AUGUST 31, 2020 — As a new semester starts for many college students around the U.S., a new national study, funded by the National Science Foundation, is identifying how the COVID-19 pandemic affected student learning and faculty work in in STEM fields.
The Challenges and Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, a collaborative study between UTSA, University of Kansas and Claremont Graduate University, surveyed about 1,087 STEM faculty and 4,603 STEM students in June from around the U.S about the effects COVID-19 has had on their mentorships, research, academic careers and mental health.
The projects’ first report, released in July, which focused on fall enrollment and delayed graduation, found that nearly 10% of STEM students had not decided or would not enroll in fall 2020 due to the pandemic, while 35.5% of doctoral STEM students, 18% of master’s students and 7.6% of undergraduate students delayed their graduation.
Among the delayed graduations, there was a racial difference between Hispanic and Black students, Uriel Lomelí-Carrillo, a coauthor of the report and a doctoral student in UTSA’s Department of Demography, said.
“Almost 13% of Hispanic and 10.3% of Black students reported delaying their graduation, whereas only about 6% of Asians and whites did,” Lomelí-Carrillo said.
Additionally, Lomelí-Carrillo added that the research found two major personal factors—financial and health concerns—to be the reasons affecting fall enrollment and delayed graduation status.
“Almost 40% of students who will not enroll in fall 2020 were because they were uncertain of the financial support in the fall semester,” Lomelí-Carrillo said. “Many of them are basing it off their health as well as on whether they’re going to go back to the institutions. We also found that the majority of the students prefer an approach to have a mix of face-to-face and online instruction.”
For those who are delaying graduation, it’s due to restricted access to academic facilities and resources and delayed coursework or degree required projects, Lomelí-Carrillo said.
“The results obtained are being rapidly analyzed and presented because it is timely valuable information to inform students, faculty and leaders in STEM programs in particular and in higher education institutions in general,” Lomelí-Carrillo said. “We are confident that the evidence can help universities to target their resources to better support students and identify and address the main concerns of students.”
While the first report focused on enrollment and graduation, a second report highlighted the gender disparities in remote learning for STEM students and faculty.
“Considering that the fall semester has already started, it would be good to point out some of the challenges that faculty and students face in this shift to remote teaching and learning,” Lomelí-Carrillo said. “For instance, among STEM faculty, the top two challenges in adapting course design to remote learning were ‘personal preference is for in-person learning’ and ‘uncertain about online assessment.’”
Compared to their male counterparts, female faculty reported having more challenges with “having limited personal time to effectively adapt” and “course activities not translating well to online,” Lomelí-Carrillo said.
“Among STEM students, the top two learning challenges in transitioning to remote learning were ‘difficulty focusing on remote instruction/activities’ and ‘personal motivation to complete coursework’ and compared with their male peers, female students generally reported more learning challenges in transitioning to remote learning,” he said.
⇒ Learn more about The Challenges and Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Challenges and Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic study was conducted with support from a $153,899 Rapid Response Research grant from the NSF, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The researchers behind the project consisted of Lomelí-Carrillo, Guan Saw, a former UTSA assistant professor now at Claremont Graduate University, Chi-Ni Chang of the University of Kansas and Mingxia Zhi of Northside ISD.
The researchers plan to release a third report on the mentoring experience and a fourth report on mental health of students and faculty during COVID-19 pandemic.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Interested in learning more about the different fraternities and sororities in the Multicultural Greek Council? Come meet our organizations and enjoy free food and music.
Retama Galleria (SU 2.02,) Main CampusIn this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to have EndNote already installed on a personal computer.
Virtual EventJoin this annual community celebration of Mexico’s independence sponsored by the Avenida Guadalupe Association. UTSA’s Westside Community Center—located at the parade’s starting location at Guadalupe and Brazos Streets—will be open to visitors for the duration of the event.
UTSA Westside Community Center, 1310 Guadalupe St, San Antonio, TX 78207Don’t mind the writing but hate formatting citations and bibliographies? Working on your thesis or dissertation, or even a long paper this semester? Citation managers such as Zotero® can help you store and organize the citations you find during your research. Take part in this session about using Zotero®.
Virtual EventAre you interested in learning more about incorporating digital methods into your research? This workshop will introduce you to approaches and tools that can help support your research. Through hands-on activities, you will learn about text analysis and digital mapping and how these methods can enrich your projects.
Group Spot B, 2.01.22, John Peace LibraryLearn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual EventAproduction of the Gudalupe Cultural Arts Center, Rio Bravo showcases the vibrant music and dance traditions of the Texas-Mexico border region. Featuring the Guadalupe Dance Company and Mariachi Azteca de América, the performances will be filmed live both nights, courtesy of UTSA's College of Liberal and Fine Arts.
UTSA Downtown CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
