Impact of COVID-19 on college seniors’ learning and performance in communication sciences and disorders: Students’ self-reflections

Purpose: A recent summary of ASHA surveys (fielded in March and April 2020) has delineated the pandemic-related challenges in education of communication sciences and disorders (CSD). This paper aimed to estimate how COVID-19 affected college seniors’ learning and course performance, and discuss how a threat is posed to workforce entering. Methods: Ninety-eight written reflections were analyzed using a descriptive analysis to determine how sudden termination of face-to-face instruction affected learning, and subsequently impacted seniors’ completion of course assignments and test performance. Results: It was found that students’ loss of motivation, concentration, and/or self-discipline when adjusting and adapting to the pandemic posed the greatest challenge to knowledge acquisition and studying. Losing class engagement and face-to-face clinical exposure greatly hindered skill application; both elements lowered preparedness and satisfaction of college experience, and might reduce seniors’ competitiveness and readiness to launch a new job. Conclusions: As the coronavirus era is evolving, student comments and reflections become particularly valuable for gaining insights into improving online teaching and learning for future career.