Students’ Responses to Emergency Remote Online Teaching Reveal Critical Factors for All Teaching

Abstract

Our goal was to understand how students’ chemistry learning environments changed and how students responded to the wholesale transition to online learning. We deployed surveys to students enrolled in nine undergraduate chemistry courses at all levels. Survey 1 was deployed 2 weeks post-transition (N = 208); Survey 2, a week before semester’s end (N = 124, 1/3 new responders). Survey 1 asked students to describe pre/post-transition class and laboratory; to report extra-class resource use; and to write about their engagement, emotions, and motivation for learning online. Survey 2 asked students to estimate pre/post-transition verbal exchanges on a typical day; to respond to Likert-style questions constructed from Survey 1 comments; and to describe challenges of learning chemistry online including what they missed about laboratory. Results show classes changed little from a traditional lecture while laboratories changed dramatically from decision-rich first-person experiences to suboptimal passive observation. Students were sorted into profiles, according to described challenges and their adaptive behaviors. Written comments and verbal exchange data show students lost rich peer communication networks which was deleterious to understanding and motivation to engage and persist. Unexpectedly, this study pointed out more clearly the importance of cognitive processing limitations, social dynamics, peer interaction, real-time discourse, and hands-on manipulation in any educational setting (in-person or online).

COVID-19 and the abrupt shift to remote learning: Impact on grades and perceived learning for undergraduate biology students

“…In our study, most students also reported negative impacts on interactions with other students and instructors, career preparation, and a feeling of being a part of the biology community at the university. These are also consistent with other studies on student experiences [25,43]. A larger survey study of in-person students at Arizona State University across various degree programs, the same institution where our study was conducted, found several striking negative impacts on career preparation due to COVID-19.…”

“…One study on public health students at Georgia State University did not report lower motivation among students [42], perhaps because of the heightened awareness of the relevance of public health during a global pandemic. It has also been demonstrated that the transition to remote learning had a negative impact on student relationship-building, specifically the extent to which students interact with each other in and out of class [25,43], and on students’ sense of belonging in the class [25]. In response to the pandemic, several universities changed course policies to extend the deadline for course withdrawals or to allow greater access to pass/fail grading options [44].…”

Student input on the effectiveness of the shift to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID crisis: Structural equation modeling creates a more complete picture

“…Bai and colleagues ( 2020 ) found that most students preferred the physical classroom because of the absence of interaction in an online environment. And other researchers support these findings (e.g., Aboagye et al., 2020 ; Aguilera-Hermida, 2020 ; Jeffery & Bauer, 2020 ; Wiltse et al., 2020 ).…”

Shifting to Emergency Remote Teaching Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Investigation of Greek Teachers’ Beliefs and Experiences

“…In this context, teachers' views and experiences of online remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has been emerged as a new important research problem. Recent studies explored teachers' barriers, difficulties and professional development needs [1], students' response to remote online teaching [2], openness in terms of technologies, educational resources and educational practices used [3], parents' new roles and difficulties in educational involvement, teachers' psychological pressure and outcomes [4], new perspectives about educational inequities and student inclusion [5].…”