Analyzing the Impact of COVID-19 on Education: Academic Study Skills

This report examines the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly focusing on its effects on the education sector. It details the challenges students faced with the sudden shift to online learning, including technological barriers, reduced opportunities for practical experience, and decreased communication with peers. The report also highlights the measures taken by educational institutions to address these challenges, such as providing better devices, improving online connectivity, and offering mental health support. Furthermore, it discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of the pandemic, including increased family connection and a renewed focus on personal health, alongside the loss of life and economic recession. The report concludes that the pandemic has had extraordinary impacts on global environment, and changed educational environment significantly, necessitating strategic adaptations for the future.

Academic Study Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Section 1: Report.........................................................................................................................1
Impact of Covid 19.................................................................................................................1
Impact on education...............................................................................................................2
Challenges faced by the students............................................................................................3
Measures taken to tackle these challenges.............................................................................4
Advantages.............................................................................................................................5
Disadvantages.........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
Section 2: SELF-EVALUATION...............................................................................................6
References:.......................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Covid 19 is an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus, first found in December 2019
in China. Since then it has been considered as a pandemic and have the possibility of even
becoming an endemic(Arora and Srinivasan, 2020). The most common symptoms of this disease
are fever, exhaustion and cough. Other than these the symptoms could include runny nose and
diarrhoea etc. In this report, the impact of Covid 19 in general and to the education sector will be
covered. Then the challenges faced by the students and the measures taken by the teachers was
known and understood. Also the advantages and the disadvantages of Coronavirus was taken into
consideration. At the end of this report, a self evaluation was conducted which covered the
challenges, learnings and pleasure I had in doing the research.
MAIN BODY
Section 1: Report
Covid-19 comes from a family of viruses that has caused common cold to severe illnesses in the
past. This one though, an evolved variant of the past viruses came around December 2019 and
was declared as a Global pandemic in March 2020(Baker, and et.al,, 2021). Since then it has
heavily effected the Schools, university, businesses and possibly everyone in the world in a
disheartening way. It has impacted the overall dynamics of the global environment.
Impact of Covid 19
The Corona Virus was first found in Wuhan and then was rapidly spread around the world. On
31st January 2020, the WHO announced that this an epidemic and in march it was termed as an
pandemic. Since then it has been affecting the mental health of the people with fear. There are
almost no person in the world who would not have been impacted from the pandemic.
“As of August 2022, there have been more than 600 million cases of people infected around the
world. In England itself there has been more than 19 million cases and around 163,000 people
who lost their lives in these horrific times.”
1

It was observed that restricting people from travelling would be solution towards improving the
situation. But it wasn't easy for anyone to go on with this rule. Neither did the situation improved
nor did the government was able to regularise these restrictions. One of the reason why these
were not applicable for long was because of the sever economic conditions(Chakraborty and
Kar, 2021). Big and successful businesses failed to cope with the change in the situations.
Considering their status, it could be understood that the small businesses might have had
nightmares in these times. Normal people who were involved professionally in sectors like
tourism, sports, hotel and film industries became depressed because they were unable to make
enough money to even feed the family. Environmental conditions were impacted in positive
and negative ways in the pandemic(Christian, McCarty and Brown, 2021).
“It all started with our own negligence that led to the creation and the spread of the Corona in the
first place. So it can be said that the we ourselves have made the conditions bad for ourselves.”
During the pandemic, people were mostly in their houses and the businesses were shut. These
led to less pollution since the fuel was less used and the major gases that were continuously
excreting from the factories were stopped too. These led the environment being more clean and
the birds and other animals being more safe in the environment.
Impact on education
The education sector has had a slow but necessary growth with time. Though there has been
many changes in the structure of the education system, the core technique of bonding students
together to educate them with knowledge and skills always remained same. The pandemic
created a chaos in the structure. Though there are many online education websites, the schools
and colleges were yet to apply the online education technologies. This unexpected situation led
to educational institutes becoming technologically advanced(Farnell, Skledar Matijevic and
Šcukanec Schmidt, 2021). But it led to the communication barrier and low bonding between the
students which will off course be impactful in their future. The institutes were also affected by
the state of unfortunate circumstances. The parents in deliberation were stopping to give the full
academic fees and the staffs were refusing to take any pay-cut. When it came to co-curricular
activities for the students, the sports and the activities were almost of no consideration. This led
2

to people becoming more physically unfit and away from the traditional ways of enjoyment.
From being actively involved in activities, students were now just browsing through their cell
phones and were getting into habit of enjoying the virtual reality. Now as the situation have
relaxed a little, and everything is coming back to proper operation the schools and colleges have
to think proper strategies needed to work in this changed times(Fischer, 2020).
As per reports, schools of more than 45 countries were closed which affected 185 million
students. Now as the vaccination rates have increased and the education is set to be normal but
the outcome of the pandemic has led to the new generation being depressed and compact
opportunities to avail in the future.
“An analysis suggests that the students graduated in the pandemic times are likely to earn
£41,000- £51,000 lesser in their lifetime due to the impact of lockdown.”
According to the reports, students tested in the year 2021 were about 10 points behind in reading
and maths compared to the students of the previous years(Gaebel, 2020).
Challenges faced by the students
 Shifting towards online education
A big challenge students faced was the shift from the traditional classroom education towards the
modern online education. This was also an issue for the teachers and the students together as
they had to keep up with the technological advancement. The different skills required for this
online learning was sometimes too tech heavy to handle for small students. To study online,
some devices like mobiles, laptops and speakers etc. are required which can sometimes be an
unaffordable for students from low family background. Online education does reduce the
practical learning aspects for the students and hence it is a challenge that needs to be worked
upon for the better future of students. Also doubt solving is an issue that students are dealing
with in online education.
 Lack of opportunities in the lockdown era
Studying in home has lower down the opportunities that are present for the students. These
opportunities would have been very important for their evaluation and growth but now as these
opportunities are not there to avail, the students will have to find other ways to succeed in their
3

career(Galibourg and et.al., 2020). For the students looking to avail opportunities in the
professional workspace, the skills and techniques required might not have been attained yet.
These unfortunate losses might prove indecisive in their future career options as well.
 Lack of communication with peers
Another challenge that the students faces is the lack of bonding and the communication that they
need in their education life. As students are mostly in their teenage they are bound to live an
open lifestyle and make strong relations with others. But since the basic requirements in these
time was to keep distance, the student life has been different and unfortunately these experiences
will have to be postponed. Since time the institutes have used various ways to strengthen the
communication. Some of these strategies include- zoom calls, phone calls, social media
platforms etc.
Measures taken to tackle these challenges
The schools and institutes have realised the difficulties faced by the students and have started
creating better options for them in order to make their student life better. The educational
institutes have taken on to improve the technical issues faced by the students. They have started
using and providing better devices and use application that could provide better connectivity and
student satisfaction. The institutes have also used measures to low down the distractions and
have strict criteria to see whether the students are focusing while in the online
classrooms(García-Peñalvo, and et.al., 2021) .
As a student, I have faced the distractions while studying online. In the beginning the exams
were either postponed or conducted online. These online exams were not that strict, but now few
measures have been taken to make sure that the rules are followed and there are no issues
considering the students. Some students might get mental health issues while sitting and just
studying. I, personally was very depressed during the pandemic as the fear of the virus and the
lack of interaction with others was leaving a big mark on my mind. The institute conducted few
sessions and activities online to motivate and not feel alone in these times. To lower down the
pressures from students mind the institutes decided to shorten the curriculum and provide
knowledge as much as it was needed. Even though today's generation is very techno friendly
4

there were some issues in using the unfamiliar technologies. There have been separate classes
and workshops just to make students aware of the different features(Laili and Nashir, 2021).
For me it has been a difficult but learning experience to see and be a part of these extraordinary
times. Especially as a student, it was difficult to adapt to the changing trends in educational
environment(Moawad, 2020). My experience as a student has been with few advantages and
some disadvantages.
Advantages
 Understanding 'Health is Wealth'
I, as a student was always against thinking about health and fitness. As a teenager it was always
about enjoying the present and not thinking about the future. After the pandemic this thought was
changed. Now I think more about my fitness and make sure that my peers and family feel the
same.
 Connecting more with the family
Probably the greatest advantage of Covid 19 has been that the families have been connected
more than ever(Karakose, 2021). Unfortunately, the fear of life due to the spread of corona virus
is the reason for this connection. I have started giving more time for my family and these
situations have helped me in understanding who the real caregivers are in my life.
 Getting the time to rediscover our hobbies
The rise of Covid 19 led to countries announcing lockdowns in their respective places. At first it
was a little obnoxious and scary but then with time it started feeling normal. Soon people
including me, were rediscovering their hobbies and talents that we were not able to give time to.
Disadvantages
 Loss of life
The biggest drawback of Covid 19 are the lost lives that will always create an emptiness in the
hearts of the families that they have left through. Though vaccines are available now, it still
remains a big threat to the people especially sick and old people. Personally I have felt the effects
of Covid 19 as I myself was infected with it.
 Lack of practical education
5

As a student I have found the education very hard to cope up in this pandemic. Many of our
exams were postponed and this slowed down my education process. Even though the classes
were conducted online, it did made the availability of practical knowledge very low.
 Businesses going into recession
This pandemic was very unexpected for everyone, and even the big businessmen became a part
of this situation. Majorly all the business fell very down and stock market went down too. Now
that the pandemic has become a little relaxed, it has been observed that the tastes and demands of
the customers have changed than what was forecasted.
CONCLUSION
In this report it was concluded that the Covid had extraordinary impacts on the life of people and
the global economic environment. Also it was understood that the pandemic and the lockdown
changed the way the education sector work. As the schools and institutes shifted to online
learning, these decisions came with some advantages and disadvantages of its own. These
consequences along with the research with evidences, and my views were all compiled to create
an complete individual report. After covering these topics, the ways by which the institutes took
steps to improve the education facilities and how it impacted the students was also understood.
Section 2: SELF-EVALUATION
While doing this report, I had to think about the time which were tough and scary to see through.
I was rethink about the situations that made the world suffer but gave us an opportunity to
rethink about our plans for the future. This report majorly covered how the students, teachers and
the institutes faced these challenges of recovering from these situations of the pandemic.
Researching and writing my own experiences was full of sentimental feelings. The following
are few challenges I faced while doing this report.
 Getting the accurate sources
While searching for the data and finding the sources, I found it hard to determine whether the
data I was getting was accurate or not. As the pandemic is still in its run, it was tough to specify
the preciseness of the information that I was getting. Though medical professionals and scientists
have been working on this since years, there is still a lot to uncover about the disease. Not only
6

that, since the virus is evolving into its new variants it was proving to be difficult to find right
and predicted information about them. To find more precise information I did some surveys to
know more clear data.
 Keeping the sentiments away
Since the topic was very sentimental to even think about, it was a challenging to work on it. I
myself felt the threat of COVID and some of my family members were just lucky to survive it.
While doing this report I had to write about my personal experiences and that made me to revisit
those struggling memories. But off course it was for this report that helped in evaluating those
experiences and be prepared for the situations that may come unexpectedly in the future.
Considering the education difficulties and challenges discussed above, the sentiments of not
getting to meet my peers and study in a traditional was a challenge I had to tackle.
 Failing to identify the real issues
While writing this report, I had to make sure that was examining and putting the real issues that
were faced during the pandemic and the online education. There were some things which were
needed to be reconsidered before involving them in my reports. These were personal and
confidential things. To make sure of the privacy, I have involved the briefs of those situations
and not dipped into the jest of it. It was important for me to put out the real issues that I faced
since the situation and experiences were completely natural. Making sure that the online study
challenges were completely accurate would also act a as a feedback for the teachers and the
education sector to evaluate themselves.
 To be able to write from an open point of view
Even though the project was focused on the self evaluation, it was needed to be set out from not
just my point of view but of the others too. It was a challenge to know other's perspective of this
pandemic and the online studies. For that I surveyed my peers to to know about their struggles
and how they were different than mine. It was a challenge to see form people's mindset and
thoughts. Not only that, I also tried to understand students from all age groups. Some of my
friends were involved in different activities during the lockdown. It was interesting but
challenging to know how they spent their time during the pandemic.
The things that I enjoyed while doing this report:
 Knowing people's perspective
7

While doing this report one of the most interesting part was to know people's perspective
towards the pandemic and how they are dealing with it. These were important as well to know
whether the struggles and the fun were the same as mine. I surveyed my friends from the institute
and my neighbours too which was a fun activity in itself. Other than that knowing people have
changed their habits and thoughts after the pandemic was also interesting to know.
 Knowing important informations related to Covid
While researching about the project, I got to know some information that were key to being
aware and knowledgeable for these times and the future. These informations also helped me in
putting my feelings and experiences in the report in a better way. Researching about the
situations helped me in understanding the status of the people in the global workspace. The
businesses that boomed and the customer wants that changed were very key for me in knowing
and forecasting the future prospectives(Patil and Naqvi, 2020).
Lessons learnt and the need for the potential improvement-
 Not taking life for granted
The biggest lesson learnt from the Covid situation is that the life given to us is not for granted
and hence we should start giving priorities to small and valuable things(Zheng, Khan and
Hussain, 2020). There are few things that we neglect in our lives which is needed to be given
more importance from now on.
 Expecting the unexpected
We should always be aware of our surroundings and be conscious and sensible enough to expect
the unexpected all the time. Things could always go in such a way that our education or the
career prospectives could take a hit. As a student or as a working professional this would be an
important lesson to learn.
 Health should always be the first priority
In life, we get so much invested in our careers that we forget to look upon our and family's
health. After these situation I have learned that it is important to give health more priority.
References:
Books and Journals
8

Arora, A.K. and Srinivasan, R., 2020. Impact of pandemic COVID-19 on the teaching–learning
process: A study of higher education teachers. Prabandhan: Indian journal of
management, 13(4), pp.43-56.
Baker, and et.al,, 2021. The experience of COVID-19 and its impact on teachers’ mental health,
coping, and teaching. School Psychology Review, 50(4), pp.491-504.
Chakraborty, A. and Kar, A.K., 2021. How did COVID-19 impact working professionals–a
typology of impacts focused on education sector. The International Journal of Information
and Learning Technology.
Christian, D.D., McCarty, D.L. and Brown, C.L., 2021. Experiential education during the
COVID-19 pandemic: A reflective process. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 34(3),
pp.264-277.
Farnell, T., Skledar Matijevic, A. and Šcukanec Schmidt, N., 2021. The Impact of COVID-19 on
Higher Education: A Review of Emerging Evidence. Analytical Report. European
Commission. Available from: EU Bookshop.
Fischer, K., 2020. Confronting the seismic impact of COVID-19: The need for research. Journal
of International Students, 10(2), p.211.
Gaebel, M., 2020. European Higher Education in the COVID-19 Crisis. Briefing. European
University Association.
Galibourg, and et.al., 2020. Impact of COVID‐19 on dental education: How could pre‐clinical
training be done at home?. Journal of Dental Education.
García-Peñalvo, and et.al., 2021. Impact of the COVID-19 on higher education: an experience-
based approach. In Information technology Trends for a global and Interdisciplinary
research community (pp. 1-18). IGI Global.
Karakose, T., 2021. Emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic and potential risks
for socioeconomically disadvantaged students in higher education. Educational Process:
international journal, 10(3), pp.53-62.
Laili, R.N. and Nashir, M., 2021. Higher education students’ perception on online learning
during Covid-19 pandemic. Edukatif: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan, 3(3), pp.689-697.
Moawad, R.A., 2020. Online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and academic stress in
university students. Romanian Journal for Multidimensional Education/Revista
Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12.
Patil, D. and Naqvi, W.M., 2020. COVID-19 and education system: Impact of current pandemic
on adaptive learning strategies in medical education system. Int. J. Res. Pharm. Sci.,
pp.403-406.
Zheng, F., Khan, N.A. and Hussain, S., 2020. The COVID 19 pandemic and digital higher
education: Exploring the impact of proactive personality on social capital through internet
self-efficacy and online interaction quality. Children and Youth Services Review, 119,
p.105694.
9