Exploring Faculty Perspectives during Emergency Remote Teaching in Engineering at a Large Public University

Maria Chierichetti,Patricia Backer

doi:10.3390/educsci11080419

Abstract

In Spring 2020, the College of Engineering at San José State University (SJSU) conducted a comprehensive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on faculty who were forced to transition to an online learning environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on faculty teaching methods, assessment methods, and personal well-being. The study was a combination of a quantitative survey and a qualitative study using interviews of engineering faculty teaching in Spring 2020. In the first part, we surveyed all faculty teaching during Spring 2020 in the SJSU College of Engineering about their experiences after the move to 100% online instruction in March 2020. In the second part of the research, we interviewed 23 faculty members to obtain a more in-depth understanding of their experiences during the move online in Spring 2020. Overall, 98 faculty participated in the survey: lecturers (58), tenure-track (18), tenured (13), adjunct (1), and Teaching Associates (1). The faculty reported being worried about their family and their students’ well-being. In addition, 65% of faculty members reported either a moderate or a great deal of stress related to the shelter in place, and this percentage was higher for female faculty (74%) and for tenure-track faculty (83%). Overall, faculty members felt that they had their classes under control most of the time and that the transition to online teaching was positive, even if they felt they had too much work to do and felt always in a hurry and under pressure. From a teaching perspective, the interviews highlight that faculty members’ main concerns focus on testing and assessment and students’ engagement. Overall, SJSU College of Engineering faculty members felt under stress in the transition to online teaching, especially the tenure-track faculty members, but were able to transition their classes with ease.

Highlights

The California State University system, the largest four-year public university system in the United States, was among the first to call for an immediate transition to online learning in Spring 2020 across the whole 23-campus system
It was the first system across the country to announce that both the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters would remain primarily online, with limited hybrid course offerings. These early decisions prompted a group of faculty members in the College of Engineering (COE) at San José State University (SJSU) to survey students and faculty members to better understand their experiences as a result of the sudden shift to online learning due to the shelter-in-place order, with the intent to better prepare for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 online instruction
The interview consisted of two questions: “How did you do in your classes in Spring 2020?” and “How did SJSU as an institution do in this transition?”

Summary

Introduction

The California State University system, the largest four-year public university system in the United States, was among the first to call for an immediate transition to online learning in Spring 2020 across the whole 23-campus system. It was the first system across the country to announce that both the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters would remain primarily online, with limited hybrid course offerings. In Fall 2018, approximately 35% of undergraduates in U.S two and four year colleges took at least one online course [2]

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Conclusion