A multi-institutional assessment of changes in higher education teaching and learning in the face of COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a profound influence on the conduct of teaching and learning in higher education. Almost everywhere a sudden shift occurred as educators transitioned courses from mainly face-to-face teaching and learning to emergency remote instruction, mostly conducted online. While details varied for individual faculty members, institutions, and countries, all confronted new challenges. We examine the immediate effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning in higher education. Our results are based on a sample of 309 courses, and the academic staff who taught them, at eight colleges and universities varying in size and context across four continents. We document first how institutions, and their instructors, varied in their capacity for dealing with the rapidity of the COVID-19 teaching and learning pivot. We further demonstrate that the suddenness of the pandemic's onset, and the quick response this demanded of instructors, meant that there was little systematic patterning in how academic staff were able to adapt -save for nimbleness. Rapidity of response meant differences were far more idiosyncratic than they were systematic, at least with respect to how individual faculty responded.

Changes in classroom assessment practices during emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19

“…Group assignments became less frequent, while exams contained more multiple-choice questions and fewer essay questions. These findings align with other recent studies on the effects of the pandemic on assessment practices (Almossa & Alzaharani, 2022;Bartolic et al, 2021;Senel & Senel, 2021). Because exams were required for accountability purposes, educational institutions (universities especially) conducted and invigilated them online using a variety of modalities (e.g., via platforms such as Zoom or proctoring).…”

“…The results from RQ2 showed that teachers became more flexible in their evaluation strategies, lowering their assessment criteria and standards and amending grading procedures. Again, these findings accorded with other similar studies (Bartolic et al, 2021;Montenegro-Rueda et al, 2021). Reasons for these adjustments included reduced instructional contact; setting up online classes was difficult, and the participants suggested that they wanted to alleviate screen time for students and help them cope with complex living situations such as domiciliary lockdowns.…”

The post‐COVID‐19 future of digital learning in higher education: Views from educators, students, and other professionals in six countries

“…Most questionnaires and interviews were completed from May to August of 2020. Fuller details of the study are available in Bartolic et al (2021) and Guppy et al (2021). The data collection instruments are available at https://blogs.ubc.ca/covid 19tra nsiti on/.…”

Teaching and learning under COVID-19 public health edicts: the role of household lockdowns and prior technology usage

“…What we found was some variation in teachers' proficiency between institutions. More broadly, there was consistent evidence that the effects of the public health edicts were so sudden, and so disruptive, that digital experience and proficiency had little impact on the success instructors felt in rapidly refashioning their courses (Bartolic et al 2021). This represents a substantial difference between using technologies as a complement to most pre-COVID-19 course delivery and using technologies as the unique vector of teaching and learning, as was necessary post-pivot.…”