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Article History

Received: 31 October 2024

Accepted: 15 October 2025

First Online: 25 November 2025

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant institutional guidelines and regulations. Ethical approval for all study procedures was granted by the Institutional Review Board of Yonsei University, Mirae Campus (approval number 1041849-202109-SB-155-02), on December 1, 2021. The approval covered both an online survey and optional one-on-one interviews (conducted either online or in person) designed to explore university students’ experiences of online learning, identity, performance, and satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present article reports exclusively on the interview component of this approved protocol. The approved protocol included procedures for recruitment, consent, data collection, data security, confidentiality, and compensation (KRW 10,000 for survey participants and KRW 40,000 for interview participants). All data were handled exclusively by the three coauthors, anonymized before the analysis stage, and stored and disposed of securely in accordance with the IRB-approved protocol.

: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants immediately prior to participation, between May 3 and June 9, 2022. For the online survey, participants reviewed an electronic information sheet and indicated consent by selecting an “I agree” option before accessing the questionnaire. Individuals who volunteered for follow-up interviews were contacted directly by the three coauthors, provided with a detailed participant information sheet, and signed a written consent form (via secure electronic signature or handwritten copy) before each interview. Consent covered participation, video and audio recording of interviews, analysis, and publication of anonymized quotations or data. Participants were informed that their responses would remain confidential, that pseudonyms would be used in all publications, and that they could withdraw at any time without penalty. No minors or other vulnerable individuals were included in the study.