Purpose: The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on sleep hygiene, anxiety levels, perceived stress, and research output among postgraduate research students in Hong Kong. Methods: An online survey was developed and distributed to Hong Kong postgraduate research students. The sleep hygiene, anxiety levels, and perceived stress during the outbreak of COVID-19 were assessed. Questions about COVID-19’s impact on research outputs were asked. Results: A total of 108 (response rate, 72%) full-time postgraduate students (PhD, 64%; M Phil, 8%; and Masters, 28%) participated. Approximately 83% of students reported poor sleep hygiene. Similarly, nearly 76% of students reported mild to severe levels of self-perceived anxiety levels. Most of the respondents (89%) expressed a moderate level of perceived stress. Sleep hygiene scores were moderately associated with anxiety levels (r = 0.384, p < 0.01) and perceived stress scores (r = 0.423, p < 0.01). Perceived stress was strongly correlated with anxiety levels (r = 0.601, p < 0.01). A hierarchical regression analysis revealed a significant association between respondents’ ethnicity (B = − 0.923, p = 0.003), past medical history (such as hypertension, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders) (B = 1.112, p = 0.005), or poor sleep hygiene (B = 0.259, p = 0.000) and high levels of perceived stress. Additionally, prior medical history (such as hypertension, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders) (B = 1.957, p = 0.001) and poor sleep hygiene (B = 0.312, p = 0.000) were found to be strongly related to anxiety levels among postgraduate research students. Conclusion: This is the first study that highlights poor sleep hygiene, moderate-to-severe levels of anxiety, and perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in postgraduate research students in Hong Kong. These findings will help educators to prepare strategies to alleviate the stress and psychological problems in postgraduate students.

In Hong Kong, after-school activities have long been used to foster friendships and to allow students to pursue their interests in an informal setting. This case study reports on a three-phase action research process in which information technology teachers delivered after-school activities focused on artificial intelligence during the COVID-19 transition to remote learning. Using semi-structured interviews, a motivational questionnaire, and lesson observations, this study describes how extracurricular activities were delivered online using social networking sites and how students perceived the new experience. Our results suggest that, in order to deploy meaningful activities via social media, teachers need to build collaborative environments that facilitate social engagement among students. These findings have implications for new practices in social media and other blended technologies, and can help students strike a healthy balance between their academic and non-academic life during this challenging period. Copyright © 2021 Online Learning.