The impact of the shifting learning environment on students’ academic performance and employability

This study aims to explore the impact of changes in the learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' academic performance and employability. This study compared the teaching methods of online learning and in-person learning among 305 college students in a design department in Taiwan from 2019 to 2022. A questionnaire was used to investigate eight dimensions of employability before and after the epidemic, including: communication and expression, continuous learning, interpersonal interaction, teamwork, problem solving, innovation, work responsibility and discipline and information technology application. The results found that: (1) online teaching was associated with lower academic performance, (2) female students achieved higher academic performance than male students and (3) online teaching was associated with improvements in communication and expression abilities but reductions in interpersonal interaction ability. Overall, this study examines the multifaceted impact of changes in the learning environment during COVID-19 on students’ academic performance and employment, highlights the challenges and opportunities resulting from online teaching, and calls on educational institutions to adjust and improve their responses to these issues.