The Impact of Transitioning to Emergency Remote Instruction on Perceptions of Preparation, Institutional Support and Teaching Effectiveness

In the Spring term of 2020, nearly 90% of higher education institutions in the United States were forced to transition from primarily face-to-face (F2F) instruction to various modes of remote or online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. State-funded colleges and universities in Georgia were mandated to do the same in April of 2020, which led to a system-wide hiatus in face-to-face instruction while instructors prepared to return to all-remote teaching. This study examined the effects of this transition to Emergency Remote Instruction (ERI) at six institutions in Georgia, using a survey completed by 910 instructors who made that transition in at least one course in the Spring term of 2020. 65% of the instructors taught remotely or online for the first time after the transition. Instructors reported accessing a variety of institutional, collegial, and internet resources to aid in the transition, leading 53.4% of them to express that they were adequately prepared for ERI. Once classes resumed online, instructors found themselves to be needing much more time for remote instruction than their previous F2F instruction. From a one-word summary description of their experience, instructors reported that it led them to be challenged, stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted.