STEM Faculty's Support of Togetherness During Mandated Separation: Accommodations, Caring, Crisis Management, and Powerlessness

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Student-Teacher Relationships in Diverse Contexts: Relationships, Relatedness, and Support

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak spurred unplanned closures and transitions to online classes. Physical environments that once fostered social interaction and community were rendered inactive. We conducted interviews to examine how undergraduate STEM instructors’ adapted instruction to accommodate the transition to virtual learning and how these accommodations supported or hindered community and belonging during the onset of the pandemic. Interviews with 25 STEM faculty revealed the wide range of accommodations they made to their classroom and how they managed communication with students. Faculty approaches to supporting students ranged from caring, to crisis management, to powerlessness. The case of a responsive and flexible instructor is presented to highlight a productive response to crisis.

Authors

• Ian Thacker, University of Texas, San Antonio

• Viviane Seyranian, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Frank Nieblas, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Angelica Spata, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Alex Madva, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Paul Beardsley, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona