Switching Learning Methods during the Pandemic: A Quasi-Experimental Study on a Master Course

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic marked an important breakthrough in human progress: from working habits to social life, the world population’s behaviours changed according to the new lifestyle requirements. In this changing environment, university courses and learning methods evolved along with other “remote” working activities. For this quasi-experimental study, we discuss the effectiveness of the changes made by the LUMSA University in Rome, comparing two different groups of students who attended a master’s course with blended and fully remote methodologies. Here, we focused our attention on the paradigm shift, comparing the data gathered during the blended course in the 2019/2020 academic year with data gathered during the same course, but conducted fully online, in the academic year 2020/2021. Considering the sample size and type, the group comparison was made using a non-parametric test (U-test). The statistical analysis results suggest that there was no substantial difference between the students’ performance, confirming that the course changes made to adapt to the pandemic situation were successful and that learning effectiveness was preserved.