'Beyond emergency remote teaching: did the pandemic lead to lasting change in university courses?' by Broadbent, Ajjawi, Bearman, Boud and Dawson in (2023) 20(58) International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education comments
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted traditional methods of teaching and learning within higher education. But what remained when the pandemic passed? While the majority of the literature explores the shifts during the pandemic, with much speculation about post-pandemic futures, a clear understanding of lasting implications remains elusive. To illuminate this knowledge gap, our study contrasts pedagogical practices in matched courses from the pre-pandemic year (2019) to the post-pandemic phase (2022/2023). We also investigate the factors influencing these changes and the perceptions of academics on these shifts. Data were gathered from academics in a large comprehensive Australian university of varying disciplines through a mixed-methods approach, collecting 67 survey responses and conducting 21 interviews. Findings indicate a notable increase in online learning activities, authentic and scaffolded assessments, and online unsupervised exams post-pandemic. These changes were primarily driven by university-guided adaptations, time and workload pressures, continued COVID-19 challenges, local leadership, an individual desire to innovate, and concerns about academic integrity. While most changes were seen as favourable by academics, perceptions were less positive concerning online examinations. These findings illuminate the enduring effects of the pandemic on higher education, suggesting longer-term implications than previous studies conducted during the acute phase of the pandemic.
In 2020 and 2021, higher education institutions globally had to modify curricula and pedagogy due to the COVID-19 pandemic (UNESCO, n.d.). This rapid shift became commonly known as ‘emergency remote teaching’ (Hodges et al., 2020). Emergency remote teaching (ERT) involves unplanned, quick adaptation, often using existing technology and resources, and with emphasis on preserving instruction rather than enhancing learning quality (Watermeyer et al., 2021). This type of teaching is distinct from online learning, which is a thought-out approach designed for online delivery and is considerate of learners’ needs and preferences (Hodges et al., 2020). During this emergency phase, face-to-face classes were stopped or transferred online to lessen COVID-19 risks (Crawford et al., 2020; Johnson et al., 2020). Class assessments moved online, activities requiring specific locations or equipment were disrupted, and students had to work more independently, regardless of their self-regulation skills (Bartolic et al., 2022a; Slade et al., 2022). Many academics felt ill-prepared for the changes that transpired (Sum & Oancea, 2022) and reported concerns that teaching quality suffered during this time (Weidlich & Kalz, 2021).
COVID changed teaching and learning practices in a profound manner. For example, a consortium comprising nine institutions from around the world investigated changes to teaching and learning during the early stages of the pandemic, collecting data from 4243 students, 281 instructors, 15 senior administrators, and 43 instructional designers (see Bartolic et al., 2022a, 2022b; Guppy et al., 2022a, 2022b). This body of work showed challenges faced in ERT (Guppy et al., 2022a), including the modifications in assessment approaches corresponding to the digital shift (Bartolic et al., 2022a) and student vulnerabilities and confidence in an online learning environment (Bartolic et al., 2022b). However, are these findings a question of a momentary disruption and a return to the previous status quo? Or does the pandemic represent the kind of external shock that fundamentally changes the landscape? Funding bodies report substantial challenges for teaching and learning innovations to have long lasting impacts (Kottmann et al., 2020). What is interesting about the pandemic is that it forced change across all levels of the university all at once, and this may prove to be a useful lesson for understanding how educational change itself can unfold in different circumstances. Therefore, it is important to ask what, if anything, has been retained and why.
In a systematic review from 2023, Imran et al. analysed 68 studies on blended and online teaching modes, aiming to identify emerging themes in learning modes from the post-pandemic era. Notably, of the studies they examined, only a handful were conducted in the recent post-pandemic years of 2022 and 2023. Among the few that were, none compared pre-pandemic conditions to the post-pandemic environment nor centred their analysis on data highlighting shifts in teaching practices from the viewpoint of educators. Instead, a significant portion of these studies offered mere speculations about the future in the aftermath of the pandemic. This led the authors to emphasise a noteworthy gap in the literature, concluding that “future research should focus on the long-term effects of COVID-19 on teaching modes and the resulting changes in curriculum development” (p. 8). Echoing this sentiment, Kerres and Buchner (2022) noted that much of the current research predominantly centres around the pre- and mid-pandemic phases, with scant attention paid to post-pandemic impacts. They argue that despite the plethora of available research, “it is still difficult to grasp a clear picture of the effects of the pandemic on education in the various sectors of education worldwide” (p. 6). This ambiguity primarily stems from the dearth of data concerning educational transformations in the post-pandemic world.
The current research intends to delve deeper into the post-pandemic aftermath than previous studies. We explore the elements from the pre-pandemic era that were retained and what adjustments made during the pandemic persisted, if any. Further, using ecological systems theory as a framework, we explore which factors at the individual, faculty/discipline, university and outside the university contributed to retain changes. This will enhance understanding into how educational change occurs and may allow universities, faculties, and academics to tackle the challenging problem of sustaining change to teaching and learning practices.
