The Transition from Emergency Remote Teaching to Quality Online Course Design: Instructor Perspectives of Surprise, Awakening, Closing Loops, and Changing Engagement

ABSTRACT

Colleges and Universities across the country closed campuses in March 2020 as the coronavirus spread worldwide and transformed into a pandemic. It became evident when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made recommendations for social distancing that would not allow the return of normalcy on campus for the rest of the semester. Professors and instructors across the world made the transition from their face-to-face classes to emergency remote teaching in one of the most disrupted academic semesters in decades. Students transitioned with their professors into one of the most unprecedented shifts in academia that has ever been accomplished by going completely online in a matter of weeks. The term Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) was coined by the academic community early on to signify the contrast between the quick transition of face-to-face courses to an online platform and a high-quality online education. Expectations for educator traits in this unprecedented time included flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to meet students where they can. With lack of shared governance, institutional administration required faculty to attend professional development trainings and design to develop new online courses to transition their ERT to quality online courses during the 2020 summer months. In this phenomenological dissertation study, seven community college faculty members express their experiences in the efforts they made in transitioning their ERT courses to quality online courses. This study revealed what components of the professional development were impactful and prompted lasting change, and what lessons were learned that should be avoided.