לא על הזום לבדו: גורמים פסיכולוגיים המסבירים את מעורבותם של סטודנטים בלימודים האקדמיים בתקופת מגפת הקורונה

Among the innumerable challenges people throughout the world faced during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, those of students in institutions of higher education needing to engage in online academic studies are of special interest. To examine the issues confronting these students, this study surveyed 547 students from different academic institutions of higher learning, using an online survey. Our findings show that the less lonely the students felt, the less neurotic they were, and the higher they scored in levels of extroversion, agreeableness, consciousnesses, and openness to experience, the greater their engagement in their academic studies. Additionally, students who were older, more educated, with higher intrinsic motivation and lower lack of motivation were more engaged in their online academic studies. Finally, participating in classes through the Zoom platform and experiencing it positively was a significant predictor of higher academic engagement. Recognizing these factors can enable educators, institutions of higher learning, counselling services and students to obtain tools for higher engagement in online learning.