It is an endeavor to understand what we have and will learn about the impact of remote instruction on faculty, students and relevant academic support teams. Simply put: We want to learn from an experiment foisted upon us by a health crisis. We have engaged in an incredibly innovative response. And now, we ask what have we learned? How might we improve? And, most importantly, are there implications from this experiment for the future of instruction at PSU and throughout higher education?
The project was organized around two stages in the Spring 2020 term. Stage One: Out of the Gate: Reflections and Lessons Learned (First half of the term) Stage Two: Reaching the Finish Line: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for moving forward (Second half of the term).
The project began the week of April 20 and continued through June 12. The original plan called for the following participants: (a) ten undergraduate students to put together a group of 8-10 other students to discuss the questions posed in the study; (b) Three graduate students who would assemble 5-7 fellow graduate students; (c) Three tenured or tenure-track faculty, two non-tenure-track faculty and three adjunct faculty, each of whom would form a chat group of 5-7 other faculty to discuss the questions posed in the study. In addition, Judith Ramaley put together a chat group of a dozen student support unit leaders to explore how each unit adjusted as the university moved quickly to remote learning and remote work and then, in a second round, what lessons each had learned throughout the spring term about ways to support students and assist faculty members who were also seeking to help their students
