Build on Supportive Technology

During the pivot to online learning, faculty and students struggled to get access to basic technology and learn how to use that technology. A community college student told us, “unfortunately, a lot of faculty weren't equipped to go online….And so…a lot of courses floundered and were eventually dropped or cancelled. And so that was particularly challenging.” One sophomore at a public university said that colleges should give “teachers the resources and the lessons that they need to teach virtually, because especially in March, they just dumped it on them. And a lot of my teachers struggled a lot to figure it all out.”

Research and common sense tell us that any technological tools used to facilitate distance learning must be accessible and intuitive. Students and faculty need support to learn how to use them effectively. Research shows that characteristics like a user-friendly structure and minimal tools and links were associated with better engagement with learning technologies.¹ Other studies highlight the fact that certain design principles help support student agency and empowerment when interacting with technology.² Technological tools include physical technology like computers, webcams, and microphones as well as software like communications platforms such as Zoom, collaboration tools like Slack, or learning management systems like Canvas. But, as with all technology, it is the human element that makes it function successfully. As one researcher put it, “dazzling technology has no value unless it supports content that meets the needs of learners.”³

There are two key elements when deploying technology to support learning. The first is to ensure students can access and navigate technology. The other is to support faculty with access to technology and training to use that technology for teaching.

Ensure students have access to and can navigate the minimum technology.

The digital divide is a fact of life for college students, not just those enrolled in K–12 schools.⁴ As one student at a private nonprofit college put it, “I am absolutely confident, 100 percent sure, that I had classmates that didn't have access to technology, whether that was a computer or internet…[everything from] ‘I don't have a computer at all,’ to ‘my computer suddenly stopped working,’ to ‘I don’t have internet’ to ‘I don't have the best internet to do Zoom calls.’” Another student at a community college said, “I live out in the middle of the country. I didn't have access to Wi-Fi. And here I am having to call into these [classes] and I'm scrambling trying to get a mobile hotspot and ended up buying a whole second cell phone just for the Zoom meetings just to be able to devote the data usage on that phone.” That community college student was not the only one to turn to a phone to support online learning. One senior at a public university shared that “there are definitely students who don't have as much access. And are ending up writing essays and stuff on their phone. One friend told me, ‘I'm getting points off because my formatting is off. And I've tried to explain this to my professor. I can't really fix the formatting on my phone.’” Students cannot participate in their education if they do not have the basic tools to do so.

Students should also be trained on how to use technological tools and these tools should be easy to use.⁵ It may seem obvious, but if students do not know how to use the technology, the experience of online learning devolves into frustration for everyone.⁶ We heard from many students who were frustrated with a lack of training in using the technology that was essential for the pivot online. One sophomore at a state university who was taking hybrid classes pointed out that “the students just need more support in learning the new technology. Learning how to use all these crazy third-party websites. How are we supposed to automatically know how to use this? [Last semester] it was, ‘here's the website, click on it. If you know it, you know it; if you’re having trouble reaching the third party's help desk, don't come to us about it.’” Another sophomore at a community college recommended that colleges “have better resources as to how to teach people how to use Zoom. The biggest issue…is stuff crashing and people not understanding how it works.” Clearly, colleges need to consider the quality of tools and the training around tools to make a quality online experience.

Help faculty understand the tools and technology at their disposal.

In our research, we also heard a high level of frustration with the lack of training for and adaptation from faculty. One junior at a state university who was taking virtual classes said, “our professors did not get good, in-depth training on how to use the necessary technology. I think it was quick and rushed. I have one teacher who doesn't know how to use Canvas—I have to email her every day. It’s ridiculous.” Another senior at a state university this fall said, “even now, a professor I have doesn't understand how to properly use Zoom, and screws up a lot, and he has crashing problems, and file-sharing problems, like the PowerPoint won't update, and he doesn't know how to fix this, and we spend 15 minutes of our hour-long class of him doing technical issues, and then it's like, ‘OK, we didn't get to that, so go teach yourselves now guys, later.’ And that's happened a lot more….You're expecting a lot from professors who aren't technologically savvy in the first place.” Another senior at a public college told us, “I had one instructor who would just post her lecture transcripts onto our student portal, as opposed to recording a lecture, and those notes were not easy to interpret. They were not easy to learn from and l get that she was doing her best and had her own children. I'm not mad about it. It just wasn't an effective way to teach students. Eventually she figured out how to do recordings.” Not only do these failures create frustration, they waste precious learning and teaching time.

For some students, disabilities make it hard to engage in online classes that do not have accommodations. Not only is it the right thing to do for colleges and faculty to ensure that students with disabilities have access to online learning, it is also federal law. One expert told us that some colleges “did not pivot [online] with accessibility in mind, and they were not able to provide a reasonable accommodation to their learners who needed one at that point. A lot of accessibility advocates and allies have pushed for institutions to integrate into their procurement processes, an accessibility check to make sure that the products that they're buying are actually accessible.” A high-quality online experience needs to be accessible to all learners. Faculty should have the support to make this a reality.