Fall 2020 – The COVID semester that pushed faculty and students to their breaking point
After COVID-19 had been declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020, more than 1,300 colleges and universities in all 50 states canceled in-person classes, closed their dorms and campuses, and switched to online-only instruction. Students were forced to move back home or to find alternative accommodation. The switch to remote teaching created substantial challenges and struggles for many. Faculty also struggled with the impact of pandemic-related restrictions on their personal and professional lives; many had to go from in-person to online teaching with no training and often no or only scant support from their institutions.
The Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) plan for Fall 2020 was finalized in early June. Many of the restrictions introduced did impact students, including a mask requirement everywhere on campus and social distancing of six feet enforced. The guidelines included restrictions and limitations on intramural sports, group events, and meetings (capped at 50% capacity); indoor and outdoor recreational spaces were closed.
One of the more significant measures adopted was a change to course delivery formats. FGCU offered four types of classes: 1) traditional in-person instruction in a classroom setting on or off campus, 2) online synchronous classes using different web platforms, 3) online asynchronous classes with pre-recorded videos, voice-over presentations, etc., 4) hybrid classes with some in-person teaching as well as online (synchronous or asynchronous) instruction. Subsequently, slightly more than 50% of classes offered were online classes (28% online asynchronous, 24% online synchronous), approximately 45% of classes were taught in the classroom, and less than 4% were scheduled as hybrid classes. Forty percent of on-campus classes used a so-called blendflex model in which instructors assigned students to groups rotating between on-campus meetings and online synchronous or asynchronous instruction.
Going into the Fall semester 2020, maybe the most significant question or worry on administrators’ and faculty's minds was how students would cope with these massive changes to their lives on and off campus. No one knew for sure whether there would be unprecedented numbers of students dropping out during the term, how many would fail to earn passing grades, or how many would develop mental and emotional health issues impacting their personal well-being and academic progress. To gauge the impact of the changes on students’ academic life and success, I changed an existing survey and created a second survey. The survey results indicated that students generally appreciated the approach chosen by our university and that it may have helped most of them cope well under unprecedented circumstances. Students gave the university a positive rating for how it handled the situation, and they were equally satisfied with the teaching overall and faculty’s efforts to help them stay on track academically. Students seem to understand that the situation was unusual and very challenging for faculty and administration. However, survey respondents also felt that faculty and the institution were far less concerned with their mental and emotional well-being and that insufficient efforts had been made to proactively identify and connect with students who struggled with mental or emotional health issues.
While having an overall positive evaluation from students is a good outcome for the university and its faculty, we mustn’t overlook the large share of students who struggled and often felt unsupported by both administration and faculty. When asked, Do you think your grades this semester will be different from what they would have been without the changes to teaching caused by Covid‐19?, one-third of students chose the option ‘They will be not as good’. Not surprisingly, they gave lower average scores for both administration and faculty. For example, participants in the COVID Feedback Survey gave the university an average rating of 6.7 on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the lowest score for how it had handled the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic (“What is your overall assessment of how FGCU handled the challenges caused by the Covid‐19 pandemic this semester on a scale from 1‐10?”). Students who expected their grades to be lower than normal gave the university a rating of 5.7 only. Likewise, the average rating for What is your overall assessment of the teaching this semester on a scale from 1‐10? was 6.7 for all students but only 5.0 for the students struggling academically. They also gave lower average scores for How much do your instructors care for your academic success this semester on a scale from 1‐10? (5.5 vs. 7.1 for all students) and How much do your instructors care for your mental/emotional well‐being this semester on a scale from 1 ‐10? (4.6 vs. 6.3 for all students). These differences also extended to students' interactions with instructors. Almost seven in ten struggling students reported finding it harder to communicate with their instructors compared with only four in ten overall respondents.
Among the students who expected their grades to be lower, almost half (49%) worried that this might affect their ability to graduate, get admitted to access-restricted programs/graduate school, or find a job after graduation. Two-thirds expected to fail at least one class or were unsure about it. Nonetheless, three-quarters felt they were still on track to graduate on time (compared with 88% for all respondents). Of the sixty-six students worried about not being on track for timely graduation, two-thirds were confident about catching up over the next one to two semesters.
The Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) plan for Fall 2020 was finalized in early June. Many of the restrictions introduced did impact students, including a mask requirement everywhere on campus and social distancing of six feet enforced. The guidelines included restrictions and limitations on intramural sports, group events, and meetings (capped at 50% capacity); indoor and outdoor recreational spaces were closed.
One of the more significant measures adopted was a change to course delivery formats. FGCU offered four types of classes: 1) traditional in-person instruction in a classroom setting on or off campus, 2) online synchronous classes using different web platforms, 3) online asynchronous classes with pre-recorded videos, voice-over presentations, etc., 4) hybrid classes with some in-person teaching as well as online (synchronous or asynchronous) instruction. Subsequently, slightly more than 50% of classes offered were online classes (28% online asynchronous, 24% online synchronous), approximately 45% of classes were taught in the classroom, and less than 4% were scheduled as hybrid classes. Forty percent of on-campus classes used a so-called blendflex model in which instructors assigned students to groups rotating between on-campus meetings and online synchronous or asynchronous instruction.
Going into the Fall semester 2020, maybe the most significant question or worry on administrators’ and faculty's minds was how students would cope with these massive changes to their lives on and off campus. No one knew for sure whether there would be unprecedented numbers of students dropping out during the term, how many would fail to earn passing grades, or how many would develop mental and emotional health issues impacting their personal well-being and academic progress. To gauge the impact of the changes on students’ academic life and success, I changed an existing survey and created a second survey. The survey results indicated that students generally appreciated the approach chosen by our university and that it may have helped most of them cope well under unprecedented circumstances. Students gave the university a positive rating for how it handled the situation, and they were equally satisfied with the teaching overall and faculty’s efforts to help them stay on track academically. Students seem to understand that the situation was unusual and very challenging for faculty and administration. However, survey respondents also felt that faculty and the institution were far less concerned with their mental and emotional well-being and that insufficient efforts had been made to proactively identify and connect with students who struggled with mental or emotional health issues.
While having an overall positive evaluation from students is a good outcome for the university and its faculty, we mustn’t overlook the large share of students who struggled and often felt unsupported by both administration and faculty. When asked, Do you think your grades this semester will be different from what they would have been without the changes to teaching caused by Covid‐19?, one-third of students chose the option ‘They will be not as good’. Not surprisingly, they gave lower average scores for both administration and faculty. For example, participants in the COVID Feedback Survey gave the university an average rating of 6.7 on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the lowest score for how it had handled the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic (“What is your overall assessment of how FGCU handled the challenges caused by the Covid‐19 pandemic this semester on a scale from 1‐10?”). Students who expected their grades to be lower than normal gave the university a rating of 5.7 only. Likewise, the average rating for What is your overall assessment of the teaching this semester on a scale from 1‐10? was 6.7 for all students but only 5.0 for the students struggling academically. They also gave lower average scores for How much do your instructors care for your academic success this semester on a scale from 1‐10? (5.5 vs. 7.1 for all students) and How much do your instructors care for your mental/emotional well‐being this semester on a scale from 1 ‐10? (4.6 vs. 6.3 for all students). These differences also extended to students' interactions with instructors. Almost seven in ten struggling students reported finding it harder to communicate with their instructors compared with only four in ten overall respondents.
Among the students who expected their grades to be lower, almost half (49%) worried that this might affect their ability to graduate, get admitted to access-restricted programs/graduate school, or find a job after graduation. Two-thirds expected to fail at least one class or were unsure about it. Nonetheless, three-quarters felt they were still on track to graduate on time (compared with 88% for all respondents). Of the sixty-six students worried about not being on track for timely graduation, two-thirds were confident about catching up over the next one to two semesters.
|
The students who indicated that they expected their grades not to be as good were asked to expand on what they thought were the main factors responsible for their lower grades. Close to half of respondents pointed to struggling with online classes as the main reason. One-third complained that instructors were not prepared well enough for online teaching, did not put enough effort into class preparation, or didn’t understand how difficult the situation was for their students. Respondents also complained about the workload being too much with too many assignments and instructors not being flexible with submission deadlines. Other issues raised were the number of different platforms used for online lectures and instructors not being familiar enough with the technology.
“Most professors do not really know how to use the technology and it makes learning more difficult. Also i do better listening to a lecture in a class versus in my room where i can be easily distracted.” |
You may also like
Want to earn your degree? Get enough sleep, eat breakfast, and stay away from fast food What type of natural disaster has a greater impact on students’ mental health – chronic or acute? Greek life – all fun, no work? “I however can not remember, if water is a chemical substance.” The challenge of teaching science college courses Getting drunk isn’t always just care-free fun |
“The inability to directly communicate with the professor. Them teaching to a computer screen lowers their ability to read a classroom and see what to focus on most.”
“Online classes, they suck.”
“Professors not teaching, not learning anything, exams and quizzes being extremely hard for not knowing anything. Professors not caring about the students and helping when asked for help.”
“Im fucking online what do you think.”
“lack of in person help, classes are lower quality and quite frankly suck in comparison learning-wise.”
“Hard to learn when you teach yourself.”
“I think my grades will be lower because some of my professors just tell us to read the material and answer questions. I cannot learn like that. It works better for me to be in a classroom environment with explanations and peers to talk to and work with.”
“extreme stress, difficulty in online environment, would have easier time with information of lectures were prerecorded and I was capable of pausing, or if powerpoints were made available online, I have too much difficulty focusing in online class setting and auditory processing.”
“I am not an online learner no matter how much I try to be. Along with poor connection issues, this has been a challenge for me throughout the semester. With the addition of most of my professors barely or not at all caring for us students mentally/emotionally or academically.”
“I am teaching myself the materials. Professors haven't been teaching as well this semester. They're untrained with technology and waste time during lecture. In person class is not consistent. We can get sick still and I have an attendance grade. How am I supposed to feel better about staying home?”
“Corona and everything else going on in the world. I am not the same as last year. I now have no motivation, school seems so small compared to everything else.”
“No structure, adapting to a new teaching style, depression from staying in side and isolation, technology issues.”
“There is some material you just can't teach virtually so now I'm failing my first class ever after 4 years of college.”
“Not having that face to face connection and the classroom experience to understand everything perfectly. This is probably the worst semester of college I have had thus far.”
“The teachers don’t put the time they do into online as they did into learning in class...”
“Shitty course formats/structures, online test/exams are a joke, students cheat on virtual classes all the time, professors post power point without explaining or teaching the content to the class prior. Classes consist of the professor throwing shit up onto canvas without explaining or elaborating on the content and them waiting for the students to complete useless and aimless class assignments. The class quality at FGCU is worse than most FL community colleges.”
“I do much better in the face to face classes. The online classes are difficult to handle when professors don't give feedback for weeks after assignments are completed. Also the office hours professors set or don't set are not realistic for most students who work or take other classes.”
“Insane workloads from professors I have not learned anything this semester, and it is almost over Why am I paying for class when the professors expect me to teach myself?”
“I have no guidance from my professors or any responses when I ask questions. I do not get answers to my emails and I live too far away to attend office hours.”
“Overall mood and attitude due to COVID has changed Ability to stay focused when required to use more screen time My mental stability has diminished slightly I am more distracted by other factors such as work schedule, pets, family, personal interests, media distractions, etc. Need to slow down.”
“Lack of instruction. It is embarrassing to be a part of an institution that uses the pandemic as an excuse to forgo lectures and teaching. Why am I paying for instructors to tell me to read a textbook and watch YouTube videos. Ridiculous and lazy. I'm seriously considering pursuing a refund for classes.”
“Teachers not as involved, poor response ties on clarification, not following syllabus, poor tech knowledge.”
“Poor quality of online instruction due to poorly educated professors (online teaching methods) and professor distrust/dislike of online learning.”
“Unrealistic and unemotional professors who are too stuck in their old time ways to adapt to teaching virtually. You can not assign the same exact work you did in person when the class is online. Not how it works.”
“I am usually an A student, this semester, I am averaging C's. I think some factors include the following: - Difficulty concentrating at home when listening to online lectures - Difficulty engaging with professor through virtual setting- Professor gave up teaching course material- Professor NOT changing online course layout to temporily accommodate the COVID-19 situation (Online discussion based course are not as effective, structure would have helped TREMENDOUSLY).”
“difficult time with family, professors still expect way too much.”
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Almost 90% of survey participants said they were able to connect with their instructors when needed during the semester. Less than 4% planned not to return in Spring 2021 because of a transfer to another college or unknown intentions. Still, the percentage of students not returning after the Winter break wasn’t any higher than in previous years. Toward the end of Spring semester 2021, students gave pretty much the same average rating in the overall assessment of teaching as in Fall 2020 (6.9 vs. 6.7), how the university handled the situation (6.3 vs. 6.7), how much instructors cared for their academic success (7.2 vs. 7.1), and how much instructors cared for their mental/emotional well‐being (6.3 vs. 6.3). The percentage of students that expected to earn lower grades due to the restrictions and changes to teaching was lower than in Fall 2020 (28% vs. 34%). However, only 1.5% planned on transferring out or not returning, whereas 11% were leaving due to graduating. The four-year graduation rate for the 2017-2021 cohort was 42.1% compared with 41.1% for the 2016-2020 cohort. The Academic Progress Rate (APR), the percentage of first-year students who return for their second year with a GPA of above 2.0, remained steady at 76.8% for academic year 2020-2021.
N.B.: This post is partially based on How Students at a University in Florida Experienced and Coped with COVID-related Restrictions published in Educational Research: Theory and Practice.
“Online classes, they suck.”
“Professors not teaching, not learning anything, exams and quizzes being extremely hard for not knowing anything. Professors not caring about the students and helping when asked for help.”
“Im fucking online what do you think.”
“lack of in person help, classes are lower quality and quite frankly suck in comparison learning-wise.”
“Hard to learn when you teach yourself.”
“I think my grades will be lower because some of my professors just tell us to read the material and answer questions. I cannot learn like that. It works better for me to be in a classroom environment with explanations and peers to talk to and work with.”
“extreme stress, difficulty in online environment, would have easier time with information of lectures were prerecorded and I was capable of pausing, or if powerpoints were made available online, I have too much difficulty focusing in online class setting and auditory processing.”
“I am not an online learner no matter how much I try to be. Along with poor connection issues, this has been a challenge for me throughout the semester. With the addition of most of my professors barely or not at all caring for us students mentally/emotionally or academically.”
“I am teaching myself the materials. Professors haven't been teaching as well this semester. They're untrained with technology and waste time during lecture. In person class is not consistent. We can get sick still and I have an attendance grade. How am I supposed to feel better about staying home?”
“Corona and everything else going on in the world. I am not the same as last year. I now have no motivation, school seems so small compared to everything else.”
“No structure, adapting to a new teaching style, depression from staying in side and isolation, technology issues.”
“There is some material you just can't teach virtually so now I'm failing my first class ever after 4 years of college.”
“Not having that face to face connection and the classroom experience to understand everything perfectly. This is probably the worst semester of college I have had thus far.”
“The teachers don’t put the time they do into online as they did into learning in class...”
“Shitty course formats/structures, online test/exams are a joke, students cheat on virtual classes all the time, professors post power point without explaining or teaching the content to the class prior. Classes consist of the professor throwing shit up onto canvas without explaining or elaborating on the content and them waiting for the students to complete useless and aimless class assignments. The class quality at FGCU is worse than most FL community colleges.”
“I do much better in the face to face classes. The online classes are difficult to handle when professors don't give feedback for weeks after assignments are completed. Also the office hours professors set or don't set are not realistic for most students who work or take other classes.”
“Insane workloads from professors I have not learned anything this semester, and it is almost over Why am I paying for class when the professors expect me to teach myself?”
“I have no guidance from my professors or any responses when I ask questions. I do not get answers to my emails and I live too far away to attend office hours.”
“Overall mood and attitude due to COVID has changed Ability to stay focused when required to use more screen time My mental stability has diminished slightly I am more distracted by other factors such as work schedule, pets, family, personal interests, media distractions, etc. Need to slow down.”
“Lack of instruction. It is embarrassing to be a part of an institution that uses the pandemic as an excuse to forgo lectures and teaching. Why am I paying for instructors to tell me to read a textbook and watch YouTube videos. Ridiculous and lazy. I'm seriously considering pursuing a refund for classes.”
“Teachers not as involved, poor response ties on clarification, not following syllabus, poor tech knowledge.”
“Poor quality of online instruction due to poorly educated professors (online teaching methods) and professor distrust/dislike of online learning.”
“Unrealistic and unemotional professors who are too stuck in their old time ways to adapt to teaching virtually. You can not assign the same exact work you did in person when the class is online. Not how it works.”
“I am usually an A student, this semester, I am averaging C's. I think some factors include the following: - Difficulty concentrating at home when listening to online lectures - Difficulty engaging with professor through virtual setting- Professor gave up teaching course material- Professor NOT changing online course layout to temporily accommodate the COVID-19 situation (Online discussion based course are not as effective, structure would have helped TREMENDOUSLY).”
“difficult time with family, professors still expect way too much.”
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Almost 90% of survey participants said they were able to connect with their instructors when needed during the semester. Less than 4% planned not to return in Spring 2021 because of a transfer to another college or unknown intentions. Still, the percentage of students not returning after the Winter break wasn’t any higher than in previous years. Toward the end of Spring semester 2021, students gave pretty much the same average rating in the overall assessment of teaching as in Fall 2020 (6.9 vs. 6.7), how the university handled the situation (6.3 vs. 6.7), how much instructors cared for their academic success (7.2 vs. 7.1), and how much instructors cared for their mental/emotional well‐being (6.3 vs. 6.3). The percentage of students that expected to earn lower grades due to the restrictions and changes to teaching was lower than in Fall 2020 (28% vs. 34%). However, only 1.5% planned on transferring out or not returning, whereas 11% were leaving due to graduating. The four-year graduation rate for the 2017-2021 cohort was 42.1% compared with 41.1% for the 2016-2020 cohort. The Academic Progress Rate (APR), the percentage of first-year students who return for their second year with a GPA of above 2.0, remained steady at 76.8% for academic year 2020-2021.
N.B.: This post is partially based on How Students at a University in Florida Experienced and Coped with COVID-related Restrictions published in Educational Research: Theory and Practice.
