Abstract
This chapter explores key insights that emerged in higher education both prior to and following the era of emergency remote teaching (ERT), which was implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The chapter emphasizes inclusive and innovative digital teaching and learning practices that are essential in ensuring that all students in higher education have equal access to educational opportunities and resources. The chapter will be of particular interest to current or future educators, instructional designers, students, and researchers in the field of higher education. In this chapter, the authors reexamine conventional perspectives on digital teaching and learning as well as explore the newer modes of remote and hybrid instruction. The chapter focuses on instructional design, student engagement, course accessibility, flexibility, and sanity to inform future research, design, and implementation of learning. The authors offer guidance into how these concepts can assist faculty in their research endeavors as well as during future emergency course preparation.
TopBackground
Late in 2019, there was news circulating about the outbreak of a new virus that was creating a world health emergency. Attention to higher education was heightened in early 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and most higher education institutions implemented measures to prevent the spread of the virus. These measures included canceling large in-person events, promoting hygiene practices such as hand-washing, and encouraging social distancing.
Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT)
During this time period, most face-to-face higher education classes were switched to remote versions for safety purposes. This switch has been called Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) and has since taken on the connotation of how higher education went remote during this time period (Hodges et al., 2020). Remote online teaching and learning takes place outside a physical classroom where teachers and students remain connected online and engaged with the content in different locations. Yet, ERT is more specific and holds a different connotation than being a general online course design and development experience. Hodges et al. described,
In contrast to experiences that are planned from the beginning and designed to be online, emergency remote teaching (ERT) is a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances. It involves the use of fully remote teaching solutions for instruction or education that would otherwise be delivered face-to-face or as blended or hybrid courses and that will return to that format once the crisis or emergency has abated. (para. 13)
As can be expected, many higher education instructors and students were unprepared for this transition. The quick switch from traditional face-to-face learning to ERT was challenging for both students and educators, especially since they were required to adopt a system that they were not prepared to use. Hodges et al. (2020) explained that typical planning, preparation, and development time for a fully online higher education course is six to nine months before the course is delivered. Hence, most instructors who were expected to teach online in the ERT time period were unprepared. In fact, it was relatively impossible for all faculty members to suddenly become experts in online teaching and learning during the situation. Online learning and distance education became the “panacea for this unprecedented global pandemic, despite the challenges posed to both educators and the learners” (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021, p. 134).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Higher Education: Institutions providing study beyond the level of secondary education, such as colleges and universities, community colleges, and vocational and technical schools.
Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT): Temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances. Involves the use of fully remote teaching solutions for instruction that would otherwise be delivered face-to-face or as blended or hybrid courses and that will return to that format once the crisis or emergency has ended.
Virtual Office Hours: A set period of time during which a higher education instructor is available online through virtual communication channels to advise, answer questions from, or provide guidance and assistance to students.
Flipped Classroom: Instructional strategy where the students complete readings or watch videos outside of class hours, and work on live problem-solving or discussion during class time.
Synchronous Learning: Learning that occurs at the same time, where an instructor delivers content and information to students in real-time. Examples include in-person class lectures, video conferencing sessions, and laboratory classes.
HyFlex Classroom Model: This model supports both in-class and online students in the same class sections, typically by using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online participation modalities for students who choose not to, or are unable to, participate in traditional classroom instruction.
Asynchronous Learning: Learning that occurs at different times, typically by deploying content and information in a method that is available to students to access and pursue at their convenience. Examples include online discussion forums, message boards, wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc.
COVID-19: Infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Pandemic: Incidence of an infectious disease that has spread over a large area at a particular time.