COVID-19 AND THE TRANSITION TO ONLINE LEARNING

Fourth-year veterinary students participating in the community connections rotation online.

Learning at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels looked much different as the CVMBS adapted to COVID-19.

This information comes from “Transition to Online Learning Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Undergraduate Programs,” by Courtney Adams, and “The CVMBS’s Graduate-level Adaptations to COVID-19,” by Ashli Villarreal.

In the summer of 2020, the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVMBS) Executive Committee was interested in documenting the impressive ways the college met the need to deliver online-only instruction throughout the spring 2020 semester due to COVID-19. To do so, emails sent out by Texas A&M, CVMBS, and the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program; syllabi updates on Howdy; and a series of interviews conducted with instructors available to discuss their transition to online learning were collected and integrated to present a holistic picture of the CVMBS’ transition.

Most communication about restrictions originated from the university-level and was reiterated at the college and departmental levels to include directions for adapting to the restrictions. These communications began at the end of February 2020 when it first became evident that COVID-19’s impact would reach the United States. By the middle of March, it was clear that to protect students, faculty, and staff, dramatic changes to the CVMBS’ operations would also be needed, quickly.

During spring break, all university classes were postponed twice as faculty and staff transitioned to online-only instruction, electing to make their courses synchronous or asynchronous and to either virtually monitor exams or not.

Students returned from spring break on March 23 to online classes.

Although many courses have been offered predominantly online for years, a difference exists between designing a course for an online environment from the start and moving a traditional, face-to-face course online in the middle of a semester. This transition caused instructors to see a wider distribution of grades in their courses than usual.

Despite encountering feelings of disconnect from students, having difficulty creating discussion among students, dealing with confusion about S/U grading, and teaching tactile components of courses remotely, the switch to virtual learning for the year went well overall.

Instructors reported that the spring was an opportunity to reflect on teaching methodology, create community in their classes, and dabble in video editing and production to learn new skills they otherwise would not have the opportunity to explore.

Some instructors felt that the students who were already going to perform well were able to adapt fine and performed as such; the students who were going to struggle were not able to adapt as well and struggled more.

Dr. James Herman described the performance in his pharmacology course as a little worse than normal and said that it quickly changed to a bimodal distribution; he suspects that several students had more pressing things going on which diminished their motivation for his class.

Dr. Kevin Curley explained that some students in his classes attributed performance challenges to stress, anxiety, and feelings of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

According to Dr. Michelle Pine, most of her students expressed mixed feelings about the transition while only one student was incredibly angry. Some liked the transition because, with nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, they were forced to study; others reported a need for an external motivator.

To build community, some instructors relied on the rapport that they and their teaching assistants (TAs) had with students to keep them engaged and on track. Together, they used Facebook groups, Slack channels, and GroupMe chats that were either already in place or were set up after spring break. Many TAs recorded videos reviewing the material for students and answered questions quickly in these chat environments.

Dr. Yasha Hartberg created a folder on his eCampus class site titled “Little Corner of Light.” Each morning, he would find a video, or other resource, that was uplifting or inspiring and link it in this folder. The purpose of this folder was two-fold; the resources were to benefit his students but they also were for himself. He received a lot of positive feedback from students saying they looked forward to viewing whatever he had chosen each day and now he is considering continuing the eCampus folder.

Undergraduate instructors largely reported overcoming most of the challenges. Dr. Herman said it best when describing the transition as a responsive solution to the situation but not best practice. For some classes, especially lab-based classes, the challenges may have outweighed what went well, and many instructors look forward to returning to a face-to-face learning environment with students.

The transition provided a chance to use online material as supplemental material for future semesters, an opportunity to self-reflect on one’s own teaching methodology, the opportunity to create a community, a chance to dabble in video editing and production, and realizing the notable resilience of students.

Overall, Hartberg speaks positively about the transition to online learning because of the pandemic. “[It] adds another level to my teaching,” Hartberg said. Dr. Brad Weeks also echoed that same positivity. “The course ended up being rather well-received despite the confusion and upheaval,” Weeks said. Feb. 28 - The first significant impact of COVID-19 on Texas A&M: the cancellation of Spring Break education abroad trips to Italy and the requirement for anyone returning from a Level 2 or 3 country to self-isolate for 14 days.

March 2 - All undeparted education abroad trips to level 2 or 3 countries are cancelled and all programs in China, Italy, and South Korea are asked to return.

March 9 - Texas A&M University-sponsored travel outside the U.S. is cancelled through May 1.

The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (VET) is called on to assist with the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital’s (VMTH) operations. With the VET’s help, the VMTH moved to curbside-only service in just a few days.

March 12 - Classes cancelled for the week following Spring Break as faculty and staff work to move all classes to online delivery.

Many faculty and staff cancelled their own vacation plans to help organize the move to online classes and online testing for the remainder of the spring semester. Advising and other staff offices move to remote work and virtual meetings only.

March 19 - First positive COVID-19 case at Texas A&M identified in a student.

March 20 - Two more Texas A&M-associated individuals test positive for COVID-19, including someone connected to the CVMBS.

With tours cancelled, the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVMBS) ambassadors played a large part in the VMTH’s response to COVID-19. Starting in March, the ambassadors assisted with client check-in, parking lot coordination, and even worked as runners. They would later begin hosting virtual tours and Q&A sessions for prospective students and visitors.

March 21 - Students allowed to elect whether their classes are graded S/U for spring semester.

TIMELINE OF TEXAS A&M

COVID-19 COMMUNICATION

A graduate student taking an online course remotely.

Professors such as Dr. Yasha Hartberg changed their class structure after realizing their classes could not seamlessly transfer online; tactics included altering class flow or moving to project-based learning to improve student engagement.

Graduate Courses

At the graduate level, BIMS program coordinator Dr. Ashley Gustafson Seabury and her team worked hard to communicate with the graduate students. The team put together three resources—emails, newsletters, and town hall meetings—to make sure the students received the material they needed.

The other program coordinators—Dr. Christine M. Budke, Kim Daniel, and Dr. Barbara Gastel—all supported their graduate students throughout the transition, whether by encouraging them to conduct research safely, proactively checking their wellbeing, or helping them obtain much needed assistantships throughout the summer.

The move to the online-only model had its ups and downs. Dr. Gastel reported that her classes transitioned fairly smoothly, but others experienced challenges adapting their class. One completely changed their class structure from exam-based to project-based to improve student engagement.

Faculty and staff reported the need to constantly check in with students to ensure they were successfully transitioning. Daniel found herself asking more of the instructors rather than simply providing them with information during the transition. She asked the instructors to keep an eye on the students and, if the instructors thought a student was having problems, pass information along to Daniel who would take the appropriate measures.

To gauge how the students in the program were doing, Daniel set up individual Zoom meetings early in the process of transitioning to remote teaching. “We were worried because many of them are separated from their families, as graduate students, and not able to go back to their homes,” she said. “We just wanted to be sure that everyone was mentally OK.”

One of the main challenges at the graduate level was the research labs and when they were allowed to be open. The initial county-wide shelter-in-place order was vague regarding research, so Seabury sought answers for students who were unsure whether they were allowed to continue their research.

When the state-wide shelter-in-place order was issued, Seabury sought for more answers, as this second order was more strict. Faculty were required to apply to keep their laboratories open so she facilitated them in this endeavor and kept track of which labs had been approved and which had not. When additional cleaning practices were required, she helped faculty navigate the wording of the order and determine what practices were required for them.

Seabury and her team were especially concerned with the international students. “They have different stressors because they’re here, and they couldn’t go home even if they wanted to because of all the changing visa rules and closed borders,” she said. “So, we engaged with them and made sure to connect with them to see if they needed any assistance.”

Because of the multitude of ways that Seabury reached out to students, she acknowledges that none of it would be possible

without virtual meetings. She hopes that campus administrators recognize the value of virtual meetings and will keep offering virtual options after the pandemic.

Dr. Weston Porter, professor in the Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS) department, had a unique solution to issues in his cancer cell biology course. Despite concerns, he first simply moved the class to Zoom. To minimize student stress, he did not require his students to leave their cameras on. However, he observed that students were not participating much and decided to stay online at the end of a lecture to see how many students did not log out of the session, an indication that they were not paying attention.

“About two-thirds of the students pretty much walked away from their computers. It was then that I knew this wasn’t working. Nobody was engaged,” Porter explained.

After this discovery, Porter brainstormed how he could adapt the class. He reflected on his enjoyment of listening to podcasts during a recent road trip he took with his family and he thought of a solution: creating a podcast-based assignment. He decided to assign three students to each remaining lecture and each group of students was required to “present” a podcast during their lecture. He emphasized that this was not meant to be a presentation but rather a conversation between the students about their lecture topic.

The podcast format kept students engaged. They began asking questions at the end of the podcasts, and all the students logged off immediately at the end of class. Even more importantly, students said they liked the new format.

Conclusions

Some of the biggest challenges were logistical. Even things as seemingly basic as student access to Wi-Fi proved to be an overarching issue. Other suggested improvements to create a more seamless online learning environment included providing CVMBS-tailored teaching resources for instructors and a streamlined method for instructors to consolidate answers to students’ questions.

Faculty and staff also quickly learned that over-communicating can become as big of a problem as lack of communication, and that creating efficient methods of communication, which flow both directions, was vitally important. In addition, a central location for this information to be referenced was also of critical importance.

At both levels, the transition to online learning went better than was reasonably expected but across the board, faculty, staff, and students seem eager to return to in-person learning and consider it the most effective means of instruction, especially at the CVMBS. Although some hurdles associated with online learning have yet to be overcome, the transition prompted the discovery of effective teaching methods that would otherwise remain unexplored - some of which instructors may continue to implement even after transitioning back to a face-toface learning environment. No date - The worldwide community of veterinary colleges came together to support their educational efforts. For example, the Center for Educational Technologies (CET) shared online resources with 33 universities around the world.

March 26 - Summer I classes directed to switch to online delivery.

April 3 - All summer courses directed to operate online only.

May 6 - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Graduation ceremony held virtually.

May 8 - Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) Graduation celebration held virtually.

May 29 - Announcement to changes in the fall schedule. Classes are to begin a week earlier than normal, on Aug. 19, and end prior to Thanksgiving.

June 1 - The CVMBS was one of the first CVMs in the country to bring fourth-year veterinary students back for face-to-face instruction, with students returning for clinics on June 1.

June 9 - Face masks required on Texas A&M campuses starting June 15.

July 20 - Texas A&M’s COVID-19 reporting process is implemented.

July 27 - COVID-19 testing is available MondayFriday for students, faculty, and staff.

Aug. 7 - Indoor spaces for reservations have a revised occupancy; outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people need mayoral/ county judge approval prior to consideration for Texas A&M approval. Remote meetings, speakers, and events are strongly encouraged.