Reshaping Pharmacy and Allied Health Education for a Post-Pandemic World Using Kotter's Change Model

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to higher education. The extraordinary challenges created by the pandemic required equally extraordinary efforts from faculty and other stakeholders to rapidly convert face-to-face classes to online/hybrid instruction. This rapid change was facilitated by use of a robust framework for not only making changes in short order but also sustaining the changes to reshape healthcare education for a post-pandemic future. To this end, the chapter discusses the effective use of Kotter's 8-step framework to successfully implement change in healthcare education at a college of pharmacy and allied health professions. This chapter discusses each step of Kotter's 8-step process to create, implement, and sustain change in pharmacy and allied health education. The model integrated people, processes, and effective strategies to create changes amid the pandemic (crisis). Lessons learned and implications for the future in a post-pandemic educational environment are presented.

What is a Hybrid Library? Evidence from Scotland and Brazil

The term “hybrid” has been used in many ways relating to hybrid library professionals; libraries that combine an academic and corporate purpose or a library and museum’s purpose; the use of hybrid instruction methods; a library that combines public and private spaces; reactions of libraries to hybrid open access; and hybrid professionals.

486 Comparison Between Online and In-person Instruction in a Laboratory-based Animal Science Course

Online teaching has been rapidly integrated into laboratory-based learning environments across all disciplines due to the 2019 pandemic. With such an abrupt transition to online instruction, the quality of traditional instruction in laboratory-based courses is in question. The objective of this study was to determine if a hands-on laboratory could be effectively taught online. This study compared the academic achievement and perception of students (n = 163) in an Introduction to Animal Science course where half the course instruction was online, and half was in-person. Student achievement was measured from weekly quizzes, and two major exams, a midterm and final, testing material covered online and in-person, respectively. All statistics were analyzed using JMP Pro 14. Exam scores were correlated to quiz scores to assess output to input, and were strongly correlated. A 10% increase in quiz performance resulted in a 1% increase in exam performance for both types of instruction (P < 0.01). There is no difference in this effect between material delivered online, and in-person. The efficacy of the method of instruction was measured by student surveys. Meeting style preference of students was different between instruction methods, where student preference shifted from asynchronous (40% to 11.6%) to hybrid instruction (39.6% to 69.5%), with no change in virtual preference (P < 0.01; P = 0.14). Student perception of quiz and exam question fairness was different where students thought question fairness increased between online and in-person instruction for quizzes and exams, respectively (P < 0.01; P < 0.01). In conclusion, there are no differences in student performance based on grades between online and in-person instruction; however, student perception of meeting style and assessment question fairness improved when students were taught in-person. As a result, laboratory-based science courses can be successfully transitioned to online instruction.

STEM undergraduates’ perspectives of instructor and university responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020

Objectives We examined undergraduate STEM students’ experiences during Spring 2020 when universities switched to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we sought to understand actions by universities and instructors that students found effective or ineffective, as well as instructor behaviors that conveyed a sense of caring or not caring about their students’ success. Methods In July 2020 we conducted 16 focus groups with STEM undergraduate students enrolled in US colleges and universities (N = 59). Focus groups were stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Content analyses were performed using a data-driven inductive approach. Results Participants (N = 59; 51% female) were racially/ethnically diverse (76% race/ethnicity other than non-Hispanic white) and from 32 colleges and universities. The most common effective instructor strategies mentioned included hybrid instruction (35%) and use of multiple tools for learning and student engagement (27%). The most common ineffective strategies mentioned were increasing the course workload or difficulty level (18%) and use of pre-recorded lectures (15%). The most common behaviors cited as making students feel the instructor cared about their success were exhibiting leniency and/or flexibility regarding course policies or assessments (29%) and being responsive and accessible to students (25%). The most common behaviors cited as conveying the instructors did not care included poor communication skills (28%) and increasing the difficulty of the course (15%). University actions students found helpful included flexible policies (41%) and moving key services online (e.g., tutoring, counseling; 24%). Students felt universities should have created policies for faculty and departments to increase consistency (26%) and ensured communication strategies were honest, prompt, and transparent (23%). Conclusions To be prepared for future emergencies, universities should devise evidence-based policies for remote operations and all instructors should be trained in best practices for remote instruction. Research is needed to identify and ameliorate negative impacts of the pandemic on STEM education.

Students’ frequency of access to school library materials in transformative times

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered many school and school library closures, resulting in shifts to online and/or hybrid instruction and limited school library access. This survey of parents of PreK–12 students (aged 2–18 years) investigated students’ frequency of access to school library materials prior to (T1), during (T2), and predicted after (T3) the pandemic ( n = 230). Demographics such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity and other factors such as household income, community type, geographic location, type of school, school environment, and number of books in home were collected. Frequency of access to school library materials was compared at T1, T2, and T3 by demographic and other factors. Results demonstrate that frequency of access to school library materials differed significantly between time points. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant difference between T1 and T2 and between T2 and T3 but not between T1 and T3. Significant interactions were found for age and frequency of access over time, with age group 6–10 years showing the most change. Significant differences were found for all three types of school environment, with face-to-face students showing less disruption in their access than online and hybrid students. Students’ frequency of access to school library materials was negatively influenced by closures and limited access, with the expectation of a return to similar frequency of access on resumption of normal operations. Given the strong associations between access to school library resources and academic performance, these results suggest student learning may have suffered during these closures.

Impact of Technology on Higher Education

We are pleased to publish the first regular issue of <em>Higher Learning Research Communications (HLRC)</em>, which follows the Special Issue, <em>Implications of COVID-19 on Higher Education</em>. The pandemic continues to impact higher education; in many parts of the world, it is still resulting in classes being held remotely, while in other regions, classrooms are slowly reopening to face-to-face or hybrid instruction. As the manuscripts in the special issue, as well as those in the current issue, reflect, the implications of the pandemic on higher education will be far-reaching. We continue to encourage authors to submit empirical research and essays that document ways that higher education will be different as we emerge from the pandemic. The focus of the HLRC is on issues whose importance has been magnified by the pandemic, including digital teaching and learning, higher education and the public good, and the preparation of students in key 21st-century employability skills.

The Scale of Evaluating Instruction in Pandemic Process: Development, Validation, and Reliability

The study aims to develop a scale for determining student views on distance instruction, hybrid instruction, and back-to-school process after the pandemic. The study data were obtained from 442 students. EFA and CFA were performed to determine the scale‘s construct validity. Moreover, to decide the data collection tool‘s reliability, item analysis was conducted and internal consistency coefficients were estimated. Based on the results obtained from the validity and reliability analysis of the scale, it can be said that the Scale of Evaluating Instruction in Pandemic Process (SEIPP) is valid and reliable.

675 COVID-19 Instruction Style (In-Person, Virtual, Hybrid), School Start Times, and Sleep in a Large Nationwide Sample of Adolescents

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted how and when adolescents attended school. This analysis used data from the Nationwide Education and Sleep in TEens During COVID (NESTED) study to examine the association of instructional format (in-person, virtual, hybrid), school start times, and sleep in a large diverse sample of adolescents from across the U.S. Methods In October/November 2020, 5346 nationally representative students (grades 6–12, 49.8% female, 30.6% non-White) completed online surveys. For each weekday, participants identified if they attended school in person (IP), online-scheduled synchronous classes (O/S), online-no scheduled classes (asynchronous, O/A), or no school. Students reported school start times for IP or O/S days, and bedtimes (BT) and wake times (WT) for each applicable school type and weekends/no school days (WE). Sleep opportunity (SlpOpp, total sleep time proxy) was calculated from BT and WT. Night-to-night sleep variability was calculated with mean square successive differences. Results Significant differences for teens’ sleep across instructional formats were found for all three sleep variables. With scheduled instructional formats (IP and O/S), students reported earlier BT (IP=10:54pm, O/S=11:24pm, O/A=11:36pm, WE=12:30am), earlier WT (IP=6:18am, O/S=7:36am, O/A=8:48am, WE=9:36am), and shorter SlpOpp (IP=7.4h, O/S=8.2h, O/A=9.2h, WE=9.2h). Small differences in BT, but large differences in WT were found, based on school start times, with significantly later wake times associated with later start times. Students also reported later WT on O/S days vs. IP days, even with the same start times. Overall, more students reported obtaining sufficient SlpOpp (&gt;8h) for O/S vs. IP format (IP=40.0%, O/S=58.8%); when school started at/after 8:30am, sufficient SlpOpp was even more common (IP=52.7%, O/S=72.7%). Greater night-to-night variability was found for WT and SlpOpp for students with hybrid schedules with &gt;1 day IP and &gt;1 day online vs virtual schedules (O/S and O/A only), with no differences in BT variability reported between groups. Conclusion This large study of diverse adolescents from across the U.S. found scheduled school start times were associated with early wake times and shorter sleep opportunity, with greatest variability for hybrid instruction. Study results may be useful for educators and policy makers who are considering what education will look like post-pandemic. Support (if any):

Career Confidential: A teacher wants to help students manage disappointment better

In this monthly advice column, Phyllis Fagell offers advice to educators about their workplace dilemmas. One teacher wants to know how to help her easily frustrated students develop resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another teacher is worried about the effect her school’s plan for hybrid instruction will have on her and her students.