Social Factors Linked to Uncertainty in the Online Educational Context Infirst-Year Engineering Students

Virtual emergency education has been characterized by a lack of contact and directsocial interaction. In first-year students, who experience a process of social integration at the university, this aspect can be linked to a greater perception of uncertainty, complicating their effective integration. The present study sought to evaluate the relationships between variables linked to social integration and the perceived uncertainty during emergency virtual education. For this, a brief instrument was constructed and evaluated to assess the perceived uncertainty in the educational context. An associative-predictive design was used with 459 first-year engineering students to whom a virtual survey was applied to achieve both objectives. The results showed evidence of validity and reliability for the instrument.Inaddition, they showed statistically significant relationships between the different included social integration variables and uncertainty with effect sizes ranging from moderate to small.Based on these results, it is possible to conclude the existence of a relevant link between the social integration of students and the uncertainty perceived during the period of admission to the university. In this way, having social support, feeling that they belong and not being socially isolated can be protective factors against the perception of uncertainty.