Switching from Face-to-Face to Online Instruction Midsemester

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education during Spring 2020 by forcing all face-to-face classes to unexpectedly transition to online learning. To better understand how switching to remote learning affected students and the factors that impacted their ability to successfully complete classes, 168 undergraduate students in three different psychology classes (six sections total) were asked in the last week of the semester about their experiences from before and after the switch. Students reported some decreased access to technology, changes in work responsibilities, some amount of physical illness, and the need to care for others who were physically ill. Notably, students consistently reported increased stress and decreased ability to focus. Students varied in how much they prioritized classes after the switch, which predicted their performance in the class, measured by exam grade, overall grade, and completion of attendance before and after the switch. Importantly, survey respondents significantly differed from non-respondents in their class performance, which suggests that results from voluntary surveys may capture a limited perspective and possibly underestimate the detrimental effects of the shift to online instruction. Implications for planning for future online classes in a global pandemic are discussed.

Faculty Perceptions of Teaching Online During the COVID-19 University Transition of Courses to an Online Format

As a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many universities were required to make quick decisions to accommodate social distancing guidelines. Cherished university events such as commencement and spring convocations were postponed or cancelled. Such decisions were made in an effort to curb the number of people infected with the virus. Institutions were also forced to consider how to continue educating students in the midst of a pandemic. In many instances, faculty were required to transition their face to face courses to an online format. Some instructors were familiar with the instructional strategies and technological tools needed for effective online teaching. Whereas, other novice faculty were hesitant or even resistant to the idea of online teaching and learning. This case study at a Midwest Masters level university, examines the perceptions of faculty (n=158) regarding the quick adoption of their courses to an online medium during the Spring 2020 semester. The web-based survey instrument consists of two sections. Section I had 10 demographic questions, section II had 28 statements with a seven-point Likert-type scale measurement that ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Section II assessed perceptions and attitudes about the quick transition to online, and comparison of students’ engagement for the courses during the spring semester face-to-face vs the online format during COVID-19, and professors’ level of satisfaction with the transition. The data was analyzed using frequency, mean and ANCOVA with SPSS version 23. Findings revealed that generally faculty felt that course quality remained the same, that students’ engagement and performance declined during the pandemic and satisfaction levels with the transition were low.

ZOOMing into a Community: Exploring Various Teaching Practices to Help Foster Sense of Community and Engagement in Emergency Remote Teaching

Educators across the world have been forced to shift their courses online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As face-to-face courses become online courses during this unprecedented time, instructors are thrown into emergency remote teaching (ERT). Where online learning involves “experiences that are planned from the beginning and designed to be online, emergency remote teaching (ERT) is a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances…[which], will return to that [original] format once the crisis or emergency has abated” (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020, para 13). The instructional demands of ERT can be overwhelming in that many instructors are trying to navigate new online teaching approaches to ensure their students have a sense of community (SoC), that is a sense of belonging and interactivity, and are still engaged, motivated, and involved in the course. Zoom, a cloud-based video conferencing platform, has boomed in popularity becoming the go-to tool many instructors use to host, facilitate, and integrate within their course, as well as to ensure a SoC is fostered and maintained. Guided by the social constructivism theory and community of inquiry (CoI) model, this quick hits piece, aims to answer the question: In what ways might Zoom foster and sustain a SoC community in ERT?

Leveraging Course Quality Checklist to Improve Online Courses

Designing high quality, interactive online courses in a technologically rich environment can be a daunting task even for experienced faculty. This process becomes more difficult when faculty are teaching multiple classes, juggling service and research/creative scholarship. In order to help faculty focus on key aspects of online teaching and course design, we developed a checklist with links to institutional resources which help faculty meet several best practices for online teaching. Use of checklists and rubrics to meet quality assurance standards is common (e.g. - OLC OSCQR Course Design Review Scorecard, 2018; Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, 2018), however they vary significantly with the time required to review a course (Baldwin, Ching, & Hsu, 2018). Our goal was to create a checklist that helps faculty design basic elements of the course and expedite the self-review process. Given the current COVID-19 situation, when instructors were suddenly asked to teach remotely, this Course Quality Checklist will help faculty self-review their existing or new online course via multiple lenses such as course orientation, policies, organization, alignment, as well as Universal Design for Learning and interaction. Faculty may use this checklist to create a clear and consistent structure within their course. The checklist also links to several online, just-in-time resources (e.g. course templates, design and pedagogy training, and standards for interaction and accessibility). This will ensure they meet essential standards, save time, reduce cognitive load, and meet specific compliance requirements.

Quantitative Analysis of the Evolving Student Experience During the Transition to On-Line Learning: Second-Language STEM Students

The National University of Science Technology is an English-language institution in the Middle East offering degrees in Medicine. Pharmacy and Engineering. We present the results of our studies of the evolving student learning experience during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. There was a discernible preference for synchronous, interactive learning. Mobile technology was more frequently used by our students than larger form factors. Platforms such as WhatsApp delivered much greater student engagement than our existing Learning Management System. Students learned at a slower rate using online material than we had anticipated with implications for assessment and progression.

"Into the Unknown": Supervising Teacher Candidates During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

In mid-March, our public schools ended classroom instruction due to COVID-19. The timing of the suspension of face-to-face instruction was in the middle of the student teaching clinical experience for our secondary education teacher candidates. Without preparation, teacher candidates were to guide their middle and high school students through online learning. University faculty were experiencing a similar challenge — how to support and direct their teacher candidates in mid-experience. This was a change in the logistics of teaching and in the focus of education. The first priority of the school was not high-stakes standardized testing, nor daily pacing guides, but rather the emotional and social health of students. This change in the schools’ priorities fit well with the preparation of our teacher candidates at our Midwest regional teaching university. Our focus was to prepare teachers of students, not teachers of mathematics or English. While our secondary teacher candidates did not have all the tools and technology skills needed to switch to online teaching immediately, they did know it was the relationship with the learner that was most important. The second change of the schools’ priorities was a time-allocation switch from mostly teaching to mostly planning, communicating, and supporting one another as teachers. Our teacher candidates already knew that effective communication makes everyone a better instructor and benefits student learning. In order to help our teacher candidates make this transition, we developed the Clinical Practice Interview Protocol and met with our candidates regularly online. A third aspect was teacher candidates’ prior experience as students of online classes themselves. Many had taken several online or hybrid university courses and knew what worked well and what they needed to avoid as an online teacher. In this reflective essay, we discuss how the university supervisor supported and facilitated our teacher candidates in preparing and implementing quality instruction.

Dialogue in Online Learning Spaces: How Transitioning to Online Learning during a Pandemic Impacts Critical Classroom Dialogue and Inclusivity

The sudden shift to online learning because of COVID-19 created a series of challenges for educators. Faculty took a “triage” approach to reformatting their courses quickly. And while this was a necessary approach for many reasons, you couldn’t help but wonder what students would be missing. As a Communication Studies professor, dialogue is an essential tool I use in the classroom. Effective dialogue can lead to a greater acceptance of diverse thought and individuals, as well as less divisiveness and intolerance. So, when the pandemic forced us to switch to online learning, the biggest question I had was: How do we maintain effective classroom dialogue in online learning spaces? This reflective essay seeks to answer this question in real-time, as I simultaneously prepare to teach at least another year of online courses. I explore the importance of dialogue in the classroom, how dialogue can be a conduit of inclusivity, why we should strive for inclusivity in our classrooms, and finally, how we translate these lessons to the online classroom. My hope is that this piece will help further this conversation and act as a resource for maintaining effective dialogue in every type of classroom.

"Kaikille okei"- Everyone alright? Shifting topics and practices in language students' chat during the global covid-19 pandemic

In this paper we will introduce a pedagogical blended learning project where students of Finnish as a foreign language in two North American universities come together in a collaborative virtual chat as one of their course assignments. We will further discuss how this practice took new turns upon the emergence of the global pandemic lockdown.

Balancing Grace

Before handing out my midterm exam the Thursday before Spring Break, the unease in the classroom was palpable. I questioned, is it the right thing to do to give a midterm exam now? Two days prior we learned online instruction would begin the week after spring break for the week and possibly longer. This was an unprecedented scenario. I never took a seminar titled, How to Continue Teaching During a Pandemic. I resolved myself with the attitude of we’ll get through this together; let’s get it done. Before passing out exams, I informally assessed students to see how many had taken an online course before, few hands raised. I then asked how everyone was feeling in regard to our inevitable online transition. Students expressed anxiety and worry because they had never taken a class titled, How to Continue to Learn During a Pandemic. As educators as we move ahead to an uncertain culture of learning, we must strive to listen and learn, grow in our pedagogies, and balance grace and flexibility with expectation.

Designing a Self-Paced Learning Experience to Support Learner Self-Regulation

This reflective paper examines how course designers utilized multiple frameworks for motivation and educational psychology to support learner self-regulation in an open, self-paced learning experience. The paper provides specific applications and opportunities to better support self-regulation in the future in both the forethought and self-reflection phases of Zimmerman’s socio-cognitive model of self-regulation. The paper concludes with a summary of design decisions that supported self-regulation in this context as well as questions intended to help designers of similar learning experiences consider how to best support self-regulation in their context.