Surfing a Steep Learning Curve: Academics’ experience of changing teaching and assessment due to COVID-19

Abstract

A four week assembly-ban was declared in March 2020 in order to protect the Icelandic population from the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that the academic staff of the University of Iceland (UI) had to replace on-campus teaching with online teaching, while all vocational and clinical activities were suspended. Some UI academics had experienced digital teaching already, but for many this meant facing a steep learning curve. This paper examines how academic teachers dealt with a sudden shift in their teaching practices during COVID-19.

The research context is a significant network created at the postgraduate diploma Teaching Studies for Higher Education at the UI. There, three academics experienced the unprecedented role of simultaneous teaching and learning during COVID-19. Parallel, a learning process took place where different experiences, stories and reflections were shared which permitted these academic colleagues to act as critical friends. They took notes and applied their learning to their courses while supported by each other and their supervisor.

The data for this study derive from Q&A notes as well as from shadowing logs from teaching observations within the significant network. Secondary data consists of interactions and emails from students, student evaluations of teaching (SET) as well as email correspondence of the UI Rector to academic staff during the pandemic. The data reveal that despite being pushed outside their comfort zone in many aspects of teaching, interactions and technology, the teachers managed to fulfil different roles and the experience became a drive towards improvement in their teaching. Their experiences show the implications of COVID-19 for future teaching at UI. Finally, the study emphasizes the importance of peer-learning, peer support and feedback from colleagues in professional development when the learning curve is steep.