Graduation Year
2021
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Primary Major
Psychology
Primary Minor
Biology
Thesis Advisor
Veronica Fruiht, PhD
Abstract
Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, universities are beginning to shift primarily to online courses and hybrid courses. This presents a potential issue because it disrupts the traditional learning experience that students expect from attending an academic institution. The pandemic and sudden disruption of traditional classroom learning may cause adverse changes in a student’s anxiety levels and academic performance. Research has shown that online courses often require students to have lower anxiety levels to perform well academically, which highlights a problematic relationship in students feeling higher levels of anxiety in online classes. (Solimeno et., 2007). The goal of this study is to determine the difference in anxiety levels and academic performance between students participating in hybrid courses and those who are participating in online courses solely. This study included a sample of 37 college students. Participants were recruited from classes at a private and public university in California. The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (Lee, 2020) and The Clinical Anxiety Scale (Westhuis & Thyer, 1989) were used to measure and compare the levels of coronavirus anxiety and clinical anxiety in students participating in their respective classroom environments. Academic performance was measured using cumulative and term grade point average. This study is expected to show how the Coronavirus pandemic and a student’s classroom environment might affect their clinical and coronavirus anxiety levels, as well as their academic performance. Additionally, it is expected that college students who are solely taking online courses will be more anxious than those in hybrid courses. This research will inform educators on the current academic issues stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and will allow them to better prepare for a future event that may pose similar issues for education.