Lessons from Listening to Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Using Self-Determination Theory to Contextualize Course Evaluations and Best Practices for Online Teaching

Lessons from Listening to Students: Integrating Student Feedback with Best Practices for Effective Online Teaching during the Pandemic This paper examines the intersection of best practices for effective online teaching from pre-pandemic scholarship with student feedback on teaching effectiveness during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic online teaching best practices addressed cognitive load, knowledge acquisition, synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and the online environment, among many other salient topics. However, pre-pandemic online teaching catered to a distinct audience, specifically an audience that intentionally chose to the benefits and drawbacks of online learning over the benefits and drawbacks of in-person learning. During the pandemic, students had no choice regarding online learning; in fact, the vast majority of them were expecting and hoping for in-person versions of their classes. In other words, not only is the student demographic profile different for the students examined regarding pre-pandemic online instruction than for the students during the pandemic online shift, their motivations for and needs from online learning would be different. This paper explores these points of difference and focuses on productively identifying points of contact. These points of contact can enrich both online instruction and in-person instruction moving forward to post-pandemic teaching.