Online Learning Increases Psychological Distress in Students

The modern society is characterized by exponential technological advancements that continue to revolutionize and improve human life quality. Information technology is one area of exponentially growing technological advancements, especially with increased consumption of the internet. The internet has opened up a new world for many people worldwide by creating numerous opportunities making it a manifestation of the ever-growing innovation and creativity. For instance, the internet has improved the global commerce realm through online trading, also known as electronic commerce. Technology has also found its way in the education sector in online learning, which both advantages and disadvantages. The downside of online learning, particularly conspicuous during the current COVID-19 pandemic when face to face learning, has been temporarily abandoned for online learning (Dumford & Miller, 2018). Higher education institutions are currently switching to teaching and learning an approach that requires students to cope with the workload while also adapting a new delivery model. All these changes take a huge toll on students and faculty members laying a foundation for mental health problems.

Although there are students who are flourishing through online learning, the impacts of the virus, increased workloads and other related consequences are rising among many students and faculty members. Faculty members are experiencing huge stress because they are required to remake their classes into operational digital forms. The additional workload and affiliated anxiety are heaped upon an already stretched faculty, resulting in burnout in members of the teaching fraternity ( Amiri et al., 2018 ). For example, lecturers have to find ways of integrating online technologies in their teaching, mentoring, research, and publication endeavours. Similarly, students are also feeling the strain like their lecturers, which is manifested through deteriorating mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Supporting both students and faculty members' mental health needs is a critical mission that should be included in education policies that govern learning in different institutions. Faculty members and management boards should be on the forefront in identifying emotional and mental health issues. When students are learning online, executing this mandate is challenging because they are unseen by classmates, resident advisers, and other campus employees.

Theoretical Foundations

A key theory that can be employed in the subject problem is Lazarus Theory. According to this theory, a person will have to weigh between the happenings in their life and their coping mechanism ( Biggs et al., 2017 ). One of the major constructs of the Lazarus theory is that stress is a related concept. It is not defined as a particular pattern of physiological or behavioral action. A student who is required to learn through online services will be required to behave in a certain way. Since such a student lacks familiarity with online platforms, they will be forced to have coping mechanisms to successfully engage in online learning. Understanding stress is an important construct of this theory because it is based on that emotional processes critical in manifesting certain outcomes. This theory will be important in explaining how individuals deal with learning on digital platforms such as e-learning. 

Review of Literature with Key Themes

Although online learning has ensured that learning is not entirely halted during the current pandemic, it is a demanding alternative, especially due to its impact on students' psychological wellness. The success of any learning model, including online learning, depends on how students and instructors perform. While literature reveals that there is some positive perception of online learning, researchers have found that there are misgivings, especially among college students due to the mental distress associated with e-learning (Hasan & Bao, 2020). The study established that students have a high level of emotional crack-up due to online learning, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown. Waterhouse et al. (2020) established that most students reported higher mental distress levels when learning through online platforms. According to this study, mental distress is linked to work-study conflict and family-study conflict whereby most students are unable to balance other aspects of their lives with education. According to Hasan and Bao (2020), emotional crack-up in students worsened by one-way instructor support, online learning content cost, inadequate performance assessment systems, and tedious online class registration procedures. Ineffective study plans and inadequate professional development are the other factors that contribute to emotional distress associated with online learning. 

Summary

Although online learning has eased the knowledge acquisition process, it has its downside. The research reviewed shows that students and faculty members underdo a lot of pressure as they try to be accustomed to e-learning platforms. Thus, there is a need to find ways of easing online learning for both students and their instructors. 

What is the impact of online learning on students’ knowledge acquisition?

Is there a relationship between online learning and student’s mental wellness?

What can be done to improve online learning to enhance knowledge acquisition and dispensation?

The projected study will be conducted among college students in this institution. Fundamentally, purposive and selective sampling will be used. This is because the research will assume a qualitative methodology whereby the researcher will recruit participants who can provide in-depth and detailed information about the study question. As a judgmental sampling technique, the purposive sampling will be an information-rich method which will provide a way for effective use of limited resources. However, care will be taken to ensure that the aims and assumptions inherent in applying methodology are well implemented. 

Online learning causes mental distress in students. 

This study will assume a correlational research design and methodology that will help the researcher establish a relationship between online learning and psychological stress in students and faculty members. Correlational research design suits this study because two variables need to be compared. Another key aspect of this methodology is that there will be no substantial assumption when evaluating the two variables' relationship. Last, there will be a coefficient correlation to determine the association between the two variables. 

This study aims to establish whether online learning/teaching has a psychological impact on student/instructor. 

Fundamentally, the study will assume a quantitative approach and as such close-ended surveys and online quizzes will be used. These data collection methods are based on questions that allow respondents to give predefined answers. For this research, the questions will be categorical in nature, which means that they will be in "yes/no" format. For this to be implemented, checkboxes will have to be designed for the two alternatives. 

The second method of data collection will be interviewed. Online interviews will be crafted, whereby students and faculty members will be asked about their experience with online learning platforms. It will be important that the researcher understands the questions to ask. Also, efficiency will be a key thing in this process because all primary data collection methods can be expensive. 

For this research, trend analysis will be the major data analysis method which will be employed. Trend analysis provides a researcher with the ability to look at quantitative data that has been gathered over a long period of time. Thus it means that there will be a need to observe students over a certain period of time. This method of data analysis will aid in collecting feedback from faculty member and students alike. The researcher will have the required data to facilitate the understanding of the phenomena under study.