I will teach you here or there, I will try to teach you anywhere: perceived supports and barriers for emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cristine Donham; Hillary A Barron; Jourjina Subih Alkhouri; Maya Changaran Kumarath; Wesley Alejandro; Erik Menke; Petra Kranzfelder

doi:10.1186/s40594-022-00335-1

I will teach you here or there, I will try to teach you anywhere: perceived supports and barriers for emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic

Int J STEM Educ. 2022;9(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s40594-022-00335-1. Epub 2022 Feb 19.

Authors

Cristine Donham¹, Hillary A Barron^{2

3}, Jourjina Subih Alkhouri¹, Maya Changaran Kumarath⁴, Wesley Alejandro⁵, Erik Menke⁶, Petra Kranzfelder⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA USA.
² Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA.
³ Department of Biology, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, MN USA.
⁴ Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA USA.
⁵ Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California Merced, Merced, CA USA.
⁶ Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Merced, CA USA.

Abstract

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities moved to emergency remote teaching (ERT). This allowed institutions to continue their instruction despite not being in person. However, ERT is not without consequences. For example, students may have inadequate technological supports, such as reliable internet and computers. Students may also have poor learning environments at home and may need to find added employment to support their families. In addition, there are consequences to faculty. It has been shown that female instructors are more disproportionately impacted in terms of mental health issues and increased domestic labor. This research aims to investigate instructors' and students' perceptions of their transition to ERT. Specifically, during the transition to ERT at a research-intensive, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI), we wanted to: (1) Identify supports and barriers experienced by instructors and students. (2) Compare instructors' experiences with the students' experiences. (3) Explore these supports and barriers within the context of social presence, teaching presence, and/or cognitive presence as well as how these supports and barriers relate to scaffolding in STEM courses.

Results: Instructors identified twice as many barriers as supports in their teaching during the transition to ERT and identified casual and formal conversations with colleagues as valuable supports. Emerging categories for barriers consisted of academic integrity concerns as well as technological difficulties. Similarly, students identified more barriers than supports in their learning during the transition to ERT. More specifically, students described pre-existing course structure, classroom technology, and community as best supporting their learning. Barriers that challenged student learning included classroom environment, student availability, and student emotion and comfort.

Conclusions: Together, this research will help us understand supports and barriers to teaching and learning during the transition to ERT. This understanding can help us better plan and prepare for future emergencies, particularly at MSIs, where improved communication and increased access to resources for both students and instructors are key.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40594-022-00335-1.

Keywords: Instructor; Minority-Serving Institution; Qualitative; STEM; Undergraduate.