence-free’ as a ‘solution’ or ‘fix’ for one’s struggles to adapt their already deficient foundational writing skills to meet the standards and expectations of academic papers across the disciplines [ 6 ]. This has led to further challenges in instructional and assessment strategies as well as policies regulating the use of AI technology in education.

Since the COVID-19 crisis started, writing has taken a new role in communication, as in-person interactions were not always possible due to lockdowns. Academically and professionally, emailing and sharing knowledge through a written format were further popularized during this period. For students transitioning from high school into post-secondary educational institutions, the academic writing challenges were accentuated due to academic losses, and unstable learning environments, sometimes online and other times in-person or alternating depending on lockdowns due to the number of COVID-19 infections affecting students’ mental health and learning. Advances in technology have been available in the educational context, especially writing tools such as editing software, which are easily found. For instance, Microsoft Word and Grammarly are used widely as editing tools. Microsoft WORD, as well as Grammarly, have been evolving their capabilities, offering students autocorrection suggestions, including how to re-write complete paragraphs, but mainly flagging potential grammar mistakes. These editing tools may help students improve their paper drafts but in a more limited manner compared to other technological tools available online. Generative Artificial Intelligence—AI software such as ChatGPT, due to its ability to create original but derivative text, has raised concerns about plagiarism, academic conduct, and the process of learning and becoming proficient in formal writing styles such as academic writing.

This paper discusses the struggles of junior college students as they navigate different courses seeking to adapt their often-deficient academic writing skills to a more formal and structured form of writing standard to most post-secondary institutions’ paper writing style. It explores these challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularization of writing platforms using Artificial Intelligence—AI such as ChatGPT. The topic is relevant as educators strive to address the potential impact of the pandemic legacy. The paper focuses on the potential deterioration of pre-existing academic deficiencies, a decline in mental health as well as the role of technology in academic writing, especially looking at ChatGPT’s potential impact on first-year college student writing. It may also contribute to pedagogical discussions on the current challenges surrounding the use of artificial intelligence technology and how better to support beginner student writers in an academic context.

2 Literature review

Canada is a diverse country. Such human diversity is often found in classrooms composed of students from many cultures, languages, and socioeconomic backgrounds, leading to a wide range of learning needs and challenges impacting education [ 7 ]. Some studies suggest that high school Province Diploma Examination outcomes do not always translate into an acute picture of students’ literacy skills, as many first-year college students who obtained good results in the Alberta diploma exam may struggle to meet the standards of academic writing required at the university level [ 8 , 9 ]. They point to the need for better literacy practices in high school to support students transitioning from high school to university, especially English Language Learners.

As shown in the 2018 PISA results [ 10 ], overall literacy skills among Alberta students also suggest a decline in reading and, consequently, in writing abilities among high school students in recent years [ 11 ]. The root of the academic writing struggles often observed among first-year post-secondary students may be unclear. Still, the COVID-19 pandemic may have worsened these students’ ability to adapt or develop the academic writing skills needed in an academic setting. According to Aurini and Davies [ 12 ], “lengthy periods of time out of school generally create losses of literacy and numeracy skills and widen student achievement gaps” [p. 165]. For instance, the National Assessment of Educational Progress—NAEP [ 5 ] suggests that students who were already academically struggling were most likely affected by the pandemic, and academic deficiencies became more accentuated, especially among visible minorities.

The coronavirus crisis has impacted the higher education community and learning settings [ 13 , 14 ]. Hawley et al. [ 15 ] explain that “to ensure student health and abide by governmental recommendations, universities worldwide have mostly transitioned to online teaching” impacting academic calendars, and students’ daily educational routine and learning experiences [p. 13]. Online courses have been available to college students for years, but the virtual learning approach experienced by students and educators during COVID-19 university lockdowns led to further testing of the limitations of home learning [ 13 ]. This process is characterized by the use of virtual platforms as learning tools. These learning tools were important to facilitate learning during school lockdowns. The virtual learning experiences during this period may have also broadened our understanding of how these learning tools can be used and how effective they are [ 4 ].

Many studies point to first-year college students' challenges transitioning from high school into college, adapting high school-level writing skills into much more refined and structured standardized practices required in college-level papers [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Academic deficiencies were further accentuated during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the students who were already struggling with academic shortcomings prior to the coronavirus pandemic [ 5 ].

In addition, a survey conducted by the Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom suggests that most higher education students were dissatisfied with their learning experience during the COVID-19 crisis lockdowns [ 14 ]. The survey results indicate two major concerns for these students: Learning delivery (75%) and quality of learning (71%). They suggest that the lack of opportunities for social interactions and face-to-face learning experiences impacted the students’ learning experiences. They may have also contributed to accentuating mental health issues, often leading to depression and academic loss. These factors add to other mental health stressors first-year post-secondary students may already face, such as “social relationships, loneliness, academic demands, and finances” [ 16 , p. 885]. Duffy et al. [ 16 ] suggest increasing demands for mental health support among novice students.

Another study, based on an online survey performed between April 29 and May 31, 2020, which included students from the United States, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, China, Taiwan and South Korea points to university students’ concerns “about the quality of online learning, progress with their education, and maintaining interaction with peers and professors” [16, p. 4]. Interestingly, the study suggests that students shared similar concerns regarding academic progression and interactions prior to the pandemic. It also notes that mental health concerns were mostly higher among American students compared to other students surveyed.

Academic writing deficiencies and educational inequalities among first-year college students have been a complex problem over the years, especially in Canada and the United States [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 17 ]. Some scholars point to grade inflation in high schools that ultimately may grant students a Grade Point Average—GPA high enough to enter most programs at the university level but does not correspond to the writing skills needed to carry on more advanced analytical writing skills required at the university level [ 18 , 19 ]. For instance, Cosh [ 20 ] argues that in Ontario, high school grades trended up over the years, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, they climbed substantially compared to previous years. He suggests two main reasons for the sudden increase in high school students’ grades:

First, inadequate government grading policy may not clearly and accurately portray learning outcomes. The author explains that in an attempt to address any shortfall from the pandemic, the Ontario Ministry of Education issued a directive that high school students’ grades should not be lower than they were before the pandemic.

Secondly, grade inflation during the challenging times of the pandemic, where teachers may have prioritized students’ well-being over academics, believing that higher grades could contribute to students’ resilience and sense of optimism amid such a challenging time.

Cosh [ 20 ] concludes that while grade inflation may have benefited many academically struggling students to enter specific postsecondary programs, it might have been detrimental to truly high-achiever students. He explains that as most students averaged 90 percent, such grades became meaningless and kept some of these students whose academic merits matched their grades out of their desired postsecondary programs. I would add that another potential problem with grade inflation is student retention, widening the struggles in subjects such as academic writing, which may impact student dropout rates and increase student debt without the prospect of finishing a degree.

Graff [ 1 ] explores the many problems within the problem faced by students transitioning from high school into college. He suggests that such problems are complex and have many ramifications, from the failure of high schools to offer these students proper opportunities to develop their academic writing skills to the inability of higher institutions to effectively bridge this ‘passage’ stage in students’ academic journey. According to Birenbaum et al. [ 21 ], “current context of accountability of Canadian public schools, assessment for learning policies and protocols are beginning to emerge in an effort to support teacher practice in this area” [p. 123], suggesting that some teachers may lack the skills to assess students in a way that grades reflect the student’s knowledge of writing.

Research also points to high education potential stigmas towards teaching how to write at the university level such as the belief that novice university students will eventually learn how to write, perhaps justifying the minor emphasis on writing courses compared to other disciplines [ 2 , 3 , 13 , 22 ]. Gómez-García et al. [ 13 ] explain that even though some institutions offer academic writing classes, often these courses are taught by contract staff. Some faculty staff occasionally refer to them in a depreciative tone as ‘grammar’ courses, suggesting that anybody can teach them and it is not higher in priority for most tenured faculty [ 13 ]. More than generalizing the students’ writing ability needs, Wilder and Yagelski [ 3 ] argue that students are all at different writing levels. They note that the number of courses institutions often offer students is insufficient to address the student's needs to develop their academic reading and writing analytical skills required to succeed in academic writing. The authors also suggest a correlation between students' academic writing skill level and their grades. That is to say, students with more developed analytical writing abilities often receive higher grades.

Volante and DeLuca [ 19 ] point to grade inflation as another potential contributor to novice postsecondary students' challenges due to “the fact that some students, presumably from high schools with more generous grading, have a false sense of their academic ability which may lead to a rude awakening at university” [p. 1]. It likely adds to the frustrations and sometimes the discontent among some junior college students about taking academic writing courses, as one may assume students already have the required writing skills based on their high school grades. It may also contribute to some myths, such as students’ popular belief that ‘guessing’ what the professor wants them to write will lead to higher grades or if the professor’s ‘dislike’ for a student will result in low grades at the university level.

In the mists of the pandemic, which has impacted students’ and contributed to grade inflation, aggravating the challenges for first-year college students writing; ChatGPT—an AI tool that can be used to produce texts, increasingly started to become part of class conversations as students, as well as educators, are often curious to see how it works and the potential benefits and challenges to education [ 6 , 23 ]. While some students may find the use of AI in writing as a possible solution to the knowledge gap between high school and college expected writing skills, educators are often concerned the overreliance on technology would be detrimental to actual learning, and add to the difficulties students may have to adjust to more permanent in-person learning.

Dobrin [ 6 ] defines AI as the “theory and development of computer systems that can perform tasks that previously required human intelligence” [p. 4]. The author argues that, like human abilities, these systems learn from performing various tasks, adapting and improving to become more efficient over time. However, unlike humans, these systems lack a critical understanding of discerning information accuracy. Dobrin [ 6 ] also points to how introducing such systems may change how we perceive plagiarism. Ultimately, the popularization of AI for academic writing purposes is complex and problematic, and it might be connected to a vacuum in responsive practices addressing the challenges students have experienced transitioning from high school into university over the years. Namely, high schools and postsecondary educational institutions may be failing to provide students with meaningful opportunities to develop and grow their writing abilities, an essential skill in academic and professional success prospects.

3 Discussion: Reflections of an educator

3.1 academic losses and managing learning from home.

I was teaching high school when classes started transitioning from in-person to virtual classes due to the first COVID-19 school lockdown. At that point, many high school students were already struggling with writing and often not writing at grade level. Reflecting on the transition of high school students into a postsecondary setting, the researcher in me wants to know: Are academic writing skills any different for English language learners compared to English native speakers?

Based on my observations, I noticed that while academic writing challenges in first-year postsecondary students were slightly more accentuated among those whose first language is other than English [ 8 ], generally speaking, most English native speakers and English Language Learners junior college students struggle with the formal structure of academic writing. I mainly noticed that their writing performance levels varied and that perhaps students’ previous writing experiences, socio-economics opportunities, and their views on why they need to take the course play a role in their learning outcomes. While some students who perhaps may have had high grades in high school may be led to believe that learning more formal and structured writing is largely unnecessary, others have little confidence in their writing skills, blaming low grades on their ineffective writing abilities. Some authors suggest that grade inflation and popular stereotypes associated with more formal writing styles may often impact students’ growth mindsets toward academic writing [ 3 , 19 ]. Interestingly, some studies suggest a connection between academic writing skills and higher grades [ 2 , 3 ].

Like many other university instructors, I had to transition from in-person teaching to virtual teaching depending on the coronavirus influx of infections to what I would call a more flexible shifting teaching style. Aside from the school lockdowns, sometimes, even when teaching in-person, a rapid influx of COVID-19 infections would spike, and we had to switch back and forth from in-person to temporarily online lessons. During this time, the three main concerns observed were:

3.1.1 Virtual learning

One of the first challenges was having to quickly adapt learning to ‘virtual classrooms’. To start, students were acquainted with technology use, and ‘logging in’ into devices, for instance, was not as much of a problem for the majority of my first-year college students. However, staying focused and often attending synchronous virtual classes proved daunting for some students. Asynchronous classes also appeared problematic as some students mentioned that they never ended up watching the recorded lessons, ultimately just missing the class.

The return to primarily in-person classes also presented some challenges. To illustrate these challenges, specifically during this transition process as COVID-19 infection numbers subsided and students were allowed to return to campus, some students struggled to disconnect from their phones and seemed not entirely active in learning and participating in class discussions. Concerns about the overuse of screen time and its impact on student’s mental health may explain the often-poor student learning engagement. For various reasons, most students transitioning from high school struggled to adapt to a fast-paced and unstable learning environment.

3.1.2 Learning engagement

Aside from occasional technology glitches to a certain extent, this new concept of pandemic-induced virtual learning impacted the natural flow of lessons. I would describe such processes as managing slides while watching for virtual hands being raised and students switching on and off and joining small group discussions in the chat rooms, just to realize that some students had left even though their status showed they were ‘online’.

Socioeconomic challenges may have contributed to such absences as many of these students also worked part-time or, in some cases, some students struggling financially took extra shifts during virtual classes to make ends meet. In addition, I also noticed that some of them might not own a personal laptop but rather a phone. While phones were practical tools for short-term communications, such as texting, they didn’t seem very effective when reading long texts or writing essays.

3.1.3 Learning outcomes

Over 70 percent of postsecondary students surveyed in the United Kingdom negatively regarded their virtual learning experience [ 14 ]. Research suggests that students transitioning from high school often face many challenges incorporating academic writing into their university essays [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The COVID-19 sudden changes added to the challenges and frustrations students often experience as they may not acquire the writing foundation during high school prior to transitioning into university writing [ 1 ]. However, such challenges became more evident as many high school students had to adapt to remote learning and school lockdowns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 5 ].

The disconnection in the virtual classes and significant absences may have affected students’ learning and led even to lower learning outcomes reflected in their grades compared to previous years. This challenging time often led to novice college students having to adapt to new academic and social norms put in place to manage the COVID-19 infection spread. In sum, social interactions are critical to creating a healthy learning environment. Students struggled with social isolation and increased stress due to restrictions of movement affecting their mental health and likely impacting their learning.

3.2 Mental health and resilience

During the lockdowns and as we return to class still having to adapt to COVID-19 fluctuating numbers affecting learning settings, mental health was a concern as many students struggled to manage uncertainties in their academic and professional lives as well as personal life. First-year college students’ struggles with mental health are often highlighted in research as it impacts their well-being and, consequently, their ability to focus and engage in learning [ 16 , 24 ]. Duffy et al. [ 16 ] explain that:

The transition to university coincides with a critical developmental period characterised by individuation and separation from family, development of new social connections, and increased autonomy and responsibility. At the same time, the brain is undergoing accelerated development and is at heightened sensitivity to risk exposures… [p. 885]

I found that social interactions during class discussions, group work, and after-class informal conversations on ‘what was going on’ in the student’s personal life affecting their learning were viral to attendance and students’ academic growth. Students seemed more comfortable with the ‘why’ of an absence in-person than writing it in an email or sharing it during a virtual meeting. The opportunities for such interactions did not migrate well into a virtual learning environment, often leading to low attendance.

However, signs of resilience among these young adults were also remarkable and inspiring. For instance, I had a student who attended an online class from a hospital bed and another student who would attend every class whether we were in person or a temporally virtual format, even if they were struggling with depression. These are just some examples of my inspiring students who often struggled with academic writing and the lack of foundational writing skills taken for granted as one finishes high school.

Overall, virtual learning may have contributed to accentuating mental health issues and academic challenges that first-year college students already experienced over the years. These students will need mental health support to continue developing resilience practices to cope and overcome the negative impact reminiscent of this critical period in their lives.

3.3 The role of technology

Surprisingly, as the return to in-class lessons has become more permanent, I noticed that fewer courses have been offered online, and students often ask me for printed copies of the course material. However, having all the course material available in learning platforms has advantages as you can always access them anywhere, and assignments can often be submitted up to midnight.

As we returned to primarily in-person classes, conversations around the use of ChatGPT and the potential subsequent impact on students’ learning instead of copying and pasting work from an AI machine became part of ongoing conversations. Although there is still limited research on the topic, many informal and formal discussions addressing the risks of improper use of AI-produced knowledge in many areas of education, including writing, are taking place. They mainly seek to foresee the challenges and policy regulations needed to continue to create and maintain healthy and striving learning perspectives for our students. The question: ‘What are the risks that ChatGPT presents to academic integrity and learning, and how educators and educational institutions can mitigate such risks?’ is central to this reflection.

Some may agree that there are many positive aspects to the use of technology in helping to bridge the academic writing deficiencies noticed in first-year college students. Editing, for example, is essential for improving the quality of papers. To illustrate, these tools have been particularly important for students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, a disorder that affects the way a person decodes and processes language, to address minor grammar mistakes [ 25 ]. Editing software, such as Grammarly, may play a positive role in helping students address basic grammar issues; however, it does not generate a paper independently.

ChatGPT can be described as an AI chatbot that mimics humanlike conversational interactions that can respond to questions and compose texts such as articles, and papers using user’s input [ 6 , 26 ]. Created by Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015, the initial ChatGPT project has evolved over time, leading to more sophisticated AI versions and popular availability such as the 2022 OpenAI, an AI open-source software that provides a free version of ChatGPT based on an improved version of GPT-3.5 [ 26 ]. Hetler [ 26 ] explains that “ChatGPT works through its Generative Pre-trained Transformer, which uses specialized algorithms to find patterns within data sequences” [p. 1], learning and improving its performance through feedback. Some of its limitations lay in the fact that it may use inaccurate information and omit the sources used in its texts.

Academic writing and integrity concerning the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT have become a central point of reflection in academia as educational organizations develop policies to regulate the use of AI tools widely available. Dobrin [ 6 ] points to the complexity of issues justifying concerns about the use of AI tools and its implications for education:

Plagiarism – generally speaking, plagiarism is the misappropriation of somebody else’s ideas or work by using them as their own without citing the original source. The need to rethink the current definition of plagiarism as a person does not produce AI texts but rather provides the input, which then a machine generates the text independently. In this case, Dobrin [ 6 ] points to questions such as who has ownership over the text? Is it shared ownership? I would add, in a scenario in which the student should produce an individual paper, submitting a ‘shared’ text, for instance, written by an AI bot with the student’s input, in addition to the fact that many of the sources’ ideas used in the composition are not properly cited would fall under plagiarism current rules.

Authorship—if machines produce the text, so would they hold authorship rights?

Knowledge—as AI uses a database of previous digitally written knowledge produced by AI and humans to generate ‘new’ content, “we must ask whether some GenAI platforms are themselves guilty of plagiarism, regardless of whether a student later submits the GenAi’s output under their own name” [ 6 , p. 15].

Accuracy—AI is not able to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate information, which may overall compromise the quality and credibility of texts produced using AI, emphasizing the need to develop critical skills in students’ writing.

Similar to “Grammarly”, which is a type of editing tool known as a typing assistant that mainly aids writers with writing mechanic issues, ChatGPT can also be used to enhance our writing as well as save time on research sources to support our arguments if you know what good writing should look like. However, unlike ChatGPT, editing tools such as ‘Grammarly’ are less likely to completely write an article on behalf of a student, making ChatGPT much more suitable to aid students’ cheating and, consequently plagiarism. This is a valid concern among educators and conversations about how to address the detrimental misuse of technology, educational institutions are key to seeking ways to manage the use of such tools through policies and regulations.

3.4 ChatGPT: do I have to ‘pick’ a side?

As an educator, it is important to inform students what are the benefits of developing the writing skills essential to independently and proficiently communicate in formal settings. The freedom of knowing how to properly write in formal settings is key to personal and academic as well as professional growth. Technology can facilitate learning and communicating, as editing tools can be very effective in refining our writing, particularly for students with learning disabilities that impact their ability to read and write. However, I would agree with those advocating for legislation to set rules for the use of ChatGPT as it continues to evolve, and we do not fully understand how it could impact education, raising valid concerns among educators. From hallway chats to department meetings, the advantages and disadvantages of ChatGPT have become the focus of discussion among educators, as it has become obvious that we cannot just ‘pick’ a side but reflect on practice in a time when technology has become more sophisticated. To address my thoughts on the question: Do I have to ‘pick’ a side? Towards informing an answer on whether we must ‘pick’ a side, Johnson and Iziev [ 23 ] argue:

We know from modern neuroscience that prediction is a core property of human intelligence. Perhaps the game of predict-the-next-word is what children unconsciously play when they are acquiring language themselves: listening to what initially seems to be a random stream of phonemes from the adults around them, gradually detecting patterns in that stream and testing those hypotheses by anticipating words as they are spoken. Perhaps that game is the initial scaffolding beneath all the complex forms of thinking that language makes possible. If you spend enough time with GPT-3, conjuring new prompts to explore its capabilities and its failings, you end up feeling as if you are interacting with a kind of child prodigy whose brilliance is shadowed by some obvious limitations: capable of astonishing leaps of inference; possessing deep domain expertise in a vast range of fields, but shockingly clueless about many basic facts; prone to strange, senseless digressions; unencumbered by etiquette and social norms. [pp. 13–14]

Traditionally, writing has always been an important skill to have. In the past, perhaps its significance was mostly associated with certain professions such as business and in some fields of study, often in the humanities programs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic may have enhanced the role of writing universally as we increasingly use emails, reports, and other written forms of communication to function in the academic and professional world.

An Academic Writing educator at Harvard University, Wilson [ 27 ] states that writing is ‘thinking’ and the knowledge of academic writing provides university students with the foundational skills needed to navigate life. He remarks, “Our world is full of things that need to be questioned, from ancient myths and historical events to current politics and the weird details of everyday life” [ 27 ] points to the practical nature of academic writing as he notes that “regardless of the direction you see your life going, you’ll be writing your way there” [p. 2]. He particularly mentions an example of the impact of writing on the Science majors, stating one may ace all the Sciences courses and graduate with honors, receiving a Ph.D., but most likely they will need to be able to properly write grant applications and academic articles to further their career. As Wilson [ 27 ] illustrates the need for the use of more formal standards of writing has become increasingly more evident. The written language format of communication has increasingly spread from term papers to professional settings.

The coronavirus accentuated old education problems, especially for students struggling with basic norms of essay writing, such as sentence construction often learned in high school. The combination of the many challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic added to students’ academic and personal aspects of life may lead to desperation, which could contribute to ‘cheating’ practices, likely using technology advances such as Chat GPT as a quick fix to bridge their unaddressed literacy deficiencies. These students may critically need transition writing courses in their first year of university to improve their academic reading and writing skillsets.

3.5 ‘am just bad at writing'

Every semester I ask the same question during the introduction class: Why are you taking this class? The students’ most common answer is: “I am just bad at writing”. I always start my class by explaining why it is ‘worth their time’ to learn how to write and openly discuss stereotypes related to different fields as well as address the low self-confidence in their abilities to learn how to write, making a point that academic writing is like learning how to drive a car; you need lessons and lots of practice. I also emphasize the fact that academic writing is not a natural ability that only some are born with, but rather a combination of factors and opportunities throughout student’s school experiences from K-12 from learning environment to socioeconomic scenarios that may dictate access to proper educational opportunities. Academic writing is a learned skill. If one invests time and effort into learning it, even if everyone develops their skills at different paces and levels, we can all become proficient in academic writing style.

First-year college students have different learning needs, and some may need to take a more foundational writing course prior to taking an academic writing course. As academic writing style is often not offered in high school, overall, student benefits from understanding its patterns and conventions before taking content-related classes requiring a good knowledge of such writing style. Knowing the nuances and intricacies of academic writing may lead to higher grades, one may know the content, but if the student cannot properly display it in their written papers, grades may be lower than those who can [ 3 ].

The current challenges related to the impact of the pandemic on high school students may have led to grade inflation and I would add that this might be just the ‘top of the iceberg’ as educational institutions might have to address the unevenness of academic skill sets as some students may be more prepared to manage academic work than others. Literacy might become a focus as writing is an important way to portray knowledge in academia, requiring more foundational courses to support possibly the majority of students requiring extra support to manage academic work, ultimately leaving postsecondary educational institutions with a few potential reflective considerations:

Compromise—perhaps underestimating the importance of writing skills: In a context where postsecondary institutions have no influence on how students are graded in high school, should they lower the academic writing standards of their courses, compromising their reputations and students’ professional opportunities?

Cost versus benefits: In the premise that many students believe that a higher education degree leads to better professional opportunities and financial gains, another possibility is for these institutions to invest in required foundational courses that would most likely increase the costs for students in terms of time and financial resources in hopes to better prepare students to their potential professional goals.

Artificial Intelligence reliance – AI has become popularized as a ‘solution’ to the lack of academic writing proficiency as it may produce texts that mimic human writing; however, the depth of critical thinking required in different writing texts produced in academia may lead to uncertainty whether these AI tools would lead to meaningful academic success. In other words, hopes that AI will bridge the significant writing deficiencies in post-pandemic postsecondary students have serious ethical and educational implications.

Rethink degree acceptance: Another possibility is perhaps to rethink admission requirements to better match degree suitability.

In conclusion, I concur that the struggles of students to meet higher education patterns and academic writing expectations as they transition from high school into university are still a challenge for students and institutions. More research on how to bridge these students' writing deficiencies is needed. Such a process resembles a ceremony of passage as academic writing skills developed during their college years will follow them throughout adulthood, personally and professionally [ 27 ].

Technology may help to bridge some of the challenges first-year college students often experience, but they are still far from being the ‘solution’ for most problems or replacing the ability to learn how to write. I indeed believe that humans are adaptable. Technology is here to stay, and it will evolve as well as the way we utilize it, often benefiting from the way it can make our lives easier and save time that can be enjoyed doing things we love. However, it is naïve to think that such adjustment will come naturally. Academic class conversations on the importance of academic integrity and responsive academic policies are crucial to addressing students’ choices of misusing technologies such as ChatGPT to cheat to the detriment of learning are essential.

According to Dobrin [ 6 ] “all technologies…have two paths: either they become ubiquitous and naturalized into how we do things, or they become obsolete. Sometimes they take both paths” [p. 9]. The real challenge for educators is to learn how to live with ChatGPT's many unknowns, acknowledge how it plays a role in our practice, and continue to advocate for learning and academic integrity in higher education. It is also important to integrate technology into this process in an educated and regulated manner that fosters the development of critical and analytical skills necessary for students to succeed in their academic and professional goals. Finding a balance between the human touch in learning and utilizing virtual tools to facilitate the learning process may indicate that we do not have to ‘pick’ a side when it comes to living with ChatGPT; the secret may be exploring ways to develop strategic practices to make it work for the good of education.

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Fontenelle-Tereshchuk, D. Academic writing and ChatGPT: Students transitioning into college in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discov Educ 3 , 6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-023-00076-5

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Systematic Review of the Literature About the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lives of School Children

Background: The year 2020 has been marked by the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus has reached many countries and has paralyzed the lives of many people who have been forced to stay at home in confinement. There have been many studies that have sought to analyze the impact of this pandemic from different perspectives; however, this study will pay attention to how it has affected and how it may affect children between 0 and 12 years in the future after the closure of schools for months.

Objective: The objective of this article is to learn about the research carried out on the child population in times of confinement, especially those dealing with the psychological and motor aspects of minors.

Methods: To carry out this systematic review, the PRISMA statement has been followed to achieve an adequate and organized structure of the manuscript. The bibliography has been searched in the Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and Dialnet databases, using as keywords: “COVID-19” and “Children.” The criteria that were established for the selection of the articles were (1) articles focusing on an age of up to 12 years, (2) papers relating COVID-19 to children, and (3) studies analyzing the psychological and motor characteristics of children during confinement.

Results: A total of nine manuscripts related to the psychological and motor factors in children under 12 have been found. The table presenting the results includes the authors, title, place of publication, and key ideas of the selected manuscripts.

Conclusion: After concluding the systematic review, it has been detected that there are few studies that have focused their attention on the psychological, motor, or academic problems that can occur to minors after a situation of these characteristics. Similarly, a small number of studies have been found that promote actions at the family and school level to reverse this situation when life returns to normal. These results may be useful for future studies that seek to expand the information according to the evolution of the pandemic.

Introduction

When news of an epidemic began to spread in a Chinese city in early 2020, no one anticipated the scope of the epidemic for the entire world in a very short period. From Wuhan (China) to New York (USA) through Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe, the new coronavirus, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has paralyzed, to a greater or lesser extent, the life in many countries, causing thousands of deaths and about 6 million infections. For these reasons, the scientific community is on the alert by conducting studies on the virus, the disease it produces, the situation it creates, and the population it attacks, from different perspectives, including systematic reviews of the literature, such as the one presented in this paper.

However, researchers on this topic are not only biologists or physicians. It is worth noting the contribution of Maestre Maestre ( 2020 ), President of the Society for Latin Studies, in an article on the virus that has caused the pandemic, in which, playing with different related terms, he explains that the neutral noun “virus” means “poison” in Latin, so most current research is trying to find a medicine that will kill the virus. Likewise, the Greek term ϕάρμακoν (in Latin pharmacum) also means poison. The relationship between the two terms is that pharmacies are looking for poisons that will kill the “poisons” that undermine people's health or their desire to be safe. Remember the symbol of the pharmacies, the “Bowl of Hygieia” with the snake that pours a “poison” into it that stops being a poison to become an antidote. The name “coronavirus” is given to it because, through the microscope, the “virus-poison” is shaped like a “crown” that makes it king of poisons.

However, in addition to scientists who study the pandemic, biologists, doctors, and humanists, educators are obliged to care for the psychological and emotional health, as well as cultivate the minds, of children. The consequences of the containment measures of COVID-19 are being detrimental to the mental health of people around the world. It is logical that the most vulnerable are children who do not understand what is happening and who, along with the concern and frustration of their elders, may present risk factors, such as anxiety and affective and post-traumatic stress disorders (Giallonardo et al., 2020 ). However, not only minors are affected. According to Roy et al. ( 2020 ), more than 80% of people over 18 have shown the need for attention to their mental health as a result of the anxiety and stress experienced during the pandemic. Forte et al. ( 2020 ) agree with this idea, stating that the pandemic has caused stress, psychological discomfort, sleep disorders, and instability, among others, in a large part of the population.

In this sense, many questionnaires have been applied to obtain information in the educational context or related to it from research groups at different universities, including the one from the IDIBAPS research group at the Hospital Universitario de Barcelona, concerning behaviors to reduce emotional distress during the pandemic and confinement by COVID-19, https://enquesta.clinic.cat/index.php/268395?lang=es ; Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria on family relationships during confinement: Study of the effect of COVID-19 in the family context, https://forms.gle/2xpmqRtQ8mtBMAz77 ; Universidad de Oviedo, as a longitudinal study on how isolation and the practice of physical activity (PA) during confinement is affecting to offer effective strategies that it called “pills”: EDAFIDES Questionnaire COVID-19, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyID6X7YgUejwXNv2YyOQ1YU2LrFsPkkvHzux_TD_BjPIGNw/viewform?usp=sf_link ; Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, to find out about the situation of university students in confinement and to propose improvements: https://forms.gle/jDkFgW7xeKfSFNHB6 ; Universidad da Coruña y Universidad de Jaén, on the activities of children in Spanish homes in times of confinement. This last questionnaire was applied in Spain and in South America: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeyBBkMEmPxj-AoPQG98QorsaLyNex9wlI2FJ2Ku2q8nbsdNQ/viewform .

Based on the above-mentioned questionnaires, there is a concern to analyze how confinement has affected children under 12 at the motor and psychological levels. This literature review is carried out and explained in detail in the procedure and search strategy of the methodology. The impact of the pandemic is such that many national and international journals are offering special issues on COVID-19, including Frontiers, which, being digital, contains 229 articles signed by many authors from various countries, which look at the subject from different perspectives: there are eight that refer to age and especially to children in some way, including: who cares about the elderly (Fischer et al., 2020 ), physical inactivity (Ricci et al., 2020 ), age distribution (Cortis, 2020 ), and newborns (Ovali, 2020 ), but none discusses parents' views on the period of confinement from the psychological, educational, academic, physical, and emotional points of view of their children. Neither do they inquire into the opinion of the children themselves, understanding by these those who are in infant and primary education, that is, up to the age of 12.

Education must seek to provide the child with a comprehensive education, trying to help his or her physical, emotional, intellectual, family, social, and moral development. Active methods are crucial for early childhood education, and teachers are needed to apply them in schools (Salvador, 2008 ), now in the homes of their students, which they access through the Internet. The role of parents is also to educate, but from different perspectives, complementing those of teachers in the acquisition of children's learning. For these reasons, many families say that they do not know how to undertake these activities with their children for so long.

Likewise, the lack of other family members, such as grandparents, who had been playing a role in accompanying, especially with children in preschool, complicates the state of confinement and the lack of school attendance that is taking place, initially planned for 6 months in a row. The study by Clemente-González ( 2016 ) of the University of Murcia highlights the relevance of grandparent–grandchild relationships and the role of the former in the social and emotional development of the child, which gives great significance to their grandparents for the appreciation observed in them, recognizing their importance in the family structure. At this point, it is also necessary to point out the lack of relationships between equals, which is so important for the correct emotional development of children.

Another important aspect that has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic is the practice of PA. Many schoolchildren practice physical exercise based solely on the subject of Physical Education. This subject is not only based on motor skills but is a practice that affects schoolchildren in a global way, influences many aspects of their daily lives, and helps teachers to better understand students in their different dimensions (Founaud and González-Audicana, 2020 ). Lack of PA is associated with obesity, as indicated by different studies that relate the regular practice of physical exercise with the reduction of health problems (Castañeda-Vázquez et al., 2020 ).

The opinion article written by the Spanish secondary school teacher, Fandino-Pérez ( 2020 ), is significant in which he reflects on the virtuality of education and his position regarding personalized education, so demanded in times of normality, where teachers and students know each other, interact, and socialize, precisely the attitude that has taken away the virus. Fandino-Pérez says that the pandemic has put us in front of the mirror to see a distorted and absurd image of the work of teachers as producers of programming and good results, which turns them and their students into a kind of machine. We have forgotten the main thing: to be human beings capable of creating a better world and of overcoming ignorance, fear, and demagogy.

As a background to this study, we refer to March 11, 2020 when the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020a ) declared this disease produced by the coronavirus (COVID-19) to be a pandemic. It was first reported in Wuhan (China) on December 31, 2019. According to World Health Organization ( 2009 ), the global public health community recognized the need for standardized research and data collection after the 2009 flu epidemics, so the WHO Expert Working Group on Special Research and Studies has developed several standard protocols for pandemic flu. This has led World Health Organization ( 2019a , 2020b ) to develop similar protocols for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and, with the support of expert advisors, has adapted the protocols for influenza and MERS-CoV to help better understand the clinical, epidemiological, and virological characteristics of COVID-19.

Some months have passed, and most of the inhabitants of planet Earth, more or less surprised, have been confined to their homes for about 60 days, where they have carried out their work online and have had to attend to their younger children, also confined without attending school and without being able to go out into the street or use the recreational facilities that some residential areas have.

When we find ourselves at the moment of reincorporation into the daily life known before the appearance of the pandemic (May 2020), other illnesses arise as a consequence of the involuntary confinement to which the population has been subjected; this is the cave syndrome or agoraphobia (fear of open spaces), and it is possible that with the passage of time, other psychological and affective disorders will arise in the adults who will be those who have suffered this confinement and this disaster as children.

The disease mainly attacks people over 70 years old and only 0.3% of children in countries where there have been more deaths (for example, Spain). According to the Instituto de Salud Carlos, this may be the reason why medical research does not deal with children, but these subjects have special psychological, academic, and emotional characteristics at a stage of their lives when they are in full development, so from the educational point of view, it is necessary to find out how children have developed in their homes, what their parents think, and what future expectations experts, teachers, and psychologists have for them.

For all these reasons, the aim of this work is to find out about the research carried out on the child population in times of confinement, especially those that deal with the psychological and motor aspects of minors.

Considering this objective and following the Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) strategy, the following research question arises: what do the studies already published determine about how confinement has affected children under the age of 12 on a psychological and motor level?

Methodology

For the elaboration of this systematic review, we have followed the items to publish systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the PRISMA statement (Sotos-Prieto et al., 2014 ; Hutton et al., 2015 ), in order to achieve an adequate and organized structure of the manuscript. The guidelines of Cochrane Training (Higgins and Green, 2011 ) have also been used.

Procedure and Search Strategy

The literature review took place during the last weeks of May 2020 and focused mainly on the Web of Science (WOS) database, using Scopus and Dialnet as support. The topic considered for the selection of articles was the one related to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and how it has affected psychologically and motorically children up to 12 years old. The following keywords were used: “COVID-19” and “children” and the Boolean operator “and.” After this first search and taking into account only the works published in 2020 (since that is when the pandemic occurred), 837 scientific documents were obtained. By restricting the search to only journal articles, the documents were reduced to 576 articles, after which the language filter was applied, selecting only those papers published in English and Spanish, leaving a total of 537. Since the pandemic started in China, the initial search was also done in that language, not finding any related articles. The articles signed by researchers of Chinese nationality are written in English. Finally, the following areas of research were chosen: “Psychology,” “Sociology,” and “Education Educational Research,” finally limiting the search to 48 scientific articles, which make up the sample of this study.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The criteria that were established for the selection of the articles were (1) articles focusing on an age of up to 12 years, (2) papers relating COVID-19 to children, and (3) studies analyzing the psychological and motor characteristics of children during confinement.

In order to apply these criteria, a first preliminary reading of the title and summary of each article was carried out, which made it possible to rule out papers that did not meet the above-mentioned criteria. A more exhaustive reading of the selected articles was then carried out, leaving a final sample of nine scientific papers ( Figure 1 ).

PRISMA flowchart.

Article Coding

To extract the data from the articles, the following coding process was followed: (1) author/authors and year of publication, (2) title of the research, (3) place/country of publication, and (4) key ideas of the research.

The research included in this systematic review was coded by four of the authors, in order to check the reliability of the coding and the degree of agreement among the researchers in relation to the selection and extraction of the data (González-Valero et al., 2019 ). The degree of agreement on the rating of the articles was 93%. This was obtained by dividing the number of coincidences by the total number of categories defined for each study and multiplying it by 100.

In order to establish the methodological quality of the present study, reliability was determined according to the detection and selection of the Fleiss' Kappa (Fk) statistical index for more than two evaluators (Fleiss, 1971 ). A value of Fk = 0.780 was obtained for data extraction and selection, which indicates that there is substantial agreement (0.61–0.80).

Table 1 presents the main results of different studies following the codification indicated in the previous section: (1) author/authors and year of publication, (2) title of the research, (3) place/country of publication, and (4) key ideas of the research.

Basis of the study.

Of the nine articles analyzed because they met the characteristics of the search, three have been published in The Lancet , which began as an independent international weekly medical journal, founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley. Since its first issue, it has strived to make science widely available so that medicine can serve, transform society, and positively impact people's lives. It has evolved into a family of journals including The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health , in which one of the three articles cited appears. These three articles, and most of those analyzed, relate to the classical medicine that should serve society to help improve life.

Most of the references in this article (84.22%) are from the year 2020, a sign of the interest in the subject and the dedication of scientists and teachers. Only three are earlier, the one by Hutton et al. ( 2015 ) that deals with a more technical content, the extension of PRISMA for network meta-analysis, and the ones by Salvador ( 2008 ) and Clemente-González ( 2016 ) that highlight the role of grandparents in children's lives.

Of the two articles by Spanish teachers, the one by Álvarez-Zarzuelo ( 2020 ) is a personal opinion of a social educator who is ahead of other research. It only provides the experts' ideas on the possible repercussions of confinement. For his part, Gómez-Gerdel ( 2020 ) writes an opinion article that, exceptionally, is being published by the International Journal of Education for Social Justice in its special issue 9(e) on “Consequences of the Closure of Schools by COVID-19 on Educational Inequalities.” The author, from the perspective of the departments of Educational Guidance that deal with inclusive education, raises the chaos that it has meant for the Spanish Educational System to apply teaching only on line, which means for the most vulnerable families: difficulties in accessing technologies and delays in education. On the other hand, it raises what could be a return to the family whose members had been living together for a long time, something absolutely necessary for the correct development of the minors who spend too much time away from home.

The teaching–learning system, which should seek the comprehensive training of the child, in which parents and teachers should participate, has been drastically modified, trying not to abandon the active methods used in schools (Salvador, 2008 ), with the difficulties that this entails for families, which in many cases have no training in this area.

Of the three articles by Chinese authors, Liu et al. ( 2020 ) analyze the situation of children whose parents have been infected with the virus or have died; Zhang et al. ( 2020 ) observe the behavior of children with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) during this period; and finally, Guan et al. ( 2020 ) deal with the practice of childhood PA during confinement. Therefore, only one of them studies a type of activity in this period, the one dealing with PA coinciding with what is written by the Italians Ricci et al. ( 2020 ); in the same line, we find the Turks Yarimkaya and Esentürk ( 2020 ) who deal with the importance of PA in confinement for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is important to remember that World Health Organization ( 2010 , 2019b ) recommends a minimum of 1 h/day of moderate–vigorous PA in children, but that only one-third of children exceed these recommendations (Salas-Sánchez et al., 2020 ).

The American and British authors analyze the role of parents in the confinement of their children and provide some advice on this subject. They also look at the future psychological problems that may arise as a result of over-information, change of routines, and manifestation of feelings of distress and guilt, as well as the need to see peers and other carers (teachers, grandparents). They coincide with Clemente-González ( 2016 ) project based on the grandparent–grandchild relationship and the promotion of identity, which seemed to be a premonition of what would happen with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic that would force the disappearance of these relationships for a long time.

It is important to note that, according to the review carried out, there are authors who analyze the pandemic from different perspectives with which we agree: cultural aspects (Maestre Maestre, 2020 ); actions of biologists and doctors, more distant from our intentions; humanists (Fandino-Pérez, 2020 ), and especially for this study, of educators who are aware that the essence of being in the classroom and the immediate feedback that students offer in this situation has been lost. To this must be added the role of the WHO, overwhelmed by the health events that have occurred so quickly, as described in these lines.

We believe that the application of many questionnaires during the confinement and currently post-COVID-19 pandemic has saturated the patience of the respondents, although most have helped scientists and educators to obtain information that will facilitate a smooth exit from this disaster.

Conclusions

The above leads us to the general conclusion that there are very few studies on how confinement has affected children under 12 years old psychologically and motorly. These articles agree on the consequences that confinement can have on minors and on the importance of psychological support from the family, and the establishment of routines can be effective. The manuscripts that deal with PA remind us of the importance of it and indicate that the rates of sedentarism have increased during these months.

It is necessary to insist on the search for and analysis of other activities, as well as the behavior of parents and children in these circumstances, in order to prevent possible psychological and academic problems and because if the online teaching situation is prolonged, it is very important to know how to act from the educational and family environment.

The main limitation the authors have faced has been the small number of scientific articles related to the area of study. This scarcity of published works makes it necessary to continue researching this. This is the reason why our study can serve as a starting point or theoretical foundation for further studies.

Author Contributions

JC-Z, MS-Z, DS-M, GG-V, AL-S, and MZ-S contributed to the conception and design of the revision. All authors wrote some part of the manuscript and all reviewed the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

* References marked with an asterisk are those articles analyzed in the systematic review.

Funding. This article has been financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through two grants for university teacher training (FPU) with references FPU17/00803 and FPU18/02567. This article has counted with the collaboration of the group HUM-653 of the University of Jaén.

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A Bold Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic : Medical Students, National Service, and Public Health

• 1 Editor in Chief, JAMA
• 2 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
• Viewpoint The COVID-19 Pandemic in the US: A Clinical Update Saad B. Omer, MBBS, PhD; Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ; Carlos del Rio, MD JAMA
• Viewpoint Medical Student Education in the Time of COVID-19 Suzanne Rose, MD, MSEd JAMA
• Viewpoint Potential Implications of COVID-19 for the 2020-2021 Residency Application Cycle Maya M. Hammoud, MD, MBA; Taylor Standiford, BS; J. Bryan Carmody, MD, MPH JAMA

Over the next few months it is likely that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has surged in New York City, Seattle, New Orleans, and Detroit will move from city to city and state to state. After the initial peak, absent highly effective medical interventions, the US will likely experience outbreaks of lingering disease for months and potentially years to come. As the US enters the next phase of COVID-19, critical questions will involve the nation’s capacity to respond to outbreaks, protect high-risk populations, and limit community spread.

Because of inadequate and continued lack of testing for COVID-19, a depleted and overworked public health workforce, lack of sophisticated integrated public health and clinical health information technology, and substantial cultural issues, the US has yet to implement an effective disease control strategy. Rather, the US has moved quickly from focused isolation and quarantine at a large scale to mitigation, largely focused on a single approach—social distancing. The fundamental question is whether the US can build a more targeted response capability so that the country can return to work, school, and other normal activities.

A key milestone is the fall of 2020. If the initial social distancing and perhaps warmer temperatures reduce the scale of the outbreak this summer, there is a major risk of a resurgence during the traditional season of respiratory viruses. As a possible approach to respond to this challenge, the US should consider suspending the first year of medical school for 1 year and giving the incoming 20 000 medical students the opportunity to join a national service program for public health. Hopefully the vast majority of students would participate. Such a bold approach may be needed to ensure that the US has an adequate response to the next wave of disease and does not enter a prolonged depression that will further adversely affect the health of its citizens.

The program should begin at the start of July. Incoming medical students should spend the month in online training on infectious disease epidemiology, infectious disease control in high-risk settings, and outbreak response. In August, they should deploy to state and local public health departments to enhance the capacity to support a test, trace, track, and quarantine strategy. The federal government should fund this project as a national service effort with a salary for the students and health coverage; it could be part of a larger initiative to engage other students, including those in nursing and public health, as well as out-of-work community members in the national response.

Taking this bold step is justified on health and economic grounds. Today, localities have few resources available to stop community spread other than closing businesses, curtailing large gatherings, and schooling at home. As soon as the novel coronavirus arrives in a community, many are at risk for falling ill, straining the health care system, causing fear, and devastating the economy. Communities must use the next few months to build a robust public health response. It is in part this capacity that has allowed Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea to respond more successfully to the coronavirus challenge.

Medical students should deploy to state and local health agencies for a variety of roles. One urgent task is to implement rapid testing that informs community surveillance. Even today, only a small fraction of people with suggestive symptoms can be rapidly tested; in some acute care settings, even the sickest patients wait days for the result. Access to testing is so haphazard that it is difficult to draw reliable inferences about incidence, prevalence, and populations at risk. As testing becomes more available—results available within hours—there will be an urgent need to use these data to assess the scope of the epidemic. Whereas the lack of adequate testing and surveillance has been a major weakness of the initial response, it must not be by the fall.

A second urgent task is to enhance protection of high-risk populations, with the goal of reducing the likelihood and effect of outbreaks now occurring in nursing homes and prisons. Medical students should help ensure implementation of critical preventive policies and join teams that swiftly and aggressively respond to infections that occur.

A third role for medical students should be to staff community call centers that offer guidance and services to individuals with symptoms of or exposure to COVID-19. In addition to arranging testing, medical students would ensure that adequate information has been collected from individuals who require quarantine. This information could facilitate efforts to provide food delivery at home, alternative housing if necessary, and additional medical treatment as needed.

There is precedent for such a massive mobilization to address infectious disease. To reduce the spread of Ebola, Liberia mobilized thousands of case workers. China reportedly used 18 000 public health workers in Wuhan alone. 1 US public health departments have seen major losses of staff over the past decade. 2

Hundreds of medical students have already found ways to help in the response to COVID-19, from offering childcare to health care workers to taking on short-term roles in the health care system. 3 Now it is time to formalize an opportunity for future physicians to protect the nation at this critical moment. Paired with other students as well as with community health workers and other local resources, having 20 000 capable medical students as a source of energy and enthusiasm can contribute to a successful response.

Mobilizing future physicians now will complicate medical education in the short-term and the medical workforce 4 years from now. But there are solutions to these challenges. For example, because fewer students means less tuition revenue, the federal government should compensate medical schools for a portion of this lost income.

In July 2025, there will be a gap in medical students available for internships, and in 2026, there will be an excess number of graduates for available residency positions. To address the former problem, licensing authorities that oversee undergraduate and graduate medical education should permit medical schools to offer early graduation to highly capable students, and graduate medical education should make adjustments to reduce the reliance on first-year residents. To address the latter concern, future classes of medical students should be afforded the opportunity for national service before starting medical school, ideally in a broad range of health and social service settings.

There are other challenges. This initiative will be expensive, but potential benefits to economic recovery would be substantial, and financially many would benefit. State and local Departments of Public Health likely do not have the capacity to hire and train a new workforce in such short order. The federal government should direct resources for this purpose to the local level that permit creative partnerships with the private sector to be able to hire and deploy people quickly. As demonstrated in Taiwan, 4 health information technology that flows seamlessly between public health and clinical medicine is critically important. In the US, health care information is compartmentalized and siloed in ways that make a national effort to test, trace, track, and quarantine difficult to implement. This problem must be solved quickly to facilitate the response. The logistics of such a program are substantial, and time is short, but without such an effort, the US could well find itself largely shut down this fall.

How and when this initial surge of patients with COVID-19 ends remains uncertain. There is also much unknown about the effectiveness of social distancing, the transmission in the warmer months, and development of new therapies and vaccines. Even as there is hope of a major therapeutic advance, preparation is essential for the likelihood that the disease will continue. To return to work, education, and other activities as soon as possible, the nation should move swiftly to build a robust public health response, drawing upon a workforce that includes future physicians.

Corresponding Author: Howard Bauchner, MD, Editor in Chief, JAMA ( [email protected] ).

Published Online: April 8, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6166

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Additional Information: Dr Sharfstein reported serving as Principal Deputy Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration from March 2009 to January 2011.

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Bauchner H , Sharfstein J. A Bold Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic : Medical Students, National Service, and Public Health . JAMA. 2020;323(18):1790–1791. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6166

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