Editor's Comment: Three Teaching Takeaways from the COVID 19 Pandemic
We did it! Just prior to writing this comment, I submitted my final grades and let out a huge sigh of relief. I pause now to recognize the immense achievement of the collective sociology teaching and learning community consisting of faculty at colleges and universities of all types, high school teachers, graduate teaching assistants, students, and all those who have supported and enabled the continued instruction of sociology during an unprecedented time. We faced the global COVID19 pandemic and were asked to do what seemed initially like the impossible: move into an emergency remote instruction model for which we were largely underprepared. The immensity of the challenge is even more admirable when we consider the pre COVID percentage of students enrolled in distance education courses. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2017, only 15.7 percent of all students in degree granting postsecondary institutions were enrolled exclusively in distance education courses. Astonishingly, by the end of March 2020, that percentage (though specifically unknown) is likely to have escalated to nearly 100 percent. This large scale transition to a distance learning format was even more remarkable considering that the timeline for moving courses from face to face delivery to exclusively remote instruction was, on average, just several days. Furthermore, the teaching and learning community had very little warning. My own precursory analysis of social media posts and The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed articles suggests that the first inkling that an educational tsunami was developing came from the University of Washington and the University of California systems. On March 7th, the University of Washington announced that starting on March 9th, all classes and finals would be held remotely. It was on March 9th that the reality of going remote started to look inevitable, when Amherst College cancelled classes prior to spring break from March 12th to 13th, stating that it would move to remote learning on March 23rd. Amherst was the first college to encourage students to take as many of their belongings with them as possible without giving a return to campus date. This announcement sent shock waves through the higher education community. I began providing the students in my classes and internships with emergency plans in case Elizabethtown College also went remote though at the time, no one really believed it would happen. On March 12th, Elizabethtown College announced that classes would be canceled starting March 13th and that classes would resume online on March 18th to continue the learning experience remotely. Faculty and students were notified at the same time. My point here is that everyone reading this piece probably has a similar version of this story and timeline. Regardless, as a community of educators that teach sociology, we need to take a moment to celebrate and a chance to reflect. The remainder of my comment will focus on three takeaways resulting from the emergency remote instruction we were plunged into. I use the word takeaways instead of lessons, because this educational journey is far from complete. As I write this comment, the future of instruction for the fall semester remains uncertain. Institutions are developing a plethora of contingency plans. Still, it is important that we reflect on what we have collectively experienced to begin to plan ahead. Please note that these are my personal takeaways based on my own experiences, reading of the limited literature, and narratives of those involved in faculty development. I will not be providing solutions or recommendations at this time.