The impact of a global pandemic on undergraduate learning experiences: lifting the restrictions

The aim of this study is to determine how students believe their learning-related experiences (i.e., attention, affect, and time perception) have changed over the course of the pandemic.

This study documented students’ (N_analyzed = 191) relative judgments of change between their current experiences (measured April 2022) and their remembered experiences from three different timepoints: (1) before the pandemic-related restrictions (before March 2020; pre-restriction), (2) immediately after the restrictions were implemented (spring 2020; early restriction), and (3) immediately after they were lifted (~ winter/spring 2022; post-restriction). This study also captured how students predicted their experiences would change in the future.

Roughly 2 years after pandemic-related restrictions were introduced, students reported perceiving reductions in their attention, affect, and time-perception compared to their remembered pre- and early restriction learning-related experiences. They also reported perceived reductions in their attention and affect even as pandemic-related restrictions were beginning to lift, though these declines were slightly attenuated. Regarding the future, students were optimistic that their learning-related experiences would improve in the coming months. These findings can support the creation of future approaches targeting the improvement of attention, affect, and productivity in learning and performance-based environments.