Study Abroad and Student Decision Making in Times of COVID: A Mixed Methods Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v34i1.649Keywords:
Pandemic, study abroad, factors in decision-making, virtual, immersiveAbstract
The impacts of Covid-19 on Study abroad (SA) are deep and widespread and potentially affect the factors that guide US undergraduate students’ choices as they relate to SA. To investigate them, the present study relies on the MSA (Motivation to SA questionnaire: Anderson & Lawton, 2015) and adds two new groups of factors: language learning and health. To observe changes in the relative weight of factors before and during the pandemic, responses to two different versions of the MSA from 83 students who had participated in SA prior to the pandemic were compared. Results from statistical analyses show stability in the ranking of importance of factors pre- and during pandemic, except for health-related factors, which come second after world enlightenment. In addition, interviews show that while students view immersive SA as a significant experience for its contribution to their personal and intellectual development, they do not consider virtual SA a real SA experience.
Abstract in SpanishLos impactos del Covid-19 en los programas de estudio en el extranjero son amplios y profundos y potencialmente afectan los factores que guían la decisión de los estudiantes de grado en EE.UU. a la hora de estudiar en otro país. Para poder investigarlo, el presente estudio utiliza el MSA (el cuestionario Motivation to Study Abroad: Anderson & Lawton, 2015) y añade dos nuevos grupos de factores: aprendizaje de lenguas y salud. Para observar cambios en la importancia relativa de los factores antes y durante la pandemia, se han comparado las respuestas a dos diferentes versiones del MSA de 83 estudiantes que estudiaron en el extranjero antes de la pandemia. Los resultados de los análisis estadísticos muestran estabilidad en el orden de importancia de los factores antes y durante la pandemia, con la excepción de los factores relacionados con la salud, que se encuentran en segundo lugar después de los factores relacionados con la formación global. Además, las entrevistas sugieren que mientras que los estudiantes consideran la inmersión en el extranjero como una experiencia importante para su desarrollo personal e intelectual, no consideran los programas virtuales como una experiencia real de aprendizaje en el extranjero.
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