Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 24, 2025

Bridging the Technology Divide in the COVID-19 Era: Using Virtual Outreach to Expose Middle and High School Students to Imaging Technology
Published on: September 28, 2022
Disruptiveness of COVID-19: Differences in Course Engagement, Self-Appraisal, and Learning
Teresa M Ober1, Ying Cheng1, Matthew F Carter1
1University of Notre Dame.
Abstract:
We investigated how the transition to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic affected students' engagement, self-appraisals, and learning in advanced placement (AP) Statistics courses. Participants included 681 (Mage=16.7 years, SDage=.90; %female=55.4) students enrolled in the course during 2017-2018 (N=266), 2018-2019 (N=200), and the pandemic-affected 2019-2020 (N=215) school years. Students enrolled during the pandemic-affected year reported a greater improvement in affective engagement but a decrease in cognitive engagement in the spring semester relative to a previous year. Females enrolled in the pandemic-affected year experienced a greater negative change in affective and behavioral engagement. Students enrolled during the pandemic-affected year reported a greater decrease in their anticipated AP exam scores and received lower scores on a practice exam aligned with the AP exam compared to a prior year. Although students were resilient in some respects, their self-appraisal and learning appear to have been negatively affected by pandemic circumstances.
Related Concept Videos
Social Facilitation
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Cognitive Dissonance
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison

