Title: Sport management students' perceptions of online learning during COVID-19: An exploratory study
Author(s) : Kerry Fischer, Genevieve Birren, Robyn Lubisco
COVID-19 suddenly shifted learning to an online environment. With little preparation, faculty rapidly transitioned their courses to a distance learning platform. In this unprecedented moment, sport management faculty had to decide how to deliver the remaining course material and assessment of students. In this pilot study, students at five universities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (states that were hit the hardest in the first few months of the pandemic) were asked the following: which online instructional delivery and assessment methods were used when the institution switched to online learning; which online instructional delivery and assessment methods were most effective; did motivation change due to the switch to online learning; and did students intend to return in the fall (2020) if learning delivery remained online? Results indicated that the most used instructional delivery method was online discussion, but written assignments were the most effective form of assessment. Student motivation did change when it came to their non-sport management courses. Moreover, the majority of students acknowledged they would return to their school if online learning continued beyond the Fall 2020 semester.