I hypothesized that student perception of this online activity heavy course was primarily influenced by prevailing COVID restrictions rather than the course content. An educational research project led by me under UNSW Ethics approval critically evaluated student feedback before and during the pandemic for both PATH3205 and 3206 courses to show that prevailing COVID restrictions (public health directives) were an independent determinant of student satisfaction. Online activities in these courses were more appreciated at times of increased restrictions but less so when restrictions were relaxed (students wanted on-campus interaction). I shared my findings with the teaching community at UNSW at the Education Festival in 2021 and outside of UNSW in a first author peer-reviewed publication in Frontiers in Education in 2022.