Lessons From Remote Learning During COVID-19

Abstract

The abrupt transition to remote instruction in response to COVID-19 posed significant challenges for both students and instructors. This report provides data on the prevalence of the different kinds of challenges college students faced during the shift to remote instruction and the nature of spring 2020 courses from the perspectives of both students and instructors. These descriptions are complemented by survey data on the prevalence of online instructional practices that are generally recommended in the online learning literature and analyses of the relationship of these practices to student satisfaction with their course. This report describes findings from two research activities conducted concurrently: a survey of a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 undergraduates who were taking online courses that included in-person meetings when they began and had to switch to entirely remote instruction; and qualitative descriptions of 29 courses offered by 10 institutions, based on interviews and focus groups with students and instructors.

Accessibility of Participation in a Pollinator-Focused Community Science Project

“…New challenges brought about by the pandemic also disproportionately impact marginalized groups. For example, people of color and people from lower-income households were nearly twice as likely to experience internet connectivity issues when attempting to access educational material during the pandemic (Means et al 2021).…”

“…Because active learning improves student performance and disproportionately benefits learners belonging to marginalized groups, this change could lead to community scientists feeling less prepared to collect data after completing the training (Haak et al 2011;Freeman et al 2014). Another option would be to use an asynchronous format for the training since this is often more accessible to learners with limited internet connectivity (Means et al 2021). The University of Illinois' I-Pollinate and the University of North Carolina's Caterpillars Count are examples of asynchronous projects.…”

“…Incorporating active learning into online training may help prevent difficulties with the data collection procedure. Although it can be more challenging to incorporate active learning online, doing so may improve understanding of content, critical thinking skills, motivation, and enjoyment (Means et al 2021;Nguyen et al 2021;Rossi et al 2021). In this project, we used Zoom polls, breakout rooms, and outdoor practice to incorporate active learning.…”