Difficulties factor experienced by nursing students during remote group work

Abstract

With the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, distance learning has rapidly spread among educational institutions to contain the infection and continue education. The change in class format due to COVID-19 is assumed to have had a significant impact, such as frustrating exercise courses aimed at skills mastery and group work that requires the exchange of opinions. Thus, this study aimed to investigate remote group work-associated difficulties factor experienced by nursing students who often take group work classes. The study enrolled 30 fourth-year nursing students who had participated in remote and face-to-face group work during COVID-19. Most participants did not care about nonverbal information, such as lack of eye contact through the screen or not seeing the faces of the other participants in the remote group work. Conversely, some felt uneasy because it was difficult to understand their partners’ reactions, as they felt it was easier to do group work with nonverbal information, such as gestures with the camera on. In addition, there was a situation where it was difficult to express opinions due to difficulties in deciding when to start talking. This survey showed that the participants felt difficulty in remote group work due to the screen of other parties, reactions, deciding the appropriate time to speak, and nonverbal information obstruction.