Institutionalized Policies and Student Attitudes and Mental Health Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic stormed the world and introduced new ways of approaching life, including abrupt decisions by policymakers imposing new educational practices to ensure a safe and healthy environment for learning. Some learners welcomed these imposed policies and expressed their contentment with online learning, while others opposed it. This study aims to present the experience of a group of 54 students at Mohammed V University with a course adopting a blended approach. The objectives of the study are to investigate the students' attitudes towards the imposed policies of learning in a virtual classroom and find out about their level of anxiety and stress in these contexts. The study tried to answer questions related to 1) Moroccan Public Speaking students' views about their public speaking development in a virtual setting; 2) the students' perceptions of stress and anxiety, as a reaction to the unprecedented shift to online education, while presenting a public speaking speech in a virtual setting; and 3) the strengths and weaknesses of virtual and face-to-face learning.