The Challenges and Opportunities of Remote Learning

How the transition to remote teaching and learning is changing university education for students and faculty

By Michael Dennin

June 4, 2020

Being thrown in the deep end of the pool.

This is what the switch to a remote university environment feels like for many students and faculty.

While there are challenges associated with any sudden change, this particular one is compounded by a litany of questions. What technology do we need? How can we create an inclusive space for learning? How do we manage our time? How can we face the overwhelming pressure and stress of a global pandemic?

However, in the midst of all these concerns, the transition to a remote teaching and learning environment also offers a unique opportunity for faculty and students to change their mental model of what it means to experience university education.

For many people, the foundation of a college education is the lecture. The image of an instructor explaining the material and engaging with students is one that dominates television and movies and forms the basis of most people’s perceptions. In contrast, online courses are too often assumed to be completely self-paced, automated, and devoid of collaboration and engagement.

The focus on the in-person lecture versus the classic view of online courses overlooks many of the key elements of college education and what we have learned about equitable and inclusive teaching. Specifically, the direct comparison between in-person lectures and online classes ignores the fact that college education relies on the individual effort put in by faculty and students alike.

The professor brings their unique experiences to the course, carefully designs it, and breathes life into course materials as they connect with their students. It is the professor’s responsibility to introduce students to the course material and set parameters, learning outcomes, and goals. As a leader in their field and an expert on the subject matter, they must provide the framework for what the student should learn — guiding students as they interact with the material. In a remote setting, this responsibility requires faculty to make themselves as accessible as possible. The challenge here is creating a virtual open door where students feel comfortable enough reaching out for help.

From there, it is up to each student to take the framework offered by their professor and apply it to their independent study. For a traditional in-person course, this means that even after the three hours of guided lecture a student still needs to put in significant work on their own time.

This is where the key struggle for students arises. In a remote setting, students come face to face, in ways that never happen in-person, with the fact that the quality of their education ultimately depends on them. Students can no longer simply show up to lecture and expect to do all their learning in class. Under normal circumstances, this is something the typical student eventually learns, and the experience is often gradual enough that the shock and stress is spread out. However, the sudden transition to remote has forced many students to confront this reality under already stressful conditions. They have to rapidly increase their own levels of proactivity and be more intentional about creating opportunities to interact with each other and the professor to further their understanding of the course material.

To address faculty and student challenges as they transition into this new mode of teaching and learning, it is essential that we offer evidence-based changes that maximize success in this space. In response, we are leveraging the research into online learning and teaching at UCI. For instance, we have moved up the creation of the Online Learning Research Center to offer faculty and students much-needed resources and direction to improve achievement and equity in online learning. Additionally, our Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation has ramped up its online presence, offering virtual workshops that provide support specifically in online pedagogy, as well as general best practices for teaching that create equitable and inclusive classroom environments.

Another priority amidst the switch to remote was making sure that our students had the necessary resources for academic success. To ensure students had laptops and wifi hotspots that met the requirements for remote learning, we established the Student Equipment Loan Program, which offered free equipment loans to low-income students and other students in need. Additionally, we recognized that many students face challenges in finding effective ways to study and experience lectures. In response, we have ramped up programming and support through units such as Student Success Initiatives and the Learning and Academic Resource Center to ensure students have access to evidence-based learning strategies at this time.

As we grapple with this unprecedented educational shift, we all need to learn new skills to adapt and survive. While the way we communicate and connect must change, the fundamental core of what we are trying to achieve remains the same.

Moving forward, this moment will help both faculty and students better define their expectations not only for individual courses but for the overall goals of a college education. Too often quality is defined first from the perspective of what we are most comfortable with and how we expect things to go. When we are forced to work outside our comfort zone, it provides an opportunity to consider old questions from new directions. In the process, we will certainly affirm the things that make the modern university such a powerful engine of social mobility. At the same time, we will deepen our understanding of recent research into pedagogy and the reforms that the research points to. Hopefully, we will come to accept and embrace that excellent teaching requires a diversity of approaches — retaining what works while expanding our tool box with a range of new instruments and techniques.

So yes, the transition to a fully-remote teaching and learning environment is something that both faculty and students will struggle with initially. There will be a period of trial and error. However, if we can look past the most immediate differences between an in-person and remote educational environment, we can take comfort in knowing that our responsibilities haven’t changed — they just look a little different now.

Michael Dennin is the vice provost of UC Irvine’s Office of the Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning, dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education and professor of physics and astronomy.

For student learning resources and support services, please visit http://remotelearning.due.uci.edu/.