Institutional Supports for Student Experiential Learning in Hybrid/Remote Learning Contexts

ABSTRACT

Students' experiential learning in out-of-class involvements encompasses a significant part of their engagement and professional development in college. The covid-19 pandemic has challenged the delivery of these experiential learning opportunities, requiring student affairs professionals to significantly adapt their programming to continue serving students in ways that accommodate social distancing guidelines, in-person event capacity limits, and remote participants. While research has investigated online learning in classroom contexts, less is known about the implications of a virtual learning environment on engagement in experiential learning. This study addresses the following research question How are student affairs professionals adapting their programs and services to support student engagement in response to the covid pandemic? This study captures how student affairs professionals at a large Midwestern research university have adjusted programming and engagement efforts to maintain key elements of experiential learning in hybrid and remote learning contexts, where students' engagement ranges from entirely on-line to various combinations of partial in-person and online participation. The Midwestern university transitioned from predominantly residential to fully online during the spring 2020 semester and then allowed students to choose whether to continue fully online or return to campus for a hybrid learning environment in the fall 2020 semester. This study draws on Schlossberg's transition theory to examine how student affairs professionals transitioned programs and services in the 2020-2021 academic year to respond to the covid-19 pandemic and the associated changing safety guidelines. Facing unique challenges in this varied, constantly changing environment, student affairs professionals described three key elements of successful program and service adaptations (1) a focus on student needs, (2) collaboration across student support units, and (3) creativity and innovation in approaches to engage students. Through thematic analysis of interviews with 13 student affairs professionals (including student organization advisors and administrators, student programming coordinators, and student support specialists), research findings provide further insight into the challenges and opportunities presented in adapting experiential learning to hybrid and remote formats. Research findings will help inform ongoing efforts to craft hybrid and remote student programming and services that support and engage students in these unprecedented times. These findings can also inform the development of student support programs for the growing body of online students in higher education. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021