Students and COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning Engagement and Social Dialectic of Space – Research on Students at the University of Ioannina in Greece

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 also caused the closure of all educational institutions in Greece. Higher education implemented the distance education system for the first time. In the new educational environment, all the active interactions of students’ learning engagement were put to the test. Learning engagement is directly linked to the suitability and functionality of the study space. Space is the result of a series and set of functions, and sometimes it allows new actions to happen, sometimes it suggests others, and sometimes it forbids them. During the pandemic, it was an important criterion for the learning process, for quality and demanding student learning. A quantitative survey conducted in April 2023 on a sample of 537 students from 21 Departments of the University of Ioannina showed that the family environment, the number of bedrooms, the functionality of the space and the economic level of the family are factors that played an important role in the learning engagement and involvement of the students. The research findings showed the positive correlation of student study space functionality with financial capital and learning engagement, issues analysed in this paper.