“The best year” / “I struggled with everything”: Widening participation experiences of pandemic online learning

Improving retention and graduate outcomes for students from a widening participation (WP) background is key to achieving more equitable outcomes. However, evidence suggests WP students experienced different challenges than their peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we focused on the pivot to online learning and exclusively examined WP students' experiences of higher education during this time to understand which practices supported students' access to education and which may have exacerbated existing inequalities. Data were collected across six focus groups from two Scottish universities (N = 23). While many of their experiences mirrored those reported for the broader student population in the literature, our findings also suggest coming from a position of relative disadvantage magnifies both positive and negative elements of online learning. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for pedagogical practice to enhance the experience of WP students specifically but can also be applied to the student population more generally.