Impact of the Emergency Transition to Remote Teaching on Student Engagement in a Non-STEM Undergraduate Chemistry Course in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

In Spring 2020, we began a study focused on the development of inclusive teaching practices in an undergraduate chemistry lecture course for non-STEM students. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing educational disruptions, we changed the design of our study to focus on the learning and teaching experiences of students and instructors. Here, we conducted student surveys before and after the emergency transition to remote teaching and analyzed data on student participation in the online setting. We observed that student engagement was likely negatively impacted by the emergency transition. We also found that lectures engaged students less after the transition. By contrast, course activities that did not heavily rely on a physical classroom, such as students blogging about their research of chemistry literature and crafting an independent research paper about a chemical question, were more effective in retaining student engagement after the transition. We also analyze student utilization of synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities (for example, recorded lectures). We contextualize student engagement in the course relative to policies adopted by the educational institution, notably a mandatory universal pass/fail grading policy. Finally, we communicate thematic reflections from students, undergraduate peer tutors, graduate student teaching fellows, and the course instructor about learning chemistry and teaching non-STEM undergraduates in the time of COVID-19. On the basis of these studies, we recommend seven instructional strategies for teaching chemistry during sustained educational disruptions.