6.6 Assignment - Critical Reflection Journal-Blog

The Impact of Stress on Academic Performance of Online Students

Write a reflective blog post on this week’s readings, Roundtable dialogue, and/or your action research learnings. The blog writing may be your choice, but it must be substantive, including outside scholarly works, etc.

Over the last several weeks of this course, I have begun to contemplate my action research project interests. As a student success coach, I work with students pursuing their degrees online and face various challenges. I aim to make their student experience as effective, efficient and enriching as possible. The common denominator for most students is stress. My action research will examine sources of stress online students face and determine how we can improve academic performance.

Stress is a natural phenomenon of emotional or physical tension due to demand or challenge, which can come from various events or thoughts, often leading to sadness, frustration, nervousness, and, in some severe cases, depression. In academic settings, stress plays a significant factor in student academic performance. When students are overwhelmed by stress, it can take over their ability to focus and study on and off campus, so this paper has shown the effects of stress on academic performance, like dropping classes and school.

Numerous research studies have been conducted about the impact of stress on students’ academic performance. However, very few examine stress on online students' academic performance. While society is advancing with new technologies, education has evolved to meet the needs of students who want the flexibility of doing courses online.

Beginning in March 2020, millions of students were forced to finish the semester via remote learning due to a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in unprecedented disruptions to higher education in the United States and worldwide. While many students have been able to return to a physical classroom, many students have chosen to continue with online learning and continue to struggle with it. One area of concern for students that emerges is academic stress and its impact on their academic performance and, subsequently, their ability to succeed in this new kind of online learning environment.

Wintre and Yaffe (2000) concluded that a high-stress level during the first year of college predicts a lower level of achievement and can make students more susceptible to many social and psychological problems, thus leading to a lower grade point average (GPA) overall. Research studies have indicated that academic-related stress reduces academic performance and decreases motivation to complete assignments. Stress is considered a part of a student’s life and can impact the students’ coping strategies with the demands of academic life. However, if we can help students address the stress in their lives, perhaps we can improve academic performance.

References

Wintre, M. G., & Yaffe, M. (2000). First-year students’ adjustment to university life as a function

of relationships with parents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15(1), 9–37.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558400151002