Student belonging during COVID-19 emergency remote learning: A case study from an Australian regional university

Authors: David Waldron, Ana Larsen and Bryce Magnuson
Federation University, CQUniversity and Federation University, Australia

Edition: Volume 66, Number 2, July 2026

Introduction:

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid shift to emergency remote learning in Australian higher education, disrupting students’ academic, social, and personal experiences of university. This study examines the concerns expressed by commencing undergraduate students at a regional Australian university during semester 2, 2020. The institution serves a high proportion of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and first-in-family higher education cohorts. Drawing on qualitative survey responses and using Ahn and Davis’s (2020) fourdomain framework of student sense of belonging, the study analyses how emergency online study affected students across academic, social, environmental, and personal domains. The findings show that students experienced multiple threats to belonging, including reduced access to staff, weakened peer connection, difficulties with digital navigation, challenges in home study environments, and pressures on motivation and wellbeing. Rather than treating 2020 emergency remote teaching as equivalent to contemporary online learning, the study presents a bounded case study of belonging under pandemic disruption. It distinguishes between concerns intensified by COVID-19 conditions and concerns that remain relevant to current online and blended higher education, with implications for inclusive course design, student support, and the fostering of belonging in digitally mediated learning environments.

Keywords: COVID-19, emergency remote learning, higher education, sense of belonging, regional students

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 66:2 The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.