Education Post Pandemic: How Has the Learning Environment Changed?
The COVID-19 pandemic has left an undeniable mark on our world, reshaping numerous aspects of our daily lives, including education. As a student who embarked on their academic journey at CU in 2020, I couldn’t help but ponder how the pandemic altered our education and how it impacted classes in the Information Science department. Understanding the dynamics of education pre and post-COVID is crucial, especially when considering the quality of instruction and the learning environment fostered here at CU Boulder. I wanted to see what story the Faculty Course Questionnaire (FCQ) data told about post pandemic learning.
It is important to note that post pandemic the INFO department had an increase in professors going from 47 in 2017–2019 to 75 in 2020–2023. This surge could be attributed to various factors, such as a rise in student enrollment, with class sizes swelling from an average of 48 to 54 students per class. Additionally, the shift to remote learning likely caused the university to bring on additional faculty to accommodate the evolving needs of remote classes.
There have been 55 unique course offerings in the Information Science department since the pandemic which is an increase from the 43 courses from 2017–2019. There were also 17 professors in the department who had taught at CU pre pandemic. To get a grasp of what was going on in the INFO department the metrics I wanted to focus on were: Challenge, Grading and Respect. With challenge and respect being the most important. How much did the professor challenge their students and how much did students feel respected by their professors? These numbers are two of the most important metrics in learning. Without a respectful learning environment, students and professors are put in uncomfortable positions and oftentimes learning does not even take place. If a respectful environment can be fostered the next most important part of learning is being challenged. Challenged to form your own opinions, create discussion, and push your knowledge by thinking outside of your comfort zone. These two metrics really provide a great deal of insight into what the learning environment looks like and how professors play a major role in this.
To face the facts, online classrooms are often a stale, cold environment that lack engagement and connection from both students and professors. It is a shame that for 2020 and the majority of 2021 this is how classes at CU were taught, but professors are not to blame for this. What is to blame is the severe increases in COVID-19 not only in Boulder County but around the world. Due to no fault of their own, professors were left to adapt to a below ideal situation in a very short period of time because of the rapid onset of COVID-19. I do think that the rankings must be evaluated with this in mind.
In terms of the ‘Challenge’ metric which means that professors challenged students to develop knowledge/understanding, rankings were relatively consistent throughout the 4 year period, starting at an average score of 4.55 out of 5, there was a slight decline to 4.39 in 2022, followed by a subsequent rise to an average of 4.51 out of 5 in 2023. I think that this is somewhat expected as most of the time the course material was not changing from year to year so these scores remaining consistent makes sense and is to be expected.
One of the most striking differences in the data emerges in the ‘Grading’ metric, which assesses professors’ clarity in explaining grading criteria. Interestingly, this metric witnessed a decline, reaching its peak with an average score of 4.52 out of 5 in 2021, only to plummet to an average of 4.26 out of 5 in 2022. This decline could potentially be attributed to the pandemic-induced shift to online learning, where professors might have felt compelled to provide more detailed explanations of assignment guidelines. Moreover, virtual instruction might have inadvertently led to some leniency in grading, as instructors wanted to be easier on students during times of uncertainty and hardship.
Lastly, and most importantly, the ‘Respect’ metric. It is remarkable to see that not only did the metric consistently receive the highest ratings among the FCQ criteria that I assessed, but it also maintained a high score across all four years of data. Beginning with an average score of 4.74 out of 5 in 2020 and finishing at the same level in 2023 This proves that despite the switch to remote learning professors continued their ability to demonstrate respect for diverse students/points of view which really is incredible.
To be honest, when I began this deep dive, I was expecting to see more drastic changes in the metrics. I thought there would be 2’s and 3’s and that there would be large dips in 2020 and 2021 but the data really did not show that. I am happy with the findings and I feel incredibly proud of the CU INFO Science professors and their ability to remain a somewhat constant force throughout online and in person teachings.
