Searching for belonging is the transformative individual process of developing connections, making homes and hoping in the ecologies of a community. Belongingness influences academic performance, confidence and well-being. Therefore, understanding how students embody and search for belongingness in their higher education experience provides…

College students have experienced unique life disruptions and losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted this study to gain an understanding of how the pandemic has affected the lifestyle of college students. Findings included: major changes in perceived well-being related to living at home with families, balancing online classes and work,…

In this study, we used online photovoice and community-based participatory research to understand and address facilitators and barriers to online distance education for college students in Turkey. Out of 260 students who consented to the study, 240 shared the most important facilitator, 190 shared the most important barriers, and 190 completed our…

The photovoice-based action research project took place in a university in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was aimed to document opportunities and challenges that students with disabilities were faced with in attending emergency remote higher education activities, as well as in returning to face-to-face higher education once restrictions…

Life for the population in the Czech Republic came to a standstill in spring 2020 due to measures enacted in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic: a travel ban and closed borders, the cancellation of physical lessons at all types of school, the closure of stores except those securing basic necessities, radical restrictions to free movement of…

University students' mental health and wellbeing has been a global public health issue of increasing concern in recent years, with a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting university students are a 'very high-risk population' for mental disorders and psychological distress. Pre-existing mental health challenges among university students…

The period of restrictions on social contacts introduced by the governments of different countries increased the time spent by users in social networks. The paper aims to analyze the Internet activity of students in social networks as a way of overcoming interaction difficulties in the context of an epidemiological threat. The research used the…

Past research has highlighted a range of factors that impact college students' sense of belonging. It is less clear how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped college students' experience of belonging. The current study used a reflective photography approach to examine US college students' experience of belonging to their institution during the COVID-19…

Objectives: The coronavirus disease pandemic and social distancing measures have threatened young people living in an underdeveloped region of Indonesia. Very little is currently known about how youth experience social distancing during the pandemic. This study aimed to explore the lived experience of this group within a large-scale social…

Objective: This study seeks to understand the experiences of college student as they completed their education during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants: Students at a large 4-year college in Midwestern USA. Methods: We conducted a photo-survey of students' experiences during the lockdown. Student researchers and faculty collaborated to analyze…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the power of affective pedagogies and playful literacies to resist neoliberal framings of video game play and design in educational contexts. Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on the Giga-Games Camp, a video game design camp for adolescents, the authors mobilize different methodological…

The demand for higher education has been increasing in Jamaica as in many other Caribbean countries. Those who respond to such demands, pursuing further studies in higher education, will need to navigate many obligations and challenges. Additionally, some individuals may be First Generation (FG) adult learners and may lack the tacit knowledge and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained higher education institutions, especially small Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As campuses closed and reopened, Black communities' digital divide grew, adding to the need to stay connected. This study uses social capital to examine how institutions use language, tone, content, and…

The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected many areas of life including higher education. Educational practices were disrupted, and higher education institutions had to move from in-person to remote teaching quickly to continue education. This transition brought along challenges not only for students but also for faculty. Currently…

Guided by intersectional multimodal literacy frameworks and analytic methods, this qualitative study explored how seven high-achieving Black undergraduate women's photo essays visually and textually represented their persistence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo essays, in this context, are intersectional multimodal compositions that use images…