University students' emotions and reflections on returning to face-to-face education after emergency remote education: A case study from Greece

University education

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, abundant research has explored the effects of Covid-19 on university students’ psychological and emotional state as well as students’ experiences with the emergency remote education that was applied at the beginning of the pandemic in universities worldwide. However, university students’ experiences in the transition from emergency remote education to face-to-face education again under the pandemic circumstances have been left unexamined. This small case qualitative research explored the reflections and feelings of 77 undergraduate students from a Department of Primary Education of a Greek university at the time that they returned to on-site education at their campus, after the implementation of emergency remote education. Research data comprised the written texts where participants freely and anonymously recorded their thoughts on the issue under study, and the research method that was used was qualitative content analysis. Findings indicated that the return to on-site education was an emotional experience for the participants. The latter on the one hand self-reported feeling happy since with the traditional model of education they could satisfy their need for social relations; while, on the other hand, they self-reported experiencing anxiety and fear, mainly for not being infected with the virus. Still, several students had concerns about the compliance of the preventive measures at the campus premises and admitted to experiencing difficulties with their adaptation. The findings of the study help us take a snapshot of this special moment for the educational reality, namely, the restoration of the educational normality that was afflicted by the vehement emergence of the pandemic.

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