Thread by @LaurenSteimle

With #colleges reopening in the fall during the #COVID19 pandemic, we wanted to know:

What are students’ preferences and expectations for the fall semester?

THREAD🧵

Many #schools surveyed students earlier in the summer when evaluating reopening plans. However, the trajectory of #COVID19 looked very different than it does currently.

So, how have students been feeling recently?

We had 398 undergraduate @GeorgiaTechISyE students (incl. incoming freshmen >= 18 y.o.) complete our survey (~30% response rate)

~51 % of respondents were female students

~85 % were domestic students

~ 48% / 23% / 14%/ 15% were rising
seniors/juniors/sophs/incoming freshmen

So how do students feel about the #pandemic and their risk when returning to campus?

~56% of students state they are very concerned or extremely concerned about the #COVID19 pandemic

~ 48% perceive their risk of being infected with #COVID19 during Fall 2020 term as high or very high if classes are held on campus

~ 48% feel that they are at very low risk or low risk of having adverse effects if they were to be infected

We also asked students about their intentions to comply with health and safety protocols and their expectations of classmates’ compliance

Students tend to state they are extremely likely or somewhat likely to comply with safety protocols like #masks, #testing policies, and staying home with symptoms.

However, it appears students are not as optimistic about their classmates’ compliance

Students state they are relatively less likely to comply with limits on social interactions

& they are even less optimistic about their classmates’ compliance.

~68% expect a minority or almost none of their classmates to maintain 6 ft of #socialdistance at social gatherings

So what do students prefer as far as online vs. in-person courses?

For lecture-based classes, ~54% of students would prefer an exclusively online offering

For lab-based classes, ~60% of students would prefer in-person over an online section using a simulated lab environment

What about the decision of #colleges to return to campus in the fall?

It appears that students’ preferences may be tied to how likely they perceive the risk of needing to switch to online instruction mid-semester...

... If there is a 50% chance of an outbreak that causes a switch from in-person to online instruction during the semester, 54% of respondents state they would prefer to start in-person

If a 100% chance of an outbreak that causes a switch, 76% of respondents say start online

So what did we learn?

A majority of respondents are very concerned or extremely concerned about the #COVID19 pandemic

Colleges should be wary of assuming students are not concerned because these students are generally considered lower risk

Students may overestimate their own compliance and underestimate their classmates’ compliance with safety measures.

Policies aimed at reducing risk at social gatherings may not have high compliance. More education about risks and prevention at social gatherings may be needed

Some models of return-to-campus decisions have assumed high compliance with #testing protocols

Based on student expectations of classmates, testing procedures may have low compliance even if tests are free to students

Schools should be accounting for this in their planning

Student preferences for in-person vs. online classes seem to be related to the value-added for an in-person component (e.g., lab classes)

It appears that students do not want to switch from in-person to online instruction mid-semester

This may be related to housing disruptions due to a switch & could be tied to experience with switching to online delivery (Spring 2020) vs. starting online (summer courses 2020)

Recall that our response rate was 30% and that there is likely to be a non-response bias.

We suspect that students who think that the pandemic is not a big deal may be less likely to respond.

Therefore, we may be seeing more of the "greater-than-average-concerned" slice ...

... & the concern among students is likely to be related to the disparity between students intended compliance vs. the expectations of classmates

Even so, colleges may want to be aware of these concerns and expectations when communicating plans for fall

This survey was a joint effort with @dimanazzal (@GeorgiaTechISyE), @patmokh (@CEEatGT), and Tibor Besedes (@GATechEcon)