Research on Education in Times of Covid-19
How does distance teaching during lockdown affect students and teachers? How can we collect the evidence in order to inform decision-makers?
As a reaction to the pandemic, our research teams worked to provide evidence on the impact of covid-19 related measures on education, both at EPFL and in public schools across Switzerland.
EPFL teachers and the need to adapt
A study on teachers’ adaptability was already underway when the COVID-19 pandemic hit tertiary education in February 2020.
This study was quickly redesigned to capture how teachers adapted to a situation of forced change.
The analysis shifted its perspectives to pedagogical innovation and the social components of learning, which, during lockdown, significantly influenced the very meaning of the professional teaching role.
This study was featured in one of our lunch&LEARN sessions:
Public school teachers and distance Learning
More than 5,500 teachers from the Canton of Vaud participated in this study.
The analysis revealed that effective distance learning relied on three key factors:
- Contextual factors: students, teachers, school equipment, as well as available technical and socio-emotional support.
- Individual factors: teachers’ autonomy, students’ competence, and motivation.
- Pedagogical factors: teaching practices and tools.
Compiling and making these studies accessible to the research community
The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (CDIP), the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SEFRI), and the Center LEARN collaborated to create a platform for sharing research on the pandemic’s impact on education at the national level.
A research repository
An open-access online repository now hosts more than sixty studies. We encourage its use for research and knowledge-sharing purposes.
- Access the repository
- Submit your study to the repository
Informal online conference
In December 2020, over one hundred researchers participated in an informal conference to share current knowledge on the impact of the pandemic on education.
Seventeen studies were presented by colleagues from UniFR, FORS, EHL, UniZH, PHZG, FSO, SFIVET, UZH, UniGE, UniDistance, and EPFL.
The full conference program is available here.
