High School Teachers vs. College Professors vs. COVID

(Research Paper wrote for PRL 3180, Spring 2021)

ISSUE BACKGROUND:

For the past thirteen months, America and the rest of the world have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic. On January 21st, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first United States COVID-19 case (A). A couple months later, the Trump Administration declares the issue a national emergency, followed by California being the first state to issue a mandatory stay-at-home order (A). In the month of September, there were one million global deaths, with an additional 40 million confirmed global cases in October (A). Good news finally arised on December 14th, 2020 as the first US person received a COVID vaccine (Meet).

However, as the timeline presented above may seem simple, it has not been for those who are essential workers, such as teachers in the classrooms. With the rules and regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing of 6ft, and the exponential growth of coronavirus cases, schools around the country began to panic. In March of 2020, students of Belmont University were sent an email stating that spring break was going to be extended a week, followed by two weeks of remote learning. As the pandemic worsened, president of the university, Dr. Bob Fisher, stated that all students living on campus needed to return home and that the rest of the semester were to remain online. As for high school students in Wilson County, these same measures were taken, causing a multitude of questions from parents to arise.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:

As many students, teachers, and other individuals are living through a worldwide pandemic for the first time, many things are unknown. Following the issue of high school teachers versus college professors teaching during COVID-19, there are many differences that people may oversee. For example, the Wilson County School district tries to keep parents informed about hybrid learning almost daily via their Facebook page. However, Donna Wright, the Director of Schools, is constantly met with parents complaining that either their child needs to be in the classroom learning or that it is unsafe for them to be crammed in a small space. At the beginning of the semester individuals were given the option to have their child completely online or have them in person twice a week (broken up by A-K and L-Z last names).

On the other hand, Belmont University continues to go out of their way to take every precaution to still have students get face to face interaction with professors. With the options of: Hyflex (in person one day a week), Synch Online (Zoom calls only), Asynch Online (no Zoom calls), and In Person Required, there are many different ways to prevent crowds of students to be on campus/in the classroom. A “symptom tracker” email is also sent out every morning to Belmont faculty, staff, and students, in order to keep up with those who are showing signs of having COVID off campus to prevent others from being infected. After a two week quarantine and/or two negative tests, those who had symptoms may return to the classroom.

Circling back to the differences between high school teachers versus college professors teaching during the pandemic, there are a multitude of variables to analyze. Strengths held by Belmont University is their dedication to still having in person instruction for a majority of the students with a very effective plan in place regarding safety measures. Professors are even going out of their way to provide office hours, along with still teaching for the entire class period. As for Wilson County Schools, their strengths come from keeping parents informed well by posting on their social media with every update, such as when the school board officials are having meetings regarding decision making.

Weaknesses, however, are easy to find in a time of a worldwide pandemic. Being a top private college, Belmont University’s tuition is a little steeper than most for undergraduates. Currently, students are not paying any sort of “lowered tuition” rate compared to regular in person classes. This factor has no doubtedly reduced the number of individuals choosing this school to get their degree, putting universities at risk as they thrive off of those wanting to receive their degree from there. When it comes to students that are having to pay with student loans or using their own money for online classes, individuals may feel they are not getting the same opportunities. High school teachers on the other hand, are already earning such a low salary even before the pandemic, that an all online schedule does not give many the motivation to teach for an entire class period or create the same lesson plans they usually would. Students at the high school level may not be getting all the information they need in order to succeed when it comes to ACT testing which could potentially threaten their ability to apply for certain scholarships or college.

Threats that may come from the college and high school experience through remote learning may be less students enrolling for higher education, not graduating on time or at all, and loss of funds to schools. At a private college, such as Belmont University, tuition can be steeper than other colleges. During a time where most classes are being held virtually, many students may opt for a cheaper alternative to take essentially the same classes in order to graduate. According to belmont.edu, enrollment at Belmont dropped 3% during the 2020 semester (All). From having 8,100 students in 2019 to 7,800 full-time students in 2020, this college is just one of the few that saw a decline in numbers.

Although many may not be able to see positivity in a worldwide pandemic, a few opportunities can arise. Examples of good that can come of COVID is more individuals able to potentially go back to school to finish their degree virtually, those who suffer from anxiety might find online classes simpler, and some can even use this time to excel their graduation progress. Personally, I have benefitted from a year of virtual learning as I was on track to graduate in May 2023, but with the ability to add more classes to my schedule online, I will be graduating in December 2022.

SECONDARY RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS:

By utilizing COVID-19 procedures such as a daily symptom tracker like Belmont University and engaging individuals to be prepared for their future during an entire class period, Wilson County School might be able to better help not only students, but parents as well, while schools are having to switch to remote learning. While Belmont students are having to pay tuition in order for their degree, high school students need to be state test ready in order to be ready to go into the mindset of higher education after graduation.

OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT:

Teachers all across the world are experiencing different situations when it comes to COVID-19. Being considered an “essential job” during a pandemic, remote learning was the only solution for such a giant dilemma. However, not many have addressed the issue that there are significant differences in the ways high schools and college universities are dealing with these changes.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS & METHODS:

Data will be collected through a series of interviews, a focus group, and a survey. Research questions will include the following:

1. Question of Policy

   1. Question: “What do you think high school teachers could do in order to help students during remote learning?”

   2. Method: Qualitative research research through interview.

2. Question of Definition

   1. “What is the biggest difference between a high school teacher and college professors when dealing with remote learning?”

   2. Method: Qualitative research research through interview.

3. Question of Fact

   1. Question: “Do you feel that you are receiving the same education as you were in person?”

   2. Method: Quantitative research through survey.

POPULATION:

The population that will be used to conduct this research is a group of high school students, a group of undergrad Belmont students, a parent of a high schooler and college student, a high school teacher that is 100% remote, a high school teacher that teaches in person, and a college professor.

SECONDARY RESEARCH & PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Teachers all across the world are experiencing different situations when it comes to COVID-19. Being considered an “essential job” during a pandemic, remote learning was the only solution for such a giant dilemma. However, not many have addressed the issue that higher education, such as college professors, are having to deal with this as well. In this research project, the research question that we are seeking to answer is the question of definition, “what is the biggest difference between a high school teacher and college professors when dealing with remote learning?”

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD:

In order to conduct qualitative research, I conducted in-depth interviews with three individuals and created a focus group consisting of two people. These people were specifically chosen to help answer the question of definition, “what is the biggest difference between a high school teacher and college professors when dealing with remote learning?” Using qualitative research to conduct these interviews helped gain deeper knowledge on opinions and thoughts about teaching in a pandemic.

SAMPLING:

I organized in-depth interviews with three different individuals: two high school teachers and a college professor. I also created a focus ground that included a parent of both a high school and college student and a highschooler. The following teachers were selected as I have personal relationships with them resulting in a convenience in interviews, while the parent and highschool student are blood relatives. Four of these interviews were able to be in person, following COVID-19 guidelines such as social distancing, while one interview was conducted over Zoom. All participants were asked a range of questions made from a guideline created as the researcher and gave full participation.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS:

Before I started my research, I sent out an informed consent form via Word Document [item 1 in the Appendix] for participants to read, date, and sign. I then moved onto creating an interview guide [item 2 in the Appendix] based on the individual I was interviewing that contained direct questions, transitional phrases, and probes. When interviewing a teacher or professor I asked a series of questions that included: “How has remote learning changed or affected the way you teach in a classroom?”, “Do you feel as connected with your students on a personal level?”, “What are some strengths and weaknesses about remote learning?”, and “How have your student’s grades changed?” Probes I included throughout my interview guide consisted of patience, time management, and friendships as I thought these were key points to hit when talking about my research project.

When interviewing my focus group, I slightly changed my interview guide [item 3 in the Appendix] by including questions such as, “What is the biggest difference between the way teachers/professors are communicating with students?”, “What are some of the good outcomes from dealing with COVID as a parent and as a high school student?”, and “How has the school district/university president dealt with COVID and the care they have for students?” Probes I included in this portion of the interview guide were accountability, communication, and respect, as I thought this interview would slightly differentiate between the interviews with teachers.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DATA COLLECTION:

I conducted an in-depth interview with three individuals: a male high school teacher that is 100% remote learning, a female high school teacher that has been able to go back to teaching in person, and a female college professor. I also included a focus group consisting of a dad with a high school and college student, and his son, a freshman high schooler. The data was collected through a recording on Otter, an app that allows recordings to be transcribed in real-time. My first interview [item 4 in the Appendix] was a 23 minute interview that consisted of 3,907 words, my second interview [item 5 in the Appendix] was 23 minute interview with 4,262 words, while the third interview [item 6 in the Appendix] was 22 minutes long with a word count of 4,256. My focus group interview [item 7 in the Appendix] was 20 minutes with 3,035 words.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ANALYSIS:

I analyzed the data through the constant comparative method by reading through the transcript from my interviews and determining categories for what participants said, memoing or describing the categories, and giving quotes or emic language used by the individuals. To start, I created categories that I felt would be the most discussed topic throughout each of my interviews, followed by making memos that went more in depth about finer detailed phrases said by the participants [item 8 in the Appendix]. For example, I created a topic titled “Remote Learning” with memos underneath it saying “Seem to struggle or is easier.” To ensure reliability and validity, I used a coding process called intracoder reliability, where as the researcher I go through the transcript and create categories, memos, and provide examples of emic language. After this, I repeat the process to compare the similarities and differences between the two coding attempts [item 9 in the Appendix].

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH RESULTS:

After conducting the coding process, out of six categories the relationships between students and teachers was talked about the most. When creating my categories, I based the topics off what was most important during the times of dealing with a worldwide pandemic that no one was prepared for, especially teachers. The themes tie together as “Remote Learning” is a result of “COVID,” while “Relationships,” “Grades,” and “High School vs. College” are all related to things happening inside the classroom. However, “Personal Thoughts” was a last minute category as I realized that within my “Relationships” category, the individuals I interviewed had personal hardships in their own mental health separate from relationships with students/teachers.

With relationships being one of the most discussed topics, one of my interview participants stated, “There's so much that rides on building relationships with students, especially in my classroom, and the relationships that I build with students is so much a part of the classroom culture,” which I felt this statement perfectly described one of my main ideas for this research project as a whole. Interviewing teachers that are having to deal with learning how to deal with hybrid schedules was heartbreaking to listen to. When asked if relationships with students were better, the same, or not great, one interviewee said, “If they want to be connected, they'll connect. Then I've got kids that, you know, who are not going to connect with you regardless.”

On the topic of COVID-19, this was my second most talked about topic. As my entire project revolves around this worldwide pandemic, I knew this category would be one mentioned several times. The statement that hit the most to home was, “I try to think of something good in everything. But COVID is a different story.” Every interviewee mentioned that having a hybrid schedule was difficult at first, and that like many others, are ready for things to be back to in-person. In one conversation, an individual elaborated more on his thoughts for the fall semester,

“You know I know there's still people who say we'll still need to wear

a mask later on and everything and I understand that. I think the fall

semester we have already offered the Virtual Learning Program for the Fall.”

With a pandemic like the one we are in, there are so many days and months of uncertainty to come. No one knows what will happen next. Whether that be May or September, it’s hard to imagine how the next semester will turn out. During the process of coding transcripts, the topic of remote was mentioned fairly often as well. The individuals I talked to all seemed to consistently say how frustrating the whole transition has been. Teachers are nervous if they’re a state tested course or upset because they are having to change their usual lesson plans.

On the subject of being a tested course, several schools are having to change the way high schoolers are tested, affecting some students and the way they learn. When talking to a high schooler in my focus group, he mentioned that when registering for classes he only had the option of regular class or AP, no honors classes were being offered. From personal experience, I always chose to take honors because the environment of students that actually wanted to learn was much more enjoyable than a class full of those who didn’t. A high school teacher I talked to was telling me about the new college credit class they offered, however according to him, “Mount Juliet last year had 550 kids take it, better 500. 5 kids passed it.” Grades and test scores are not what they were pre-pandemic.

When thinking back to the question of definition, (“what is the biggest difference between a high school teacher and college professors when dealing with remote learning?”) one interview sentence stands out the most saying, “...from outside looking in, it seemed like, not that they were better prepared, but they reacted quicker, like they were able to execute the change quicker than the high schools.” I felt that this statement was the exact answer I was hoping for throughout my entire project and really enjoyed hearing that Belmont University was being recognized for the good things they have done over the past year. Hearing this statement after another individual said that their classes consisted of, “...get there, take attendance, they left, and we did our work,” really solidified the reasoning for this subject of research.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS:

As the entire theme of this research revolves around the topic of COVID-19, unfortunately a pandemic such as this is one of the few limitations I faced. After conducting three in-depth interviews and a focus group consisting of only two individuals, as a researcher I could have organized more interviews to create more data. To create the ideal research would include a focus group of high school students and a focus group of college students to accurately represent my population. Because of this variable, I feel that I did not meet the point of redundancy. Although after the final interview I gave, it did seem that I was starting to receive the same emotions. Most importantly, due to COVID restrictions, it was a bit harder to get a big enough group of high school and college students in order to create another focus group or two. However, I was able to ensure validity by coding my two documents, getting a Holsti’s intercoder reliability of 92%

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Based on the previous qualitative research, conclusions I have made regarding my research is essentially: everyone is struggling. Students aren’t meant to retain information by teaching themselves, teachers are missing face-to-face interactions and relationships with their students, and parents are frustrated with the constant inconsistency. In a year of situations that have never happened before, it wasn’t possible for anyone to be ready for something. No one was prepared. Recommendations I have after completing this portion of research is patience, understanding, and compassion. Not only do students and teachers need to have patience amongst each other when it comes to turning assignments in and getting grades back, but parents also need to be understanding that even high school administration and college university presidents know just as little as they do. In a time of constant change, everyone is trying to achieve the most they can with the resources available.

SECONDARY RESEARCH & PROBLEM STATEMENT:

To summarize: Teachers all across the world are experiencing different situations when it comes to COVID-19. Being considered an “essential job” during a pandemic, remote learning was the only solution for such a giant dilemma. However, not many have addressed the issue that higher education, such as college professors, are having to deal with this as well. In this research project, the research question that we are seeking to answer is the question of definition, “what is the biggest difference between a high school teacher and college professors when dealing with remote learning?”

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD:

To further my research after completing qualitative research through a series of in-depth interviews and a focus group, I decided to gather quantitative research. By creating a survey with questions based on the individual taking it, I was able to collect data with considerably more people.

SAMPLE & DATA:

The population of individuals I sampled ranged from high school students, college students, and teachers/professors. The method of using a nonprobability sampling strategy was used as it is a quick, inexpensive, and simple way to reach more people within my demographics.

The survey was distributed via the Belmont University Class of 2023 Facebook page, throughout a local highschool, and was emailed directly to a number of high school and college teachers.

In total, 48 surveys were started, while 34 were completed and used, meaning 14 surveys had to be removed from the study due to incompleteness.

Participants in the study consisted of 6 high school students, 21 college students, and 6 teachers/professors. Of these participants, 7 were male, 24 were female, and two participants preferred not to say. In this survey, I had 1 college seniors, 3 college juniors, 12 college sophomores, and 4 college freshmen, while I had 2 high school seniors, 0 high school juniors, 1 high school sophomore, and 3 high school freshmen. Out of the teachers/professors that took the survey, 5 said they were hybrid, while the other two did not specify otherwise. Teachers/professors ranged from 25-54 years old, college students ranged 18-34 years old, and high school students ranged 14-18 years old.

INSTRUMENT/IMPLEMENTATION:

The survey I created [item 11 in the Appendix] was made via Qualtrics and contained three different sections based on the individual completing the survey. Before participants were even allowed to start the survey to begin answering questions, an informed consent statement [item 12 in the Appendix] was created to let individuals know that by checking “Yes I consent” meant they agreed to have their answers used in this research project.

The first 11 questions for both teachers and students were identical, (minus wording such as “I feel my teacher” and “I feel my students”) Likert scale statements. All participants were also prompted with 3 nominal questions at the end. In addition, only college students received a fill in the blank question to state what their major was, and only teachers/professors got another nominal question asking if they were a hybrid, 100% remote, or in-person teacher [item 13 in the Appendix]. Some examples of Likert scale statements were “I feel that my students are learning the same as they would in person”, “I feel that I have a close relationship with my teacher/professor”, “Remote learning is hard on my mental health”, and “I feel eager to participate in class over Zoom”. Nominal questions included “What is your classification?”, “What is your age?”, and “What is your gender?”. I implemented this survey by posting the link in the Belmont Facebook group page, sending the link to high school students, and emailing the link to teachers/professors.

ANALYSIS & RESULTS:

To begin analyzing the results of my survey data, I uploaded my survey in SPSS and started by running a reliability test on each individual section: high schoolers, college students, and teachers. My first Cronbach’s alpha test for high school students yielded a score of .656, or 66% [item 14 in the Appendix]. College students yielded a .651, or 65% score [item 15 in the Appendix], while teachers yielded a .662, or 66% score [item 16 in the Appendix].

Next in my data analysis, I decided to run a series of correlation tests. For my first test, I wanted to see how the correlation between the two Likert scale questions: “I feel that I am getting the same education as I would in person” and “I put in the same amount of effort into my assignments” [item 17 in the Appendix]. This test, using the surveys provided by high school students yielded a correlation coefficient of .541 which is a moderately, positive pairing, which suggests that about half of the participants agree that they are not putting in the same amount of effort into their assignments, and feel that they are not still getting the same education.

For my next correlation test, I was curious to see the significance between the Likert scale questions, “It is easy to communicate with my teacher outside of class hours” and “I feel I have a close relationship with my teachers/professors” at the college level [item 18 in the Appendix]. Before completing this test, I had a prediction that with the high amount of college students that stated they had a good relationship with their professors, that my correlation would be high for these two questions paired together. However, my correlation coefficient yielded a .279 score which is a weak, uphill relationship. This answer suggests that although students have a good relationship with their professors, this does not necessarily indicate that it is easy for them to reach them after hours which was shocking to see.

For my last test, I wanted to see the correlation between two Likert scale questions from the survey given to teachers: “I feel that my students are learning the same as they would in person” and I feel that my students have better test scores through remote learning” [item 19 in the Appendix]. These two questions yielded a .600 correlation coefficient score, meaning that there is a strong, uphill relationship. With this being the highest correlation score so far, this tells me that teachers agree that their students are not learning the same and that their test scores are not better through remote learning. Taking a look at the survey data in a bar graph also confirms this statement [item 20 in the Appendix].

LIMITATIONS:

As a result of every research project comes limitations. After conducting my quantitative research, one limitation I encountered was not having a sample size representative of my ideal population. My project was created to explain the differences between high school teachers and college professors dealing with remote learning, however my data only contains answers from high school teachers/students at Wilson Central and college professors/students at Belmont University due to convenience. Only having surveys from these two locations does not even begin to answer how everywhere else in the world is dealing with COVID-19 in the classroom. Another limitation I encountered was not having generalizability. Because I did not have a probability sample or external validity, this research is not generalizable. However, even though I wasn’t able to have external validity, I was able to have content validity by having my surveys reviewed by expert peers.

As I previously mentioned that my research had content validity, I was in fact not able to have reliability. According to social science research, in order to have reliability, one must yield a Cronbach’s alpha score of 70% or higher. Because I separated my survey data into high school students, college students, and teachers/professors, I had a fewer number of survey questions to receive data from. Breaking this data up yields reliability scores of 66%, 65%, and 66% which does not allow me to say that my research is entirely reliable.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

After conducting and gathering my data from my surveys, I have come to the conclusion that in order to get through the hardships of remote learning, we have to listen and be understanding. According to the results of my surveys, out of 27 high school and college students, 20 of them said they felt like they were not getting the same education as they would in person. 19 of the 27 stated that remote learning was hard on their mental health. A worldwide pandemic such as COVID-19 has not only affected our teachers, but also our students. Teachers can help our students by being more understanding that not only are they in your classroom all day, but in other teachers' classrooms as well. This variable paired with a potential bad home life can really take a toll on a child or young adult.

A recommendation for students is to understand that our teachers are human too. Teachers are dealing with the pain of not seeing their kids in a classroom everyday, building those lifelong relationships with them. Surveys stated that college and high school students are not putting in the same amount of effort into their assignments, which not only affects their learning for future, but teachers who count on students' test scores at the state level and want to see them excel in higher education.