Emergency Remote Learning

Emergency Remote Learning (ERL)

The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic created unprecedented levels of stress and instability for students and professors alike. With growing financial fears, supply issues, and overall chaos, students' emotional needs were changing. Dr. Whiteside and Ensmann examine that in this study and employ the Social Presence Model (SPM) as a guiding framework. By focusing on the student experience of remote learning, the importance of connectedness, adaptability, and relationship cultivation became quite clear in the face of students deep anxieties. Ultimately, compassion, empathy, and flexibility will be ever more important to the academic system.

Meet the ERL Team

The Social Presence Model (SPM) was coined by Dr. Whiteside in 2007. It focuses on a modality of essential, overlapping elements. These include Affective Association, Community Cohesion, Instructor Involvement, Interaction Intensity, and Knowledge and Experience. Social Presence means participants’ motivation to take an active role in their own and their peers’ meaning-making processes (Whiteside, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017).

Focusing on the University of Tampa, a private, midsized university in Tampa, Florida, the researchers conducted a survey using a mix of Likert scale and open ended questions. The dean of students provided a link for the Qualtrics survey to every student and they received 711 responses.

The study concluded the depth of student's anxiety is much higher than originally anticipated. Teachers need to foster higher levels of empathy and interconnectedness to bolster student motivation. Through the SPM model, teachers can gain better tools to prepare students for the challenges they encounter at the university level, as well as help preparedness for future, potential emergencies.

Ensmann, S., Whiteside, A. L., Gomez-Vasquez, L., Sturgill R. (2021). Connections before curriculum: The role of social presence during COVID-19 emergency remote learning for students. Online Learning Journal 25(3), 36-56. https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/2868.

Ensmann, S. Y., Gomez-Vasquez, L., Sturgill, R., & Whiteside, A. L. (2021). A pandemic case journal of one higher education institution. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 21(3), 19-23. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1289266.