Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on field instruction and remote teaching alternatives: Results from a survey of instructors

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution Vol. 10; no. 22; pp. 12499 - 12507
• Main Author: Barton, Daniel C.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution; Biology; Community colleges; Core curriculum; COVID-19; Data collection; Ecological effects; Education; faculty survey; field instruction; Field study; Graduate students; Informed consent; Learning; Pandemics; Pedagogy; Polls & surveys; remote teaching; Soil sciences; Teachers; Teaching; Zoology; United States > US; field instruction; remote teaching; pedagogy; faculty survey
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6628

Education in ecology and evolution often utilizes field instruction to teach key learning outcomes. Remote teaching of learning outcomes that have been traditionally taught in the field, necessitated by the COVID‐19 pandemic, presents unique challenges for students, instructors, and institutions. A survey of 117 faculty conducted during spring 2020 revealed substantial reduction of learning outcomes typically taught in the field, and frequent substitutions of less active and more instructor‐centered remote activities for field activities. The survey revealed generally negative instructor views on many remote teaching substitutions, yet also showed several approaches that instructors regarded as more effective, despite potential challenges with equitably teaching them. I suggest several models of remote substitutions for traditional field teaching of identification, field techniques, data collection, and study design in the context of the results of this survey. Remote teaching of learning outcomes that have been traditionally taught in the field, necessitated by the COVID‐19 pandemic, presents unique challenges for students, instructors, and institutions. A survey of 117 faculty conducted during spring 2020 revealed impacts to and potentially effective substitutions for field teaching appropriate for remote teaching modalities.