Identifying student profiles based on their attitudes and beliefs towards online education and exploring relations with their experiences and background

This exploratory study aims to identify student profiles based on their attitudes and beliefs towards online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then relate these profiles to students’ online education experiences and background characteristics. To do this, in 2020, 676 students from a Dutch university were asked to complete a survey about their attitudes and beliefs towards and experiences with online education, and their background characteristics. By using cluster analysis, three main student profiles were identified: (P1) relaxed/positive students, (P2) stressed/negative students, and (P3) somewhat stressed/neutral students. The results showed that student profiles were related to their online education experiences but that profiles did not differ in terms of background characteristics such as age and gender. The results of this study guide educational institutions to better support their targeted students within online education contexts. We discuss these results and provide an agenda for future research and practice.