Why did French students disengage online in COVID?

Emergency online learning stripped away everyday campus constraints and recognition that many students needed to stay engaged.

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What research method did the authors use to study French students' online-learning experiences?

Semi-structured qualitative interviews exploring students' lived experience.

How many students formed the empirical core of the study?

Nineteen students from different disciplines, year groups, and backgrounds.

Besides students, whom else did the researchers interview?

Seven teaching and administrative staff members, including heads of department, programme directors, and welfare officers.

When were the interviews conducted?

Between January and April 2021.

What three dominant pathways into university did participants describe?

Coming 'by default'; seeking social recognition/status; and aiming to professionalise or enter the job market.

According to the authors, what did emergency online learning strip away?

Interactional, mundane, and spatialised institutional strengths that supported care and social recognition.

Why were recognition and legitimacy especially important for some students?

Disadvantaged or socially disqualified students relied on recognition to legitimise their place and stay engaged in learning.

How effective were individual 'resilience' strategies at restoring engagement?

They failed almost in every case.

What kinds of responses helped re-engage students?

Social recognition, care, and re-establishing some institutional constraints.

What practical conclusion do the authors draw for teaching?

Greater social justice in teaching requires attention to recognition and legitimacy for socially disadvantaged students.

How do the authors reinterpret 'weak' French universities after studying online learning?

Online learning revealed more constraints, structures, and regulations than common-sense discourse assumed.

What prior experience with online learning environments did French universities typically have?

They made little to no use of online learning environments before the pandemic.