Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on First Semester BSN Nursing Student’s Grades

In March of 2020, students at Texas Woman's University (TWU) transitioned to online learning platforms mid-semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The nursing faculty for Junior 1, first-semester nursing students, worried that switching to the online platform would negatively impact academic performance. A qualitative survey to assess increased demands that students may have experienced during their first nursing school semester was developed. The faculty administered the survey to students enrolled in the Junior 1 program in the Spring and Fall semesters of 2020. Academic performance data was also collected using letter grades for the three courses that comprised the Junior 1 curriculum. Researchers will compare Junior 1's academic performance from the online Spring and Fall of 2020 cohorts to the Junior 1's from Spring and Fall of 2019, who received traditional face-to-face lectures.