Understanding Learning Environments, Personality, and Proctoring During Mandatory Remote Delivery

To evaluate students’ online learning environments, the relationship between personality and online learning success, and students’ perceptions about online proctoring during mandatory remote delivery due to the pandemic, students responded to an online survey. Learning environments generally included houses and rarely included on-campus housing. The specific room type was predominantly the bedroom. Only conscientiousness was related positively to anticipated semester GPA. The positive relationship between anticipated and overall GPA supports the notion that more conscientious students tend to be successful in online learning situations, as online education was rated as slightly ineffective. A majority of students did not see a need for online proctoring due to the inability or time required to search for materials, which would only harm one’s performance. There is a need to research further the impact of the study environment, relationship of the students’ personality to learning success, and consequences of online proctoring during remote learning.

What Happened to Your College Town: The Changing Relationship of Higher Education and College Towns, 1940–2000

This essay examines the history of what is commonly called the town-gown relationship in American college towns in the six decades after the Second World War. A time of considerable expansion of higher education enrollment and function, the period also marks an increasing detachment of higher education institutions from their local communities. Once closely tied by university offices that advised the bulk of their students in off-campus housing, those bonds between town and gown began to come apart in the 1970s, due primarily to legal and economic factors that restricted higher education institutions’ outreach. Given the importance of off-campus life to college students, over half of whom have historically lived off campus, the essay argues for increased research on college towns in the history of higher education.

Symptomatic, Presymptomatic, and Asymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Importance: Asymptomatic and presymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2 are an ongoing and significant risk for community spread of the virus, especially with the majority of the world still unvaccinated and new variants emerging. Objective: To quantify the presence and effects of symptom presentation (or lack thereof) on the community transmission ofSARS-CoV-2. Design: A cohort of 12,960 young adults participated in health reporting, contact tracing, and COVID-19 testing for 103 days between August 10 and November 20, 2020. Setting: A mid-sized university campus in Indiana, United States. Participants: University students, most of whom are 18-23 years old (67%) and living in congregate on-campus housing (60%). Of the 12,960 students, 1,556 (12.0%) tested positive for COVID-19 during the 103 day period. Of the positive cases, 1,198 reported sufficient health check data (7 days prior and 7 days post diagnosis) to be classified as asymptomatic or symptomatic. Main Outcome: Secondary attack rate, based on presentation or absence of symptoms and type of symptoms calculated with respect to confirmed close contacts and a 14-day incubation period, varies on the type of symptom, timing of symptoms, and absence of symptoms. A quantifiable understanding of SAR on the longitudinal data of more than one thousand subjects in a university environment provides keen insights about developing strategies to respond to the continued prevalence of COVID-19 in the unvaccinated world and growth of variants. Results: 32.5% of all cases reported no symptoms within a 15-day window centered on their positive test (7 days prior, the day of the positive test, and 7 days after). The secondary attack rate (SAR) of asymptomatic COVID-19 index cases was 19.1%. The SAR of symptomatic index cases was 25.4%, and while the onset timing of symptoms did not affect transmission, the presence of certain symptoms like fever, shortness of breath, and dry cough increased the SAR as high as 30.0%. Conclusions and Relevance: Asymptomatic rates of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 are much higher than has been estimated in prior studies and continue to pose a significant and ongoing risk in the pandemic, especially with the prevalence of variants like the Delta variant. In addition, different symptoms are associated with varying rates of transmission, posing a significant challenge in how to diagnose or assess risk through mechanisms such as daily health checks for symptom reporting, a practice commonly in place for entry into schools, offices, restaurants, etc. Given the uncertain nature of symptoms and varied transmission rates, this study suggests a broader embrace of masking, social distancing and testing might be needed to counter the variants until higher global vaccination rates can be achieved.

Drivers for Off-Campus Students Housing Demand in Malaysia

Many studies have acknowledged that higher education institutions are growing globally; this may not be unconnected to the continuous increase in the population and higher education demand, which spurred up enrollment. It is evident, clear that HEIs are experiencing consistency growth in students' populations yearly. This paper aims to highlight student housing demand in off-campus living to identify demand drivers. The paper explored qualitative research methodology in data collection and analysis. Three universities (two public and one private) are used as data sources to represent higher education institutions in Malaysia for student housing demand investigation. Personal interview was conducted, and the transcripts were carefully coded according to themes in their respective NVivo nodes. Higher education institutions' student enrollment has been increasing, and student population outrun the available student housing, thereby creating significant off-campus housing demand. Despite the increase in students' enrollment, housing provision does not correspond with enrollment, making student population growth, consistently running ahead of the public higher education institutions students' housing facilities. This is due to the recessionary economic situation and higher demand for higher education; hence, education is a way forward. This necessitated ever-increasing demand for off-campus students housing in private housing rental market.

Assessment of the Influence of on-Campus Housing Quality and Facilities on Students’ Academic Performance at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

The management of federal universities in Nigeria has not taken the issue of students’ housing provision as a priority. Hence, demand for on-campus housing accommodations far exceeds the supply and this resulted in the majority of the students living in private residences characterised by poor facilities. This study, therefore, assessed the housing quality and facilities in the undergraduate student’s hostels at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria to investigate its suitability for learning and research. A simple random sampling technique was used for the study. Data were collated from both primary and secondary sources. The data collected were analysed using frequency tables and weighted mean scores for estimating the Housing Quality Indices (HQI) according to a 5-point Likert scale. The academic performance of the occupants before and after moving to the university hostel was equally investigated using a regression analysis to test if a relationship exists among the housing quality, the quality of facilities provided and the academic performances of the students. The result revealed a positive relationship between the academic performance of the students and the quality of housing facilities. A comprehensive maintenance programme of the students’ accommodation within the university campus is recommended for higher academic performance. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in academic performance of students, developing and managing students’ accommodation quality at higher education institutions.

Online Teaching Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic

A serious situation the world has faced, a virus is spreading very fast almost in every country leaving millions infected and hundreds of thousands dead. The whole aspects of life have been affected, health, economy, travel, manufacturing, trade and education is no exception. Universities cancelled face-to-face study, canceled study-abroad programs, forced students to leave dorms and in some cases students in off-campus housing, too, were asked to vacate and moved to online teaching. Meanwhile, Scheduled conferences have been cancelled, and almost every sports event or even practice have also been put on hold. The coronavirus pandemic has upended the world’s education system, as most schools in almost every country have closed their doors for extended periods to combat the spread of the virus. Millions of students across 209 countries infected by the COVID-19 virus have been affected by school closures and health officials were predicting the crisis would last for months. The uncertainty caused by the pandemic seems to discourage not only the parents but also the educators as well from being hopeful that the quality of the education process will be guaranteed. This paper provides a view point and a review for the challenges faced by the students, educators, and schools during the Coronavirus pandemic in order to have better understanding for the online education challenges for better planning and management of the education process.

The Influence of Social Support Specific to Physical Activity on Physical Activity Among College and University Students: A Systematic Review

Background: Starting college or university is a significant life event that can impact students’ physical activity (PA). Social support specific to PA (SSPA) is a social determinant of PA among college and university students. This review had 3 aims: (1) to systematically review studies examining the association between SSPA and PA among students; (2) to examine whether potential associations differed in terms of types or sources of SSPA; and (3) to examine whether any potential associations differed in terms of gender. Methods: Studies were identified using Academic Search Premier, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, and SPORTDiscus. Results: This review included 25 papers. The results suggested that there is a positive association between SSPA and PA among college and university students. Although the importance of different sources of SSPA is not clear, the results suggested that family and friends provide significant SSPA. Conclusions: High variability in measurement methods made it difficult to compare studies and to come to a clear consensus. However, the findings suggested that SSPA may be a determinant of PA. In order to better understand the relationship between SSPA and PA among students, some elements, such as gender, socioeconomic level, and off- or on-campus housing, should be considered in future studies.

Moving Medical Students into Shared Housing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A new academic year began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to allow for in-person learning, a fundamental part of medical education, some medical schools grappled with how to safely move students into shared on-campus housing. The authors describe a behavior-based strategy to safely move students from all parts of the United States to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. This strategy included a school-organized phased move-in that included 14-day quarantines for students coming from states with high COVID prevalence; requiring students to sign a COVID-agreement; the use of a phone-based daily COVID risk assessment; and facilitation of safe in-person social activities with peer monitoring of adherence to behavior guidelines. This strategy resulted in no known transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in student housing between July and October of the 2020 to 2021 academic year. The authors share this strategy in the hope that colleagues at other medical schools will find it useful in utilizing similar behavior-based strategies to keep students safe in shared housing.

Full-Time Students With Part-Time Benefits: How Being Denied On-Campus Housing Affects College Students With Criminal Records

There are major assumptions that housing opportunities in higher education are equally accessible and available to all students. However, these accessible housing opportunities are not available to current and prospective students who possess a criminal record. Many college students with criminal records are deemed ineligible for adequate housing opportunities even before their applications are submitted. This study uses a qualitative layered analysis approach to explore how denials from on-campus housing affect college students with criminal records. Using the perspectives of this marginalized and invisible student population, we draw the reader’s attention to how students with criminal records are affected as a result of being denied on-campus housing, and we provide tangible recommendations for future research, housing practices, and housing policies in higher education.