Learning online: Remote teaching and university students’ engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on many dimensions ofliving and working conditions, and uncertainties about the developments that we shall stillface in the near future. This paper analyses the implications of a forced overnight push toonline teaching. Drawing upon an online survey conducted during the 2020 lockdown bythe University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, this article describes students’ living andstudying conditions revealed by a large set of open and closed questions. The surveyprovides significant information on the students’ real off-campus conditions, crucial datafor the multidimensional analysis by combining non-parametric multivariate analysis ofclosed questions with textual analyses. It offers important indications about the most usefultools for inclusive teaching across thematic areas and highlights the main difficulties thatemerged during the lockdown. Reflections on advantages and disadvantages, strengths andweaknesses in the innovative learning environment set up overnight are offered at a policylevel.