As it’s been made clear before, while remote learning is not a new phenomenon, the speed and scale at which it is occurring this year was previously unimaginable. In this speed to adapt to digital much has been lost; from the physical classroom space to the myriad of small interactions that form the social environment of a classroom. On top of this growing pile of lost elements is the awareness of digital learning as a socio-technical system. From the initial transfer in March and still continuing to this day, the largest concern for teachers and students alike is at the surface technological level. And although the technological base is what remote learning is built on, learning is fundamentally a human, social process. Processes are not objects. One design change will not cure the ailments of remote learning. Technology is important, yes, but if one tries to improve learning without stopping to consider the person behind each screen, then they have failed from the startline. Much of today’s remote learning implementation reeks of this kind of mindset. Changes to better the process of remote learning need to blend improvements to both the hard technical context of the technology itself and the softer technical context of its social uses and interactions.
Let’s begin by attacking the issues within the physical technological context. Right now the largest concerns for students and teachers during COVID remote learning are within the realms of the technical specs and internet connection. “Students with outdated technological devices might find it hard to meet up with some technical requirements of online learning” is a sentiment reflected across many accounts of recent experiences. Additionally, a student’s ability to solve these problems comes at an economic cost. Accuriable technology quality is highly dependent on a students socio economic background. In person classes are a great equalizer. In an in person learning environment the college will provide resources so everyone enters the classroom on the same footing, but this support has ended with everyone being sent home (Adedoyin, 2020). It is fundamentally unfair that students within economically disadvantaged communities, which are disproportionately representative of minority groups, all too often have little to no internet access and outdated personal computing technology (Fishbane and Tomer, 2020). These people would normally rely on public places for their internet based technological needs, but those places have often shut their doors due to pandemic. Colleges need to step in to provide a sure footing for all of their students to stand on, just like they do when crafting a campus experience. Tuition costs should be shifted to provide computers and internet access to students in need. Courses cannot bend to the lowest common denominator or they would all too frequently lose valuable class time, so students’ access should be equalized to a base level. A good computer and stable internet connection are much smaller costs than many other services provided by the school that have been rendered useless to those off campus.
With the technological platform secured for students to be equally engaged, the next step is one that has not been considered as much, which is changes to class operation that acknowledge the fact that learning is a process. To start off, digital competency is an extremely important element of taking part in remote learning, and is the next layer of the sociotechnical system that is above the baseline of technology access. Making sure that everyone within a classroom, teacher and student, is fully aware of the potential uses of the hardware and software especially is very important for crafting a faux social environment. In a study this past summer, familiarity with using a technology is directly related to familiarity with operating as a ‘virtual simulated person’, and that technology workshops can greatly improve the engagement of those within a digital space such as a Zoom lobby (Persachovich, 2020). Familiarity with a technological social space allows one to engage more seriously with it. Free workshops and classes should be regularly held to increase understanding and comfortability maneuvering digitally. Once this level of understanding is evened out, it is possible to move on to improvements to the final and most social layer of this socio-technical pyramid; the actual moment to moment social engagement within the classroom. To approach this as a problem means restructuring what is valued in the learning experience. Past online learning trends, especially MOOCs, failed in this department. As mentioned before, learning is a collaborative process when it’s at its best, and MOOCs are exclusively one sided. There was no dialogue between anyone, just a professor talking to a crowd of digital onlookers. Each student in this kind of environment experiences a vastly different quality of education as they have no peers to reference for gaps of understanding outside of secondary text based social channels (Askeroth, 2019). Emphasis needs to be placed on community based learning, which will allow students to take ownership of their learning. Student dialogues are highly important for building understanding and mastery (Han, 2019). This means longer time in class and less struggling on work alone. Each class meeting should have a clear set of goals that students should work to achieve. Being transparent about the ultimate destination of their learning is foundational to motivating them to work hard in a digital environment (Howard, 2020). One sided lecturing like that of MOOCs should be sidelined for in class discussions of various sizes. Longer classes will facilitate time for professors to make certain that students fully grasp the material after each lecture is delivered. Secondary channels of discussion (technologies such as Slack) should be set up to simulate further social interaction that would naturally occur outside of the classroom between peers (Han, 2019). Outside the classroom, homework can be used to add depth to what was learned rather than echo ideas from the class. Homework can thus be reduced to a supporting role. The workload outside of online class should never feel like a sisyphean effort, and all too frequently do students express sentiments such as this one (Akkoyunlu, 2006). The pandemic is a time of uncertainty such that consistency and clear image of required work is important for allowing students to properly motivate themselves. With these changes, students will spend less time on antisocial out of class activities and more time on constructive, in class ones, combating the motivational deflation caused by a lack of face to face interaction. These facets of learning should further the development of our Ideal Online Classroom. Ultimately, each layer of the sociotechnical system needs to be addressed to make improvements to remote learning, and a failure to address one of these factors will leave someone behind.
Now let us transform this theory into an action plan using data provided by Lafayette’s very own Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning and Scholarship. In a study of over 20 colleges and universities done by Ithaka S+R this spring, it was found that students felt despondent from a lack of communication with aid and advising departments from their respective academic institution. Of the nearly 20,000 student responses, over half of the students reported that they wanted to hear more about their financial aid situation. On top of that advising and counseling services were also in high demand for more student engagement, with at least a quarter of responders expressing desire for more communication. Students who find themselves increasingly put out of their element due to remote learning need the school to provide the resources, even digitally to make them still feel a part of the community. In the face of this, Lafayette should step in more than it already has. Reducing tuition for remote students is a start, but many of the myriad of services included in the tuition package are currently operating in a shallow echo of their in person variants or are entirely inaccessible. Counselling and advising is in extremely high demand; many students have lost most of their social support network of peers, and most freshmen haven’t had the chance to develop one. In the same survey, over half of student responders attributed stress to inability to adjust to online learning and balance their life responsibilities. As per recommendation by the Ithaka S+R team, the optimal solution to this kind of problem is to increase communication and available resources. Lafayette needs to create a large team of advisors, counsellors and therapists to assuage these fears found in the hearts of most students. Stress from school inhibits engagement with and enjoyment of school. Students who have the highest need, such as being from underserved communities, should be prioritized as they are most likely to fall behind due to them being disproportionately affected by COVID. Another issue was that highly technical coursework and outside of class group assignments proved exceedingly time consuming and difficult for most students. Additionally, a majority of students reported feeling disconnected from their peers due to remote learning. Out of class work for Lafayette students should be reduced to painless activities such as reading passages or watching videos, which a majority of students reported feeling comfortable doing without difficulty. In a September survey by the HEDS Consortium, faculty also reported feeling worry and stress over their courses and students in exorbitantly high percentages. To bring the community together, Lafayette classes should adopt a socratic seminar style, avoiding the pitfalls of past remote learning found in MOOCs. Faculty should use a deft hand to guide discussion and learning, as ambiguity in learning brings stress when paired with the already ambiguous world situation (Adedoyin, 2020). The student to faculty ratio at Lafayette is actually small enough to support this style of classroom organization for most classes. Even within these socratic classes, even smaller scale frequent peer to peer discussion should occur using the break out room feature of Zoom. This provides further opportunities to form bonds with both the professors and peers. Open communication between Lafayette students and faculty needs to be further developed. The town hall meetings are a start, but if they were split into more regular smaller meetings, with leaders that report back to the governing board, everyone’s voice can be heard. Feeling like one has an impact on their college experience even when trapped at home empowers students to be more invested in their education, thus having an easier time learning. In sum, the best way to engage students in the Lafayette community is to compartmentalize many interactions to a personal scale, thus the essential human connection of school can be resurrected.