Abstract
BackgroundDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities moved to emergency remote teaching (ERT). This allowed institutions to continue their instruction despite not being in person. However, ERT is not without consequences. For example, students may have inadequate technological supports, such as reliable internet and computers. Students may also have poor learning environments at home and may need to find added employment to support their families. In addition, there are consequences to faculty. It has been shown that female instructors are more disproportionately impacted in terms of mental health issues and increased domestic labor. This research aims to investigate instructors’ and students’ perceptions of their transition to ERT. Specifically, during the transition to ERT at a research-intensive, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI), we wanted to: (1) Identify supports and barriers experienced by instructors and students. (2) Compare instructors’ experiences with the students’ experiences. (3) Explore these supports and barriers within the context of social presence, teaching presence, and/or cognitive presence as well as how these supports and barriers relate to scaffolding in STEM courses.ResultsInstructors identified twice as many barriers as supports in their teaching during the transition to ERT and identified casual and formal conversations with colleagues as valuable supports. Emerging categories for barriers consisted of academic integrity concerns as well as technological difficulties. Similarly, students identified more barriers than supports in their learning during the transition to ERT. More specifically, students described pre-existing course structure, classroom technology, and community as best supporting their learning. Barriers that challenged student learning included classroom environment, student availability, and student emotion and comfort.ConclusionsTogether, this research will help us understand supports and barriers to teaching and learning during the transition to ERT. This understanding can help us better plan and prepare for future emergencies, particularly at MSIs, where improved communication and increased access to resources for both students and instructors are key.
Highlights
In the middle of the Spring 2020 academic term, many institutions of higher education were forced to move all instruction online
Knowing that the relationship between barriers and supports is important, we suggest that developing students’ cognitive presence through a balance of supports and barriers in scaffolding could lead to an extension of students’ learning and capabilities during emergency remote teaching (ERT) (Fig. 6). Considering these supports and barriers in the Community of Inquiry (COI) and scaffolding frameworks, we found that some faculty found ways to maintain a strong teaching presence and a healthy work–life balance, but most of these supports were local to the instructor and existed prior to the transition to ERT
In this article, we have examined the perceived supports and barriers that affected instructors and students during the rapid transition to ERT resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
In the middle of the Spring 2020 academic term, many institutions of higher education were forced to move all instruction online. ERT is characterized by improvised, quick solutions in less-than-ideal circumstances, and it was the best solution most universities had to academic learning This is different from traditional online teaching and learning, where instructors are intentionally designing a course to be implemented and delivered online, a delivery mode that has been studied for decades (e.g., Bender, 2012; Lewis & Abdul-Hamid, 2006; Oliver, 1999; Young, 2006). Studies have shown that effective online learning stems from careful instructional design, planning, and using a systematic model for development (Branch & Kopcha, 2014) This careful design process was likely to be absent in most ERT shifts due to lack of time and experience necessary for instructors to carefully design their course for online purposes. Communication difficulties Instructor technology issues Administrative issues Student technical issues Assessment difficulties Instructional space Time management Instructor teaching inexperience Teaching and learning resources Responsibility and workload Student presence and participation Student integrity Student emotion and comfort Instructor emotion
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