Context, input and process as critical elements for successful Emergency Remote Learning

In Spring 2020, the world moved from traditional classes to what was coined as ERL (Emergency Remote Teaching / Learning / Instruction), posing real challenges to all actors involved, requiring an immediate, unprecedented, and unplanned devising of mitigation strategies. The impacts of this transition cannot, however, be studied only at the educational level, as it consists of a broader social shift with multidomain repercussions. In this paper, we use the CIPP model (Context, Input, Process and Product evaluations) to further investigate interrelations among the context, input and process elements of ERL during the first wave of COVID-19, as the second wave presses towards reconfining. A correlation analysis of 46 variables, based students’ responses (N=360) to a closed-ended questionnaire shows the crucial importance of motivation and engagement in online classes, as learning enablers or constrainers. These also shape the students’ perception of the role that online classes play in helping them to stay more positive during ERL.