The spring of 2020 will not be the semester that goes down in history as an example of higher education at its best. In mid-March, the novel coronavirus forced colleges and universities to pivot from in-person course delivery and traditional on-campus experiences and thrust them into a modality of remote instruction.
Many amongst the educators—and those being educated—complained and grumbled. “Students aren’t engaged,” or “I can’t tell if they are cheating” were among the most-common refrains from faculty. “Our education management platform and I don’t get along” was another. As we quickly found out, students were dissatisfied with the caliber and content of the remote teaching, too. To a great extent, much of these complaints from both sides could have been avoided had the change need not have been required, in essence, overnight.
