How Do We Make Remote Learning Better? Listen to the Students
Between April 21 and May 14, 2020, we surveyed 3,113 undergraduate college students from 31 universities across the U.S. about their remote learning experiences.* The survey was anonymous, took 10 minutes to complete, and consisted primarily of closed-ended questions. Students had the option of writing in answers about their experiences with remote learning at the end. Their answers should guide how we, as educators, make remote learning better for this upcoming school year — for our students, and for ourselves. This 5-part series is a collaboration with Amy Jordan, Alyvia Walters, and Luna Laliberte.
Lesson #1: Presume That Your Students are Under-connected
A subset of undergraduates always struggle with being under-connected: their internet access is slow, they have gaps in connectivity because of an overdue bill, their computer needs repairs, or they are completing schoolwork on their smartphones. In normal times, many students manage being under-connected by taking advantage of campus WiFi and computer labs. Obviously, under-connected undergraduates cannot access to those workarounds during remote learning.
In remote learning, students’ success is dependent on their access to quality internet and digital devices. Many reported struggled mightily with those issues in the spring. More than half of the students we surveyed (55%) reported that their internet connection at home was slowed by having too many people online at once. One in four was dependent on a device in poor working condition (27%), was not able to livestream reliably (25%), and could not download large files (24%). We have no reason to believe these issues will be resolved for this new school year, so every faculty member should plan accordingly.
How, exactly, can faculty plan for accommodating their under-connected students?
Keep recorded lectures short. Even if you have to upload a few files for each lecture, keep each one to 10 minutes — 15 minutes max. Students report that it is much easier to download shorter videos when their internet connections are slow or their devices have limited available memory.
Use synchronous class time wisely, and keep it optional. Zoom meetings are great for enabling the class interactions that build a sense of community. Knowing that students cannot manage real-time meetings for long, do not waste precious interactive time by lecturing live. Keep real-time class meetings short. Hold them on a consistent day/time so that students can plan to be in a location with reasonable connectivity, even if that means sitting in a Starbucks parking lot. Remind your students frequently that they can call in on Zoom without video if they need to. And, give them flexibility on attending those real-time meetings so that their grades are not adversely affected if their family’s internet is cut off for a week or two.
Signal that you’re aware of the issue. Even prior to the pandemic, research revealed that under-connected students spend a lot of time and energy working to fix their devices and inconsistent internet, displacing time they would otherwise spend on coursework. That time displacement will be more serious now that everything is online. Make sure to emphasize in your syllabus, and regularly in your communication with students, that you are are aware of these struggles. Encourage them to let you know if they are facing these challenges so that you can point them find campus support services or another workaround. Signaling awareness of under-connectedness goes a long way toward building students’ trust.
Want to know how widespread these issues are in your own courses? Here is a short survey you can use at the beginning of the semester, or anytime throughout, to find out.
Make sure you don’t miss Lesson #2: How to Help Students Manage Information Overload
*More information on methodology: The survey was developed by Vikki Katz and Amy Jordan, approved by the Rutgers University Institutional Review Board and ran for three weeks on the Qualtrics platform, between April 21 and May 14, 2020. A total of 3,113 undergraduates from 31 U.S. universities that had shifted to remote instruction participated. Ninety-four percent were between ages 18 and 24. Sixty-five percent identified as female and 35% male, somewhat more skewed than the general 4-year college population (56% female and 44% male, according to the National Center for Education Statistics). A total of 10% of participants identified as African-American, 18% as Asian, 13% as Hispanic, and 62% as White; an additional 17% selected multiple races or ethnicities. The project was supported by the School of Communication and Information, and by the University Research Council, at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
