Abstract
When the COVID-19 pandemic required all higher education learning to move to remote or online formats, students were challenged to maintain a sense of community and to advance in their education. By focusing on the immediate, human needs of students, IdeasCongress - a community-engaged experiential learning course with a curricular emphasis on transferable skills - flourished in the remote synchronous format. The only significant change was to shift the topic of the course to #RecoverTogether to guide our students in imagining a path through the pandemic while supporting local charities by developing plans for mitigating the impact that the pandemic was having on their service model. This paper outlines a case study of the course and reflections upon the experience of teaching during the pandemic restrictions, supported by student feedback from the September-December (Fall) 2020 semester. Based on this evidence, the approach appeared to be effective for student retention and engagement, and increased student feelings of connectedness to both the campus and the local community. The paper highlights key lessons learned while teaching and learning during challenging times and describe the teaching approaches used to support students.
Highlights
1.1 Impact of COVID-19 on Higher EducationThe global shift of higher education classes from in-person to online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the widespread search for effective teaching and learning approaches in this remote format (Christian, McCarty, & Brown, 2020; Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020; Mishra, Gupta, & Shree, 2020; Schwartzman, 2020)
Several reports on Tertiary Education during the COVID-19 pandemic called for a paradigm shift from this traditional model to approaches that are more innovative, interactive, and student-centred, where the instructor takes more of a facilitator role (Gallagher & Palmer, 2020; UNESCO Education Sector, 2020c, 2020d)
The combined health and economic crises caused by the pandemic accelerated many existing trends in the labour market, including the need for students to gain a strong set of transferable skills, that will allow them to be more effective in the workplace and to shift careers, fields, and types of work more (Royal Bank of Canada [RBC], 2018; UNESCO Education Sector, 2020a, 2020b)
Summary
The global shift of higher education classes from in-person to online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the widespread search for effective teaching and learning approaches in this remote format (Christian, McCarty, & Brown, 2020; Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020; Mishra, Gupta, & Shree, 2020; Schwartzman, 2020). Several reports on Tertiary Education during the COVID-19 pandemic called for a paradigm shift from this traditional model to approaches that are more innovative, interactive, and student-centred, where the instructor takes more of a facilitator role (Gallagher & Palmer, 2020; UNESCO Education Sector, 2020c, 2020d). The combined health and economic crises caused by the pandemic accelerated many existing trends in the labour market, including the need for students to gain a strong set of transferable skills, ( called generic, key, soft, foundational, or cross-functional skills) that will allow them to be more effective in the workplace and to shift careers, fields, and types of work more (Royal Bank of Canada [RBC], 2018; UNESCO Education Sector, 2020a, 2020b)
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