While there has been a great deal of debate over the impact of online and remote learning on mental health and well-being, there has been no systematic syntheses or reviews of the research on this particular issue. In this session, we will present a review of research on mental health / well-being and online or remote learning. Our preliminary analyses suggest that little scholarship existed prior to 2020 and that most of these studies have been conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report three findings: (a) it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to control for pandemic effects in the data, (b) studies present a very mixed picture, with variability around how mental health and well-being are measured and how / whether any causal inferences are made in relation to online and remote learning, and (c) results across these studies are extremely mixed. Based on this study, we suggest that researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and administrators exercise extreme caution around making generalizable assertions with respect to the impacts of online/remote learning and mental health.
The full APA citation is:
Moore, S., Barbour, M. K., Veletsianos, G. (2022). Online or remote learning and mental health. In A. Bozkurt, T. Greene, & V. Irvine (Eds.), Proceedings of the Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association Conference. https://doi.org/10.18357/otessac.2022.2.1.156
(San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers Via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Anxiety, depression and stress are key barriers to learning for middle- and high-school students, yet they say they are struggling to find mental health support in schools, according to a report released by the nonprofit YouthTruth. About one-fifth of students — in the survey of close to 223,000 students from 845 YouthTruth partner schools across 20 states — report having access to a school counselor, and fewer than half say there is an adult at school they can speak with when stressed or upset.
Abstract – The rapid and unexpected onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic has generated a great degree of uncertainty about the future of education and has required teachers and students alike to adapt to a new normal to survive in the new educational ecology. Through this experience of the new educational ecology, educators have learned many lessons, including how to navigate through uncertainty by recognizing their strengths and vulnerabilities. In this context, the aim of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the publications covering COVID-19 and education to analyze the impact of the pandemic by applying the data mining and analytics techniques of social network analysis and text-mining. From the abstract, title, and keyword analysis of a total of 1150 publications, seven themes were identified: (1) the great reset, (2) shifting educational landscape and emerging educational roles (3) digital pedagogy, (4) emergency remote education, (5) pedagogy of care, (6) social equity, equality, and injustice, and (7) future of education. Moreover, from the citation analysis, two thematic clusters emerged: (1) educational response, emergency remote education affordances, and continuity of education, and (2) psychological impact of COVID-19. The overlap between themes and thematic clusters revealed researchers’ emphasis on guaranteeing continuity of education and supporting the socio-emotional needs of learners. From the results of the study, it is clear that there is a heightened need to develop effective strategies to ensure the continuity of education in the future, and that it is critical to proactively respond to such crises through resilience and flexibility.
The reason these items spoke to me at the time was because my colleagues and I had just finished and were awaiting the release of this article:
While there has been a lot of debate over the impact of online and remote learning on mental health and well-being, there has been no systematic syntheses or reviews of the research on this particular issue. In this paper, we review the research on the relationship between mental health/well-being and online or remote learning. Our review shows that little scholarship existed prior to 2020 with most studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report four findings: (1) pandemic effects are not well-controlled in most studies; (2) studies present a very mixed picture, with variability around how mental health and well-being are measured and how/whether any causal inferences are made in relation to online and remote learning, (3) there are some indications that certain populations of students may struggle more in an online context, and (4) research that does not assume a direct relationship between mental health and online provides the best insight into both confounding factors and possible strategies to address mental health concerns. Our review shows that 75.5% of published research on this topic either commits the correlation does not equal causation error or asserts a causal relationship even when it fails to establish correlations. Based on this study, we suggest that researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and administrators exercise extreme caution around making generalizable assertions with respect to the impacts of online/remote learning and mental health. We encourage further research to better understand effects on specific learner sub-populations and on course—and institution—level strategies to support mental health.
Moore, S., Barbour, M. K., & Veletsianos, G. (2022, May). Online or remote learning and mental health [Paper]. Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association Annual Conference.
Abstract: While there has been a great deal of debate over the impact of online and remote learning on mental health and well-being, there has been no systematic syntheses or reviews of the research on this particular issue. In this session, we will present a review of research on mental health / well-being and online or remote learning. Our preliminary analyses suggest that little scholarship existed prior to 2020 and that most of these studies have been conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report three findings: (a) it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to control for pandemic effects in the data, (b) studies present a very mixed picture, with variability around how mental health and well-being are measured and how / whether any causal inferences are made in relation to online and remote learning, and (c) results across these studies are extremely mixed. Based on this study, we suggest that researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and administrators exercise extreme caution around making generalizable assertions with respect to the impacts of online/remote learning and mental health.
We are excited to announce that the inaugural international conference of the Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA) will be held at the Canadian Congress of the Humanities and the Social Sciences between May 31-June 2, 2020, in London, Ontario, Canada. Please see visit http://otessa.org for more information. The submission deadline is November 28, 2019.
JOIN US! From now until November 1st, we are offering FREE 2019 membership (now until December 31, 2019) to establish our community base, learn more about you, and to provide you with important news and opportunities as we build OTESSA together! Congress conference organizers will also contact you directly with important information about the conference. Sign up now at http://otessa.org/join-us and please share this message widely!
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