Pandemic and post-pandemic effects on university students’ behavioral traits. How community of inquiry can support instructional design during times of changing cognitive habits

Recent investigations show how the pandemic has affected learners’ behavioral traits. The results of three semi-structured surveys carried out in a major Italian university: 2020, 1st sem. (n=102); 2022, 1st sem. (n=235); and 2022, 2nd sem. (n=61) under COVID-19 containment measures, manifest deviations in students’ perceptions about social patterns, learning routines, and expectations. During the two-year emergency remote learning, students revealed a progressive downsize of social expectancy and increasing self-management behaviors in relation to a higher degree of independence. The Community of Inquiry principles were adopted to observe student motivation and self-direction in a Moodle-based learning environment. Conversely, the focus on English as a Foreign Language as the main subject represents an uncharted perspective in the research contexts around the Community of Inquiry. Future expansions may enlarge the sample to further education bodies and broaden the range of e-learning tools.