Teaching into the Void: The Challenges of Online Instruction During Covid-19

• In Event: Improving teacher education

Proposal

Background. In March 2020, Canada shut down physical gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented public health measures meant to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. As such, a new socially distant “online society” began to emerge. Most schools, social events, and healthcare services moved online, and/or reduced their in-person offerings to comply with COVID-19 restrictions (Pereda et al., 2020). Educational institutions were forced to innovate to retain their student populations, maintain graduation rates, and sustain a positive learning environment (Brown, 2020). Teachers, who may have had little training or experience with online instruction, strived to adapt to the myriad of new, unique challenges and requirements related to teaching and learning online during a global crisis (Brown, 2020; Hinkkala, 2020). In Quebec, cégeps (i.e., an acronym for “Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel”, which is a mandatory, post-secondary, college-level schooling), colleges, and universities in Quebec and the rest of Canada moved to online instruction, but this was not the perceived as a long-term solution (Bao et al., 2020). This chapter aims to explore the various challenges of online learning that impacted Quebec cégep students during the pandemic and makes recommendations for support.
Research Questions. RQ1: What impact did the Covid-19 Pandemic have on teachers’ ability to foster student motivation? RQ2: What are some of the struggles or challenges that teachers faced during the transition to online instruction?
Theoretical Approach. We apply Seligman’s Well-being Theory to further explore how students’ motivation and coping mechanisms were impacted during the pandemic. Seligman’s Theory of Well-being (2011), from the field of positive psychology is comprised of five subjective elements: “positive emotion, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment” (PERMA) (p. 16). However, within this construct, happiness is an object that can be measured and operationalized (Seligman, 2011). This theory helps in understanding and improving the well-being of youth during and after the global pandemic.
Methodology, Validity and Trustworthiness. This preliminary literature review focuses on compound, descriptive data analysis drawn on data from the Écobes (2021) conference and Kids Help Phone to illustrate how social isolation impacted Quebec cegep students’ motivation and academic performance, as well the challenges that were presented to instructors.
Validity and Trustworthiness for this research involve data analysis from two socially credible sources, notably Kids Help Phone and the Écobes study, which examined motivation during the pandemic.
Data Collection/Analysis. Data analysis involved combining mental health, social engagement, and educational commitment statistics reported by the Kids Help Phone (2020) and a study by Écobes (2021). Compound tables were created to gain a holistic picture of the impact the pandemic perpetuated on social connections in higher educational institutions.
Fifty percent of students attending courses online felt a significant drop in motivation for academic achievement. Students cite a social disconnection and list the online delivery as the reason for dropping out (Spitzer et al., 2021). Close to one-third of students felt that online instruction was not an adequate way for them to learn, while the overall student satisfaction rate dropped almost 25% (Gaudreault et al., 2021). Decreased satisfaction is linked to lower grades, attendance, and higher dropout rates, in cégeps, during the period where education had shifted to forced online learning in educational institutions (Gaudreault et al., 2021). The study (Gaudreault et al., 2021), also concluded that more than half of the student population “hated” one or both versions (asynchronous and/or synchronous) of online learning. If there is a massive amount of dissatisfaction with the way that content is being taught, then students will have a more challenging time completing their programs. The study discovered that if students dislike the way they are being taught, in this case online learning, then decreased levels of motivation and achievement will be inevitable. Thus, there appears to be a direct correlation to the way content was delivered and the decline in motivation levels. It was found that in Fall 2020 over 70% students did not feel that their cégep offered the same high quality of teaching as before the pandemic. Students also reported that the change in quality teaching added to their stress (Gaudreault et al., 2021).
Contribution to the Advancement of Knowledge. This will be one of the first studies to examine social engagement between teachers and students within the online learning environment during the pandemic. Many instructors may need more formal assistance from those that are more accustomed to online education and/or platforms. Educators and administrators should be encouraged to explore options that foster autonomous learning and promote educational opportunities for students (CSDT, 2021). Schools’ duty is to promote and enforce motivational learning environments and social inclusion, yet teaching is made more complex by students’ needs that vary, teacher-student relations, no unified instructions on how to teach online, tense relationships between teachers, school principals and staff (Iacuzzi et al., 2020). Thus, as a response plan to the current pandemic, schools must develop a knowledge management strategy that concentrates on their intellectual capital, that is on their human, structural, and social commitment (Becerra-Fernandez & Sabherwal, 2001; Bornemann & Wiedenhofer, 2014; Massaro et al., 2015). Providing students with the opportunity to engage and have a social connection and participate meaningfully with peers would help to increase motivation and foster students’ autonomy (CSDT, 2021).

Author

• Jen Hinkkala, McGill University