In the final week of the Spring 2020 semester, Elif and I collected anonymous survey results in our class Introductory Dynamics (TAM 212). This was the semester disrupted halfway through by COVID-19. Students reported that their biggest challenges were feeling disconnected from other people in their courses and staying engaged and enthusiastic. They also liked live lectures and having two professors, and they weren’t in favor of online exam proctoring. This class had 407 students and there were 68 survey responses (17% response rate). Read on for the details.
Biggest challenges
We asked a series of questions under the prompt:
What were your biggest challenges with online/remote courses in general (not just TAM 212)?
The answer scale ranged from “not a challenge” to “big challenge”:
While half of the students didn’t have technology problems, about 5% reported that this was a big challenge and another 45% had some degree of tech issues:
Somewhat more of a challenge were living arrangements:
A majority of students reported that working together with friends was a challenge, indicating that they had not managed to re-establish their normal working relationships remotely:
On the whole students were still able to access help from course staff, although 10% reported that this was a big challenge:
Most students reported some challenges with staying organized and on track with deadlines:
By far the biggest challenges faced by students were issues around feeling disconnected and engaged. A huge 53% of students reported that feeling disconnected from others in their class was a big challenge, and a further 35% reported some level of problem with this:
Connected with the above, 41% reported that staying engaged and enthusiastic was a big challenge, and a further 49% reported some difficulty with this:
Course features
In the course conducting this survey (TAM 212: Introductory Dynamics) we used live lectures (recorded for later viewing) with two professors, we held synchronous unproctored exams, and we replaced the normal group-work discussion sections with TA-led presentations. We asked students about these aspects of the course under the prompt:
What is your opinion on the following items?
The answer scale ranged from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”:
Students were strongly in favor of live (synchronous) lectures rather than pre-recorded lectures:
They were also strongly in favor of having two professors in each lecture:
There was a roughly even split between students who would like some points as a motivator to show up to lectures and those who don’t want this:
There was general support for having synchronous quizzes and exams:
Students were strongly against online proctoring of exams:
There was generally low enthusiasm for requiring group work during discussion sections, although this is similar to the responses we get for this question in normal face-to-face semesters:
Freeform comments
We also asked students a number of open-ended questions, starting with:
What is something that you think worked well in TAM 212 online?
By far the most frequent comments related to liking live lectures with two professors. Students also frequently commented on having clear structure and schedule and a focus on student engagement and support. A typical response was:
The live lectures really helped me. It was nice to have two professors during the lecture because when one was lecturing, the other could answer questions. Also, live lectures in general helped me to keep a schedule and be more motivated to get things done.
— Anonymous student comment
Following on from the previous question, was also asked about problems:
What is something that you think could have been done better in TAM 212 online?
The most common response was that discussion sections and office hours with TAs did not work as well they did when face-to-face:
I liked that most parts of the course remained the same and in some ways even improved. The only challenge was that office hours were not quite as helpful as it’s much easier to talk to a TA in person, but I’m not really sure how to improve that. It was a challenge that every class faced after going online.
— Anonymous student comment
Finally, we asked about advice that students had for us:
If courses like TAM 212 have to be online in Fall semester, what advice would you give us to make sure it works for all students?
One very good suggestion that I plan to follow up on relates to using a queue system (likely Queue@Illinois) for facilitating one-on-one help from TAs and CAs:
My CS101 class had office hours held over Discord, where students would ask questions in a queue and CA/TAs would answer by moving students into a chatroom to answer questions 1on1. The 206 advisors utilized the queue in a similar manner and I think it would be very useful for TAM 212 to consider using as well, given the large class size and diminished opportunity for 1on1 help.
— Anonymous student comment
Education at Scale 