Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Instructional Changes and Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating the Effects of a Global Pandemic (Table 12)

Abstract

In response to COVID-19, post-secondary institutions made swift changes, one of which was the widespread transition to online and remote learning to address the immediate effects of the disruption in the teaching and learning environment. This was a period of quick pivoting at course as well as the leadership levels across universities, ranging from administrators to instructors. The current qualitative study aims to understand the institutional leaders and faculties’ responses and perceptions of students’ experiences at the advent of the pandemic. Data analysis suggests that the pandemic posed heavy psychological challenges on underrepresented students and exacerbated systemic inequalities among them. The interviewers also report a dramatic decrease in students’ motivation and increase in sense of isolation.

Authors

• Shiyu Sun, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Rodney K. Hopson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ananya Tiwari, Texas A&M University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nidia Ruedas-Gracia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author