State of Remote

Learning Report 2020

Report investigates the impact of COVID-19 school
closures on learning through the exploration of
online study behaviors of U.S. students in high
school and higher education

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INTRODUCTION
When the world unexpectedly shifted online as a result of COVID-19, it flipped
education upside down. Faced with unprecedented obstacles, students, teachers
and education systems worldwide had to quickly adapt. As the pandemic
progressed and schools sustained long-term closures, the challenges of remote
learning and the consequences of income inequality for students were thrust into
the spotlight like never before.

At Quizlet, we have over 50 million monthly active users across 130 countries and
our online learning platform caters to a diverse user base across geographies
and stages of education. In fact, over a billion study transactions happen on
Quizlet each week, as students move through a variety of learning activities, from
flashcards to quizzes and games, to learn most any subject imaginable. With two-
thirds of high school students and over half of all college-aged students in the U.S.
on the platform, our proprietary data shows us trends in how and what students are
studying online – both before and during the pandemic. So we turned to our data
to understand the impact that distance learning has had on U.S. students in high
school and higher education: Where did students succeed in learning online? What
challenges did they face? Did socioeconomic factors have an impact?

Digging into the results, it’s clear schools faced enormous challenges in the shift to
remote learning and those challenges have an ongoing effect. We believe sharing
these findings in our State of Remote Learning 2020 report will provide awareness
and insights to help students and the entire education community as they move
into a new fall semester and a new reality.

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The Shift to Virtual Caught the World Off-Guard, and the U.S. Wasn’t Able to Fully Recover
Although no country was prepared for the quick pivot to remote learning, most were able to not only return to their pre-COVID-19
online study levels, but actually became more engaged than before. In fact, across Quizlet’s top 50 markets, we saw a 200 to 400
percent increase in new students and teachers signing up to use the platform as schools moved to distance learning models.
This was especially true in countries, such as Singapore, where the national government mandated classes to resume and provided
guidance on the structure and tools to use in a remote setting.

The U.S. however, was far less prepared than many other countries to pivot and engage their students online through the rest of the
school year. As shelter in place orders came into effect, U.S. high school student visits dropped, and even as students tried to finish
out the school year and regained some of their study habits back, the U.S. did not return to normal study engagement levels.

Looking at high school students, and comparing them to

Global High School Engagement in Online Studying
their equivalents in secondary school around the world, we
Peak online studying across high school after COVID-19 hit
dug into their “study comebacks” – or, the respective week
in which each country had its highest engagement on the
platform after COVID-19 hit. We found Brazilian students
were 207 percent more engaged in online studying than they
were prior to the pandemic, South Korean students were
198 percent more engaged, and Polish students were 96
percent more engaged. By contrast, French students were
12 percent less engaged in online studying than they were
pre-COVID-19, and American students were 27 percent less
engaged. To avoid falling behind, teachers in the U.S. will need
to determine whether students are studying more efficiently
independently, and if not, find ways to share and track
*dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels
progress together, in the absence of in-person support.

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These findings led us to investigate independent studying in the U.S. a bit further. We know that typically, higher ed students study longer
hours than high school students. Prior to COVID-19, high school students were studying about 65 percent as much as higher ed students,
on average. But when remote learning hit, high school study duration dropped to 50 percent that of higher ed - which represents a 23
percent disparity in study duration. This spotlights an increasing gap in independent study.

Contrary to students’ experiences in high school

and earlier grade levels, according to learning experts,
college is where students engage in “self-creation,
self-initiation and self-evaluation” of academic tasks.
For today’s incoming college freshmen, proactivity
and self-discipline will be an even more important skill
to master independently, as many collegiate students
embark on a fully remote class situation this fall.

Back to School Takeaway #1
Research shows students typically rely on older
students as model learners, and form a community
of peers to hold each other accountable. Remote
students and incoming college freshmen may face
challenges as they adapt to time management,
different class formats and new forms of assessment.
After seeing initial findings that school shutdowns were heavily impacting
U.S. high school and students in higher ed, even though so many of their
counterparts around the world had rebounded and were studying more
online, we were left with questions: What subjects were U.S. students
struggling with? Were they losing motivation or are other factors at play?
Were there areas of learning where U.S. students continued to succeed?
We turned to our subject-level data to help us understand these data
points further, and what it might mean for the fall.

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Study Behavior by Subject: Math Still Popular, English in Steep Decline
Of the five main study categories we analyzed - including Arts and Humanities, Languages, Science, Social Science, and Math -
we found that, among U.S. students, Math performed the best relative to pre-COVID-19 levels, at 84 percent in high school and 87 percent
in higher education. Meanwhile, the lowest-performing subject category was Arts and Humanities, at 43 percent in high school and 55
percent in higher education, compared to pre-COVID-19 levels. Among Arts & Humanities, the greatest reduction in engagement was
with English study sets, which are composed largely of vocabulary words. Across all subjects, we found that study engagement was lower
overall in high school than in higher education

U.S. High School and Higher Ed Study Visits by Subject Category, Compared to
Pre-COVID-19 Levels
Students of all ages were the most engaged in Math, and the least engaged in Arts & Humanities
Specific to high school, we noticed that AP exams, which
were not cancelled, were big motivators for continued
studying after COVID-19 hit. The six highest performing
subjects within the five major study categories, seen on the
next page, all corresponded to AP exams, ranging from
14 percent above average studying levels (Economics) to
89 percent above average studyling levels (Probability &
Statistics).

In both high school and higher education, we saw

Probability and Statistics actually bounce back to higher
than pre-COVID-19 levels, at 39 percent more in high
school and one percent more in higher education. In
higher education, we also saw high engagement in
*dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels Applied Math (back up to 95 percent) and Economics
(back up to 93 percent) of prior studying levels.

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Subjects that Performed Better than Average During COVID-19 in High School
High school students were more engaged in courses corresponding to AP exams
*dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels
*dotted line represents the average change in engagement post COVID-19 hitting
Conversely, as students were no longer anticipating mandatory
quizzes, class activities, or high-stakes midterms and finals,
studying foundational subject matter across English, History,
Languages, Math and Science decreased. Students were not
practicing retrieval or rehearsing foundational information as
regularly as before.
Subjects that Performed Better than Average During COVID-19 in Higher Ed
Higher ed students were more engaged in technical subjects
*dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels
*dotted line represents the average change in engagement post COVID-19 hitting
As a result of less studying and testing themselves, students
heading into school this fall may suffer from a subjective sense
of fluency. Without actively practicing retrieval - particularly
when it comes to core knowledge such as vocabulary -
fundamental concepts, definitions and even spelling are not likely
to stick from the prior school year. Cognitive science has shown
that higher-order thinking, such as problem-solving, requires this
foundational knowledge as a stepping stone to mastery.
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Back to School Takeaway #2

As a result of remote learning, students may have formed
weaker memory traces for foundational subjects (such
as vocabulary) and will need extra help for increasingly
complex reading in school and beyond. This fall, educators
will likely need to identify their students’ learning losses
early on with simple formative assessments to understand
where their individual needs are and proactively prescribe
learning activities to close those gaps.
Hobbies also rebounded at 58 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels in
high school and 61 percent in higher ed. Popular hobbies studied
on Quizlet include creative endeavors like cooking recipes,
gardening and plant care, and travel-related topics, as well as life
skills such as interview and resume tips.
While staying at home gave students the opportunity to focus
on things they wanted to learn, it also points to potential gaps
in learning that may impact their return to school in fall.

Students are Prioritizing Personal Interests & Immediate

Importance
Interestingly, while students appeared to be studying less across
certain core subjects – such as Arts & Humanities, which only
came back to 43 percent in high school relative to before –
we saw the study duration for personal interest subjects recover
and remain popular. In the absence of a structured school week
and regularly held classes, and as testing and final grades were
no longer required in many areas of the U.S., students shifted their
learning priorities. We found that sports were of particular interest
to students, coming back at 73 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels
in high school and 75 percent in higher education. This includes
studying the history and stats around sports and athletes, as well
as studying actual strategies and plays.

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Back to School Takeaway #3

In addition to testing, teachers should consider assigning project-based learning opportunities that allow students to explore
their own interests. Encouraging students to apply their real-world hobbies to course content can help them get excited and
stay engaged in the material, especially when remote.

Another interesting finding was where higher ed students were U.S. Higher Ed Engagement in Healthcare Subjects During School

focusing their time: in healthcare and science. While initial numbers Closures and Peak Remote Learning Levels
Students dedicated more time to studying healthcare after COVID-19 hit than before
showed a drop in studying healthcare-related subjects to 86
percent as school closures happened, we saw students adjust and
increase studying to 113 percent of usual levels as remote learning
got underway – which is not only higher than before the pandemic
started, it’s 5 percent higher than 2019’s average.

In late March, NYU Grossman School of Medicine was one of

the first to announce it would graduate students early to join the
physician workforce and aid in the fight against COVID-19, and
at least a dozen schools followed suit. Our data from this same
time period indicate that students entering a career related to
COVID-19 relied on extra support from online study resources to
prepare for subjects of immediate importance. *dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels

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The Education Gap Widened with Remote Learning
Quizlet is passionate about making education accessible to all, and this led us to explore data on how COVID-19 might have impacted
students across all income groups. By comparing U.S. Census Bureau data on income levels by region, we found that, prior to the crisis,
students in both the highest income regions and the lowest income regions studied, on average, an equal amount online. However, after
school closures took effect, students’ studying in low income regions fell off the most over time. On March 8, students living in regions
with a $0-50K income bracket and those living in regions with a $100K+ income bracket were both studying at 80 percent relative to pre-
COVID-19 levels. By April 19, however, students in the lowest-income bracket were studying at 45 percent while students in the higher
income brackets were studying at 52-54 percent.

U.S. High School Engagement in Online Learning, by Income Bracket,
Compared to Pre-COVID-19 Levels
Remote learning had disproportionate effects on students in low income regions
What’s most notable is how online studying took place. What
types of devices did students rely on to keep up their learning
outside of the physical classroom? We found 80 percent of
students in higher-income regions eventually used desktops
and/or laptops to study on Quizlet, compared to 65 percent
of students in lower-income regions. In fact, it appears from
our findings that students in higher-income regions may have
been able to stay on track with studying as they moved more
to desktops to accommodate their overall school day. Students
in lower-income regions instead relied on cell phones, and
eventually dropped off in their study frequency.

*dotted line represents pre-COVID-19 levels

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Back to School Takeaway #4

With a digital divide facing lower-income groups, support and resources are needed to narrow the gap. In addition, teachers
should consider adding-in more reviews, instruction and extra tutoring opportunities to help groups that may have fallen behind
to catch-up with their peers this fall.

Remote learning has an outsized negative impact on Proportion of U.S. High School Study Visits on Laptops by Income Bracket,

students in lower-income areas. The motivation was there Compared to Pre-COVID-19 Levels
Remote learning had disproportionate effects on students in low income regions
for all students prior to COVID-19, however, resources
post-shutdown were not available for everyone. As remote
learning continues, lower-income students are at a higher
risk of falling behind unless they have equal access to
technology and the devices needed to successfully
participate in learning at a distance.

Law makers, educators, students and their families are

all navigating a challenging education landscape, and
one that has many unknowns. We hope, by sharing these
findings around study behaviors, we can provide awareness
and guidance for ways in which to help counter students’
learning gaps and properly engage them in this remote
learning reality, as we enter fall 2020.

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Methodology
This report is based on Quizlet’s proprietary information, and includes data
from active users on the platform, gathered and analyzed by Quizlet’s data
analytics team. This report reflects global information pulled in July 2020, to
inform our understanding of how students worldwide are studying online. Data
on income levels in the U.S. are provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and are
based on region only.

About Quizlet
Quizlet is a global learning platform that provides engaging study tools to
help people practice and master whatever they are learning. Every month,
over 50 million students, teachers and everyday people use Quizlet to study
any subject imaginable for school, work or as part of their personal interests --
including 2 in 3 high school students and 1 in 2 college-aged students in
the US.

Combining cognitive science and machine learning, Quizlet guides students

through adaptive study activities to confidently reach their learning goals. The
company offers a combination of free and paid subscriptions for both students
and teachers that enable further customization.

Quizlet is headquartered in San Francisco, California and is backed by Icon

Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Costanoa Ventures and General Atlantic. For
more information, please visit www.quizlet.com.

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