RAPID: Collaborative Proposal: Effects of Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Faculty and Students Across STEM Disciplines

Education and Human Resources - The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in unprecedented, nation-wide disruption of academic institutions. As a result, there is an urgent need to understand the acute effects of this disruption on undergraduate STEM education in the U.S. This project will examine experiences of faculty and students resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent institutional changes. Initiated during a time of uncertainty, this project will: (1) capture the ephemeral nature of undergraduate education experiences before national recovery milestones are achieved; and (2) inform efforts to adapt undergraduate STEM education during crises. The project team will collect data about institutional characteristics and crisis communication messages, as well as about experiences of individual faculty and students. These data will be analyzed to identify pathways through which the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced teaching and learning within undergraduate STEM education. The findings of this project will be used to develop actionable recommendations for institutions of higher education, including crisis communication strategies, guidelines for pedagogy in times of crisis, and checklists of resources. As the STEM workforce plays a critical role in the economic health of the U.S. in normal and disaster situations, this effort to rapidly collect data and learn from this situation will contribute to the security and well-being of society. It is expected that the results will also support a more resilient, globally competitive next generation of STEM workers.

The project?s specific aims are to: (1) examine teaching and learning experiences of undergraduate faculty and students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) examine the effects of faculty and student reactions on undergraduate STEM teaching and learning; and (3) leverage findings to develop actionable recommendations for colleges and universities to best prepare and protect their faculty, staff, and students and the integrity of undergraduate STEM education. The goal of these activities is to answer key research questions: How do institutions? COVID-19 policies influence faculty and student attitudes, perceptions, and behavior related to STEM teaching and learning? What teaching and learning resources were most important for undergraduate STEM faculty and students? How do these effects on undergraduate STEM education develop over time? Given the rapidly changing nature of the situation, individual-level data that are needed to answer the research questions are inherently ephemeral. Faculty and students are unlikely to accurately later recall the extent to which they were able to adapt to changes, the extent to which changes created distress, and how they coped with events. Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, faculty and students from a stratified random sample of representative institutions will be recruited to participate in an online survey and semi-structured interviews conducted across three time points. Grounded in the research literatures of crisis communication, organizational science, and disaster management, this project addresses gaps in undergraduate STEM education research related to faculty and student reactions to disruptive contexts, characteristics of institutions that make them resilient toward disruptive contexts, and institutional learning from disruptive contexts. The findings will be disseminated to institutions of higher education and through a public web site relating to the resources most critical for fostering resilience among faculty and staff when adapting to a disrupted educational context. In addition, participating institutions and individuals will receive customized reports and resources. By evaluating the immediate impact of COVID-19, this project aims to enhance the undergraduate education infrastructure, improve the delivery of STEM education during and after disruptions, and help to protect the well-being of faculty and students collectively experiencing this crisis. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Education and Human Resources Directorate), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.