Students’ time management and procrastination in the wake of the pandemic

On March 12, 2020, Norwegian universities closed campus areas and reorganised teaching to digital environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a sample of 8,907 university students, we investigated how aspects of students’ self-regulation were affected by their motivation, perceived stress, working conditions, and remote teaching offered in the new and challenging situation. Specifically, we assumed that self-regulation in terms of time management, procrastination, effort regulation, and time for independent studies might be affected. Analyses based on structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that motivation significantly positively predicted time management and effort regulation and that procrastination negatively predicted time management and effort regulation. Students’ perceived stress increased both procrastination and independent study time, whereas remote teaching only weakly reduced procrastination. Students’ physical working conditions slightly affected time management. An important finding of the study is the minor impact of students’ attendance of remote classes on self-regulation.