New student survey about the distance studies experience
In December 2020, 2 338 of the University's students answered a survey with questions about the experience of distance studies. The results are now compiled and show that students have both positive and negative experiences.
Last spring, a similar survey was sent out to our students, and there are no large differences between the survey results from December. You can read more about the survey made last spring via the link below.
Read more about the distance study survey made in spring 2020
Good distance learning, bad motivation
The results from the survey made in December show no major difference between students in programmes and freestanding courses, but students in preparatory education give more negative answers than other students.
The survey results also show the following:
- 55 percent of the respondents think that the teaching works well and 15 percent think that it works very well.
- 78 percent think that the University's technology or tools for distance learning work well or very well.
- 65 percent think that their contact with the teacher works well or very well. 76 percent also think that the collaboration with fellow students works well or very well.
- 76 percent also think that the collaboration with fellow students works well or very well.
More worrying are the answers about how the students assess their own well-being. 55 percent state that their own well-being is “less good” or “bad”, and many have developed descriptions about their situation in free text answers about loneliness and motivation problems.
"It is gratifying to see that so many students perceive that the teaching itself works well, but at the same time we get very worrying signals about the students' own health and motivation. It is obvious that students feel worse when they are not allowed to meet each other and their teachers – it feels boring and lonely and they lose their motivation. Hence we must continue to work with various forms of student social support", says University Director Catarina Coquand.
Contact the University study support if you need help
Halmstad University offers a wide range of study support to facilitate your studies. Visit the page below to find the support you need.
Forum for students under development
The University and the Student Union is currently working together in order to create better conditions for you to get in touch with students in your course or programme and find a sense of belonging.
When it comes to teaching for example, a possible solution can be to start the Zoom room fifteen minutes before the lesson, and have the room open for a while after, or some extra elements to the schedule where students who wish can meet and study together digitally, and so on. The University and the Student Union is also looking into ways of creating forums where you can communicate with each other outside of the study hours.
In addition to this, The University is also developing an educational concept for the future, to better integrate digital elements in campus teaching, in order to use both teachers’ and students' time and efforts in the best way possible. Learnings from the experiences during the pandemic are taken into account in this project.
39 percent response rate
The questionnaire was sent to 5 995 students on programmes and freestanding courses that normally have teaching on campus. The questionnaire was answered by 2 338 students, which gives a response rate of 39 percent.
The questionnaire responses broken down at academy and programme level have been distributed to the academies and the program directors for analysis and further possible measures.
