COVID‐19 Lessons: Compassion and Flexibility are Critical to Equitable Learning

Abstract

It is not hyperbole to say that the major national and global events of the last 12 months have disrupted life for everyone. Of course, I am speaking primarily of the global COVID‐19 pandemic, and the massive civil unrest that followed the murders of Breonna Taylor, Daniel Prude, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and Jacob Blake. As we are all aware, higher education made unprecedented adjustments and tried to give a semblance of continuity and stability to students. But it is clear that the events of 2020 referred to here, affected and continues to affect students in different ways, and to hugely different extents. On one side, some students are actually thriving with more time to focus on their work and fewer distractions that are sometimes part of campus life. On the other side, we have students who have had family members die, have been separated from family, live in fear of being in a vulnerable population. Students have lost their jobs, struggled to pay for food, been scared to walk alone, have been attacked for simply who they are. Mental health crises in this already vulnerable population increased significantly. The achievement gaps that we all knew existed before 2020, have widened and continue to do so. What can we as educators do to eliminate, or more realistically perhaps, minimize these achievement gaps?Here, I show data from Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 classes showing that 93% and 88%, respectively, of the assignments that were summited more than 5 days late were from students who voluntarily disclosed that they were experiencing a significant life event, general stress, anxiety, or other illness. The overall number of late assignments over these periods was increased by more than 500% compared to the same periods in 2019. Having grade penalties up to and including refusal to accept any late work is not unusual in higher education. Furthermore, time‐ and project‐management are certainly valuable and critical skills we should impart on our students to help prepare them for success after graduation. However, I propose that imposing such standards during times of high stress (even acknowledging the increased stress we educators are also operating under), is ineffective at best, and unethical in many instances. I will discuss alternate strategies for maintaining academic rigor, including peer‐evaluations, involving students in their own grading/assessment, and allowing students creative and flexible ways to demonstrate learning outcomes.