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We propose and test a theoretically grounded structural model of our postulation, providing insights into how students’ COVID experiences affect their general learning experiences, specific learning experiences and specific class performance post-COVID.

Numerous studies have reported how COVID-19 has impacted student learning in higher education during the pandemic from Spring 2020 to Fall 2021. Students were found to be disengaged, unmotivated, isolated, anxious, having difficulty with emergency remote teaching (ERT) and dealing with financial, physical and/or mental health issues. Against this backdrop, we conduct our own investigation to ascertain what the lasting impacts of COVID-19 are on student learning using a survey instrument. Specifically, we postulate that the academic and social disruptions of COVID-19 affected students’ social connectedness and mental well-being, which in turn, affected their affective and cognitive learning outcomes. We used structural equation modeling to validate a structural model grounded in self-determination theory that capatures the complex relationships between genaral and specfiic COVID-19 impact factors on student learning as seven hypotheses.

All seven of our hypotheses are supported suggesting that both class-specific factors and broader general factors beyond the classroom affect student's satisfaction with and learning in the class, as postulated in our structural model.

We advance the work of self-determination theory by conceptualizing and modeling the roles that all three self-determination needs play in investigating COVID-19's impact on learning. Overall, our study confirms the value of considering affective factors such as anxiety and satisfaction in learning research.

The purpose of this paper is to present an educational approach to elevating problem-solving and numeracy competencies of business undergraduates to meet workplace demand. The approach is grounded in the theory of constraints following the Decoding the Discipline model. The authors investigated a cognitive bottleneck involving problem modeling and an affective bottleneck concerning low self-efficacy of numeracy and designed specific interventions to address both bottlenecks simultaneously. The authors implemented the proposed approach in an introductory level analytics course in business operations.

The authors use an empirical study to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in addressing deficiency in numeracy and problem-solving skills. Cognitive and affective learning interventions were introduced in an undergraduate core course in analytics. The perceived effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated with the use of a survey at the end of the course. To further investigate the effectiveness of the proposed interventions beyond self-reporting, the impact of the interventions on actual learning was evaluated by comparing the exam scores between classes with and without the interventions.

Students who underwent the interventions successfully overcame both learning bottlenecks and indicated a positive change in attitude toward the analytics discipline as well as achieved higher exam scores in the analytics course.

This study succeeds in strengthening the body of research in teaching and learning. The authors also offer a holistic treatment of cognitive and affective learning bottlenecks, and provide empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of the proposed approach in elevating numeracy and problem-solving competencies of business undergraduates.

The proposed approach is useful for business educators to improve business students’ quantitative modeling skill and attitude. Researchers can also extend the approach to other courses and settings to build up the body of research in learning and skill development. Educational policy makers may consider promoting promising approaches to improve students’ quantitative skill development. They can also set a high standard for higher education institutions to assess students’ numeracy and problem-solving competencies. Employers will find college graduates bring to their initial positions the high levels of numeracy and problem-solving skills demanded for knowledge work to sustain business growth and innovation.

As students’ numeracy and problem-solving skills are raised, they will develop an aptitude for quantitative-oriented coursework that equips them with the set of quantitative information-processing skills needed to succeed in the twenty-first century society and global economy.

The proposed approach provides a goal-oriented three-step process to improve learning by overcoming learning bottlenecks as constraints of a learning process. The integral focus on identifying learning bottlenecks, creating learning interventions and assessing learning outcomes in the proposed approach is instrumental in introducing manageable interventions to address challenges in student learning thereby elevating students’ numeracy and problem-solving competencies.