Lockdown learning: changes in online study activity and performance of Dutch secondary school students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Open accessPreprint — published as 10.3389/feduc.2021.712987
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused lockdowns and sudden school closures around the world in spring 2020, significantly impacting the education of students. Here, we investigate how the switch to distance learning affected study activity and performance in an online retrieval practice tool used for language learning in Dutch secondary education. We report insights from a rich data set consisting of over 116 million retrieval practice trials completed by more than 133 thousand students over the course of two consecutive school years. Our findings show that usage of the tool increased substantially at the start of lockdown, with the bulk of study activity occurring on weekday mornings. In general, students' progress through the material was largely unaffected by lockdown, although students from the highest educational track were somewhat more likely to be on or ahead of schedule than students from lower tracks, compared to the previous year. Performance on individual study trials was generally stable, but accuracy and response time on open answer questions went up, perhaps as a result of students being more focused at home. These encouraging findings contribute to a growing literature on the educational ramifications of distance learning during lockdown.
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Students increased time using online-learning software at home, were less distracted or experienced less time pressure in home-schooling, or were presented with individualized assignments.
“Moreover, students increased the time using the online-learning software at home, were less distracted or experienced less time pressure in a home-schooling rather than classroom setting, or were presented with individualized assignments within the online program (see also Meeter, 2021; Spitzer and Musslick, 2021; van der Velde et al., 2021).”
From Effects of COVID-19-Related School Closures on Student Achievement-A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as van der Velde et al., 2021
The Discussion reports increased use of the online retrieval-practice tool during lockdown. It says higher accuracy and response times on open-answer questions *perhaps* indicated less time pressure or better focus at home; it does not establish that students were less distracted. The Data Set section describes an adaptive tool, but does not say students were given individualized assignments. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredvan der Velde et al. (2021) reported an increase in correct solutions on open questions within a French learning program.
“Similarly, van der Velde et al. (2021) reported an increase in correct solutions on open questions within a French learning program.”
From Effects of COVID-19-Related School Closures on Student Achievement-A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as van der Velde et al., 2021
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“…the other hand, relatively fast changes in education and increase in the use of technologies were reported that would have possibly taken much more time if not for the pandemic (e.g., Bishop, 2021; Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia, 2020; Rubene et al., 2021; van der Velde et al., 2021).”
BackgroundResultSchulschließungen als ethische Herausforderung
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“Additionally, students may even improve their learning performance due to more focused learning at home or increased family tutoring (Velde et al., 2021).”
- Authors
- van der Velde, M., Sense, F., Spijkers, R., Meeter, M., & van Rijn, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- Frontiers in Education
- Publisher
- Center for Open Science
- Published
- 2021-02-18
- Volume
- 6
- ISSN
- 2504-284X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3188444373
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 9
- FWCI
- 23.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Frontiers in Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education during COVID-19 pandemic
- Social Sciences › Education › E-Learning and COVID-19
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Keywords
- COVID-19 lockdown, distance education, online language learning, retrieval practice, high school students, educational tracking, academic progress, reaction time (psychology)
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