Impact of pandemic-driven online education on student evaluation scores: A comparative study in natural sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the adoption of online systems by educational institutions for infection control. The widespread implementation of online systems presented an opportunity to assess the impact of online education. However, research into the perceptions of students who directly experienced these changes remained relatively underexplored. This study conducted a comparative analysis of student evaluation of teaching scores (SET) before and after the pandemic to examine the impact of accelerated online system adoption on student satisfaction. This study employed a quantitative research design, utilising Ordinary Least Squares regression for the analysis. The analysis utilised SET data from 49,201 students enrolled in the College of Natural Sciences of a top-ranking university in South Korea from 2018 to 2020. The results showed that theory courses that emphasised information delivery demonstrated minimal changes in evaluation scores. By contrast, laboratory courses requiring direct student engagement and controlled environments demonstrated decreased scores. Notably, mathematics, with a conducive online learning environment for laboratory courses, exhibited improved post-pandemic evaluations. Furthermore, the student evaluation of teaching scores decreased in chemistry classes that require restricted laboratory settings. These findings highlight the importance of considering instructional characteristics when integrating modern technologies into educational systems to effectively replace traditional lectures.