COVID-19’s Impact on Educators
Tags: Online Learning, Covid 19, Pandemic, Teachers, Schools

Eight months into the pandemic, educators have had to adjust to teaching remotely and under social distancing regulations. For many, the pandemic poses a problem when trying to connect to students, in addition to the multitude of technological issues that arise when trying to teach across several formats.

With an expected rise in cases following the holidays, teachers are not only preparing for increased potential exposure, but also another potential shutdown of schools. When recounting their experiences from the past two semesters under the COVID-19 pandemic, educators voiced their concerns for students’ work ethic and learning experiences. In addition to this, some educators suggested that online learning allowed them to reach out to their students more efficiently, an observation that seems opposite to those of students feeling disconnected in online classrooms.

The impact on students and student-teacher relationships

For some professors, Zoom classes allow for a more intimate and informal learning experience with their students. According to Dr. Stefanie Nanes of Hofstra University, the shared experience of living and working during the pandemic allows for a sense of understanding between students and teachers.

“There’s an informality to it,” Nanes said via Zoom interview when asked about whether or not remote learning had impacted her relationship with students. “You’re seeing into my living room right now, I can see into your bedroom. I think there’s a shared experience between everyone working online, and it generates a sense of understanding.”

According to a report by ABC News, the initial COVID-19 shutdown forced 55 million students into online learning. Reports by Pew Research Center show that in 2019 more than 25% of homes in the United States did not have consistent Internet access. Photo courtesy of Christ Montgomery, Unsplash.

In contrast, online learning can be a means for students to fall behind in their work. According to Nanes, as of the end of November, some of her students had still not completed incomplete work from the previous semester, when students had been allowed to opt for an Incomplete credit rather than failing classes while transitioning online.

According to Michelle Elder, a world history teacher at Lake George Junior/Senior High School, being online is detrimental to students’ learning experience. She and her husband William Elder, who teaches English and advanced placement language and literature at Lake George, both voiced concerns about students falling behind in their studies while online. By extension, the two agreed that hybrid and social distance learning introduce barriers that make it more difficult for educators to establish relationships with their students.

For some educators, online learning conflicts with their ability to develop strong connections with their students. “This is the first time in my entire teaching career that I haven’t known each student by name, face, and a small blurb about them,” said Alex M. Cutler, a film producer and associate professor at Hofstra University.

Technological issues and safety precautions interfering with learning

For some educators, online learning and social distance regulations have forced them to rethink how they approach teaching and encouraging cooperation between students. For online classrooms, this means adapting to applications like Zoom and Google Meet, and trying to encourage class discussions through breakout rooms and “raise hand” features.

Nanes, who taught a comparative politics course in the spring during the first lockdown, utilizes pre-recorded lectures for her students, encourages student responses to readings and lectures as part of class participation. In the spring, she assembled weekly in-depth videos with informational slides and graphics to discuss lecture material. However, despite teaching in the spring and summer, Nanes says that consistently changing technology, both in applications and in classrooms, impede her teaching.

“I don’t know how to make the VoiceThread videos anymore,” she said, referencing the lecture videos she curated for her comparative politics class. “When I think I’ve figured out the technology in the classroom for my in-person classes, it’s different by the next week, and I’m back at square one.”

Cutler recounted similar technological issues of a time when the website Blackboard experienced a national outage for over thirty minutes of class time, which prevented his students from joining the Zoom lecture through a link on the site.

For educators teaching hybrid courses, formatting the same lessons for online and in-person students is difficult. “It’s a lot of pre-planning things that you always have to think about, and of course you forget things, so you feel behind all the time,” said Elder.

A study published in October by the nonprofit organization Bellweather Education Partners estimated that 3 million of the nation’s most marginalized children could be displaced from both in-person and online classrooms. Photo courtesy of Felipe Schiarolli, Unsplash

For hybrid and in-person classes, educators must also figure out a way to allow students to work together, while simultaneously following social distancing regulations.

“I like group work, I like having kids work in groups, go around the room, use markers at the whiteboard,” said Elder, who in the past has taught the details and nuances of world history using interactive timelines on classroom whiteboards. “Now we have to sanitize everything, and try to do the same group work without moving around.”

All of the educators interviewed for this story commented on how they understood the need for social distancing measures, but they are concerned about students falling behind.

Audrey Vanvlack and Michelle Elder, teachers at Lake George Jr./Sr. High School, talk about their experiences teaching hybrid classes and enforcing social distancing in their classrooms.

Personal issues impacting teaching

“It may sound silly, but I put shoes on every time I teach, even if I’m not leaving the house,” said Cutler, who is teaching his media and the law course at Hofstra University from California.

Where remote students have been going to classes in their pajamas from their beds, educators around the world have had to formulate and restructure lesson plans tailored to a fully-online or hybrid curriculum. For some, this means lecturing to online classes where students opt to leave their cameras and microphones off, letting educators teach with little of the regular engagement from students they’ve grown used to over the years.

“Students may not think we notice, but we can tell when people are dozing off or not listening,” said Cutler. “Our energy and our focus and our attention are very different [when we go to class online]. It requires an intentional decision to switch on and be present. Much easier to do that in a formal setting than in [remote] settings.”

Hybrid teaching also poses personal issues for educators also dealing with shutdowns and safety concerns. Audrey Vanvlack, an English and advanced placement literature teacher at Lake George Junior/Senior High School, commented on how she was balancing her job as an educator with her role as a mother concerned about childcare services. Nanes voiced a similar concern about having access to safe daycare services that work with her need to teach hybrid courses.

Moving forward

For both students and educators, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and most likely will continue to impact learning and teaching. Overall, the general consensus among teachers is that they miss interacting with their students face-to-face without having to worry about safety concerns, and they hope to keep students in school in the future.

Full story available here on Shorthand.