Female Students’ Responses to Change: Adaptation, Maintenance, or Surrender

Abstract

The present research examined college students’ reactions to the post-pandemic instructional world. The participants were from an understudied student population of women from a society in transition from a patriarchal order to one fostering gender equity in education and employment. Thus, participants had to cope with a return to pre-pandemic educational practices (i.e., a local change) amid ongoing broader societal changes. For the present research, at the end of the first semester that highlighted their return to campus, 486 students completed the adaptation-to-change scale of Biwer et al. (2021), which was modified to gauge responses to the post-pandemic learning environment in comparison to the pandemic one. They also completed the self-efficacy scale of Chen et al. (2001) as confidence in one’s abilities (i.e., self-efficacy) was thought to be linked to differences in students’ responses to change. Cluster analysis was performed. It illustrated three patterns of responses to the changing environment, involving how students managed motivation, effort, and time, self-regulated attention, and invested time and effort: adaptation, maintenance, and surrender. Students’ responses varied with their self-efficacy. Differences in responses to change, either positive or negative, did not reflect preexisting differences in academic success (as measured by GPA). These multidimensional patterns were interpreted as informing the development of a tailored approach for support services in the post-pandemic ecosystem.



Author Information
Maura Pilotti, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia
Samia Hassan, Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia
Nouf Faisal, Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia

Paper Information
Conference: IICE2023
Stream: International Education

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Posted by James Alexander Gordon