Relationship between teaching modality and COVID-19, well-being, and teaching satisfaction (Campus & Corona): a cohort study among students in higher education
Background: After lock-down during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions globally struggled to balance the need for infection control and educational requirements as they prepared to reopen. A particularly difficult choice was whether to offer for in-person or online teaching, since there was little or no empirical research to inform this decision. Norwegian universities and university colleges opted for a hybrid model when they reopened for the autumn semester, with some students offered more in-person teaching than others. This gave us an opportunity to study the association between different teaching modalities and COVID-19 risk, quality of life (subjective well-being), and teaching satisfaction. Methods: We conducted a prospective, observational cohort study among students in higher education institutions in Norway. Participants were surveyed biweekly from September to December in 2020. Findings: 26 754 students from 14 higher education institutions provided data to our analyses. Our best estimate for the association between two weeks of in-person teaching and COVID-19 risk was -22% (95% CI -77% to 33%), compared to online teaching. Quality of life was positively associated with in-person teaching (3% relative risk difference; 95% CI 2% to 4%), as was teaching satisfaction (10%; 95% CI 8% to 11%). Interpretation: The association between COVID-19 infection and teaching modality was highly uncertain. Shifting from in-person to online teaching seems to have a negative impact on the well-being of students in higher education.