Can Relational Feed-Forward Enhance Students' Cognitive and Affective Responses to Assessment?

Assessment feedback should be an integral part of learning In higher education, but students can find this process emotionally and cognitively challenging. Instructors need to consider how to manage students' responses to feedback so that students feel capable of improving their work and maintaining their wellbeing. In this paper, we examine the role of instructor-student relational feed-forward, enacted as a dialogue relating to ongoing assessment, in dissipating student anxiety, enabling productive learning attitudes and behaviours, and supporting wellbeing. We undertook qualitative data collection within two undergraduate teaching units that were adopting a relational feed-forward intervention over the 2019-2020 academic year. Student responses were elicited via small group, semi-structured interviews and personal reflective diaries, and were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. The results demonstrate that relational feed-forward promotes many elements of student feedback literacy, such as appreciating the purpose and value of feedback, judging work against a rubric, exercising volition and agency to act, and managing affect. Students were keen for instructors to help them manage their emotions related to assessment, believing this would promote their wellbeing. We conclude by exploring academic strategies and pedagogies that position relational instructor feed-forward as an act of care, and we summarize the key characteristics of emotionally resonant relational feed-forward meetings.

Virtual delivery: a panacea for the financial and ethical challenges associated with physiology laboratory classes?

There has been a gradual shift in the delivery of physiology laboratory classes over the last 30 years. For many, wet-lab demonstrations using animal tissues have been reduced or replaced with student-led investigations where students are both subjects and researchers. Despite these changes, expectations remain that physiology courses should include a practical component to encourage deeper and higher-order learning. Wet-lab tissue experiments and student-based group research formats can be expensive to run, associated with various ethical constraints, and, as discovered in these times of COVID-19, difficult to operate while adhering to physical distancing. We address the proposition that online and/or remote delivery of laboratory classes using digital technologies may provide a solution to both financial and ethical constraints of on-campus laboratory classes. Our discussions, as an international group of 10 physiologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, revealed that although some of the financial and ethical constraints of using animal tissues and student-led investigations were addressed by the introduction of online alternatives, the construction and maintenance of online delivery modes could also be expensive and ethical issues, not previously considered, included digital equity and student data security. There was also a collective perception that if face-to-face laboratory classes were changed to an entirely virtual mode there was a risk that some intended learning outcomes would not be met. It was concluded that the "ideal" approach is likely a hybrid model whereby student attendance in face-to-face, on-campus classes is supported with interactive digital content either developed in house or obtained through third-party providers.

Insights Arising from Virtual Laboratory Experiences of 2020. A Focus on Financial and Ethical Challenges of Face-to-Face and Online Physiology Laboratories

Ten physiology educators from Australia, U.K., U.S.A. and Canada, shared reflections of experiences through the rapid transition from on-campus face-to-face physiology laboratories to a remote online mode in response to the COVID-19 associated restrictions of 2020. Although not a primary focus of the reflection study, our discussions prompted an important question: Does a switch to online laboratories solve the financial and ethical issues typically associated with face-to-face physiology practicals? Over the last 30 years there has been a notable shift in the mode of delivery of physiology laboratories. Classical wet-lab demonstrations on-campus using animal tissues have gradually been phased out or replaced by student-led group investigations where students are both subjects and researchers. Whilst some physiology departments have managed to retain classical physiology laboratories, others have yielded to financial and ethical pressures to reduce or replace the use of animal tissues in face-to-face and on-campus wet-labs with alternate laboratories including online and remote delivery using emerging digital technologies and innovative methods such as virtual reality. Despite the gradual changes, expectations are that physiology courses should include a practical laboratory component, and, up until early 2020, such classes were typically hosted face-to-face and on-campus. Our discussions as an international group of physiologists revealed that despite our enthusiasm for retaining physiology laboratories as an important component of the curriculum, there are financial and ethical issues that arise from their inclusion. In mid-2020, we reflected on these issues as our students participated in remote physiology laboratories accessed off-campus. The financial pressures and ethical obligations of keeping on-campus laboratories have, in some cases, surmounted the financial capabilities of institutions. What eventuated from these discussions is that many of us will continue with a hybrid model of physiology laboratories with some face-to-face on campus laboratories supported with interactive digital content.

Physiology educators’ attitudes, experiences and recommendations after an abrupt transition to remote laboratories

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with university lockdowns, forcing physiology educators to pivot laboratories into a remote delivery format. This study documents the experiences of ten physiology educators from Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. as they rapidly transitioned to remote laboratories in March-July, 2020. They wrote reflective narratives that explored their experiences and attitudes about virtual laboratories before, during and after the transition to remote delivery. Thematic analysis of the reflections found that before COVID-19, few of the educators had utilized virtual laboratories, with most believing that virtual laboratories could not replace the in-person laboratory experience. In response to university lockdowns, the educators transitioned from traditional on-campus, in-person laboratories to off-campus, remote laboratories within a week or less. This transition was mainly achieved by using commercially available online laboratory software, home-made videos and sample experimental data (collected before COVID-19). Opportunities associated with the remote transition included new collaborations (local and international), the exploration of unfamiliar technologies and revisiting the laboratory course curriculum and structure. However, the experience also generated challenges including excessive workloads, lack of expertise, disparities in online and workspace access, academic integrity issues, educator/student stress, changes in learning outcomes and a perceived reduction in student engagement (particularly due to the loss of educator-student and student-student interactions). Despite these challenges, most of the educators planned on retaining successful aspects of the remote laboratories post-pandemic, particularly with a blended model of remote and in-person (on-campus) laboratories. This study concludes with recommendations and practical strategies for physiology educators as to how they can plan, develop, deliver and assess effective remote laboratories.

International educators' attitudes, experiences, and recommendations after an abrupt transition to remote physiology laboratories.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered university lockdowns, forcing physiology educators to rapidly pivot laboratories into a remote delivery format. This study documents the experiences of an international group of 10 physiology educators surrounding this transition. They wrote reflective narratives, framed by guiding questions, to answer the research question: "What were the changes to physiology laboratories in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?" These narratives probed educators' attitudes toward virtual laboratories before, during, and after the transition to remote delivery. Thematic analysis of the reflections found that before COVID-19 only a few respondents had utilized virtual laboratories and most felt that virtual laboratories could not replace the in-person laboratory experience. In response to university lockdowns, most respondents transitioned from traditional labs to remote formats within a week or less. The most common remote delivery formats were commercially available online physiology laboratories, homemade videos, and sample experimental data. The main challenges associated with the rapid remote transition included workload and expertise constraints, disparities in online access and workspaces, issues with academic integrity, educator and student stress, changes in learning outcomes, and reduced engagement. However, the experience generated opportunities including exploration of unfamiliar technologies, new collaborations, and revisiting the physiology laboratory curriculum and structure. Most of the respondents reported planning on retaining some aspects of the remote laboratories postpandemic, particularly with a blended model of remote and on-campus laboratories. This study concludes with recommendations for physiology educators as to how they can successfully develop and deliver remote laboratories.