Have We Learned Everything the Pandemic Has to Teach Us?

Credit: iStock.com/Rawf8
Credit: iStock.com/Rawf8
I know two faculty members who are top-of-the-line teachers. I’ve seen them teach and interviewed students in their courses. They are two of the best. Even so, both struggled mightily with online teaching during the pandemic. “For me,” one of them reported, “online teaching demands everything I do poorly and nothing that I do well.” The other one noted, “My students put up with some of the worst teaching I’ve ever done. I owe each and every one of them an apology.”

To continue reading, you must be a Teaching Professor Subscriber. Please log in or sign up for full access.

One Response

  1. This article raises a lot of really great questions, and I just wanted to point out an article (that I wrote with several colleagues) that tries to answer some of them. Using data on 7 intermediate-level economics courses taught at four different institutions, we compared standardized assessment outcomes in Spring 2020 with those in the same courses in a previous semester. We found huge variation in the differences across courses with students in some courses performing about the same as when the course was entirely in-person and big declines in performance for other courses. We found that students did better online when they had instructors with more experience teaching online and when their courses incorporated substantial peer-to-peer interaction. We also found that gaps between students that existed pre-pandemic (e.g., by gender or race) did not get exacerbated by the pandemic. Here’s the full paper published in Economics Letters FYI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109812

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

I have two loves: teaching and learning. Although I love them for different reasons, I’ve been passionate about...
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but what if it’s also the best first step to...
Higher education has long recognized the value of Socratic dialogue in learning. Law schools traditionally adopt it in...
After 35 years in higher education, I continue to embrace the summer as a prime opportunity to strengthen...
Last month I wrote about how students fool themselves into thinking they have learned concepts when they really...
If you’ve ever hesitated to offer feedback to a colleague for fear of creating tension or hurting a...
When I first began teaching online, I thought creating engaging and relevant content was the biggest challenge. And...

Create a free account, or log in.

Gain access to limited free articles, news alerts, and select newsletters

Login here

Get unlimited access to The Teaching Professor

Stay informed. Subscribe Now.

WELCOME OFFER

$19.00 $14.00/month

for your first 6 months. Use coupon code TP6MO.

$19.00 thereafter. Cancel anytime.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of The Teaching Professor

You only have  free article views remaining.

WELCOME OFFER

$19.00 $14.00/month

for your first 6 months. Use coupon code TP6MO.

$19.00 a month thereafter. Cancel anytime.