Examining the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Academic Performance and Motivation

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of many students, specifically with the shift to remote learning. Recent research suggests remote learning is negatively correlated with students’ overall motivation (Fryer & Bovee, 2018), that psychological distress related to the Covid-19 pandemic is associated with lower academic performance and social disengagement (Marler et al., 2021), and that perceived support from professors has a mediating effect on the negative outcomes associated with remote learning (Wright & Wachs, 2021). Regarding the effects the shift to remote learning has had on Behrend students, we hypothesize that academic motivation and academic performance have gone down, that there is a significant relationship between academic motivation and academic performance, and that the former also is a predictor of the latter. We will create a survey using Penn State Behrend Qualtrics that we plan for 100 Penn State Behrend students to take. The students will answer questions regarding their demographic information. They will answer questions related to their motivation levels in an academic context with the CAMS Assessment (Smith, et al., 2019) as well as questions regarding their outlook on their lives and control over life events by measuring their locus of control. (Rotter, 1966) The participants will provide information, such as GPA scores, to measure academic performance overall and for major required courses (Somers, et al., 2021) If our predictions are found to be true, it will imply that remote learning has serious drawbacks when it comes to student motivation and performance which could have an effect on students’ schedule building for future semesters. Such findings would be consistent with the findings of Fryer and Bovee (2018).