COVID-19's Impact on Educators

Eight months into the pandemic, educators have had to adjust to teaching remotely and under social distancing regulations. For many, the pandemic poses a problem when trying to connect to students, in addition to the multitude of technological issues that arise when trying to teach across several formats.

With an expected rise in cases following the holidays, teachers are not only preparing for increased potential exposure, but also another potential shutdown of schools. When recounting their experiences from the past two semesters under the COVID-19 pandemic, educators voiced their concerns for students’ work ethic and learning experiences. In addition to this, some educators suggested that online learning allowed them to reach out to their students more efficiently, an observation that seems opposite to those of students feeling disconnected in online classrooms.

A blue pie chart on a black background. There is white text above and besides the graph. The text reads, "COVID-19's Impact on Educators" as the title, followed by a short blurb that reads "1.5 million at-risk teachers: social distancing in schools." The paragraphs below that header read "Recent research by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that one in four educators are at an increased risk of serious illness if infected with COVID-19. These include several health conditions include having diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, moderate or severe asthma. The study also reports that teachers sixty five and older are more at risk." A footnote at the bottom reads "24% in this study is equivalent to one point four million people who are likely to be negatively impacted by COVID-19."

Research done by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that around one-fourth of educators may be at-risk of severe health issues if they are exposed to COVID-19. Within this survey group, one-fourth of the sample is equivalent to 1.47 million people.

The impact on students and student-teacher relationships

For some professors, Zoom classes allow for a more intimate and informal learning experience with their students. According to Dr. Stefanie Nanes of Hofstra University, the shared experience of living and working during the pandemic allows for a sense of understanding between students and teachers.

“There’s an informality to it,” Nanes said via Zoom interview when asked about whether or not remote learning had impacted her relationship with students. “You’re seeing into my living room right now, I can see into your bedroom. I think there’s a shared experience between everyone working online, and it generates a sense of understanding.”

In contrast, online learning can be a means for students to fall behind in their work. According to Nanes, as of the end of November, some of her students had still not completed incomplete work from the previous semester, when students had been allowed to opt for an incomplete credit rather than failing classes while transitioning online.

According to Michelle Elder, a world history teacher at Lake George Junior/Senior High School, being online is detrimental to students’ learning experience. She and her husband William Elder, who teaches english and advanced placement language and literature at Lake George, both voiced concerns about students falling behind in their studies while online.

By extension, the two agreed that hybrid and social distance learning introduce barriers that make it more difficult for educators to establish relationships with their students.

For some educators, online learning conflicts with their ability to develop strong connections with their students. “This is the first time in my entire teaching career that I haven’t known each student by name, face, and a small blurb about them,” said Alex M. Cutler, a film producer and associate professor at Hofstra University.

Empty desks in rows in a classroom. Photo courtesy of Felipe Schiarolli.

A laptop is open to a full-screen Zoom meeting, in which there are around twenty five people. Photo courtesy of Chris Montgomery, Unsplash.

A photo of a blackboard covered in white chalk writing and smudges. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Philemon, Unsplash.

A vertical photo of rows of empty school desks in dim lighting.

According to a report by ABC News, the initial COVID-19 shutdown forced 55 million students into online learning. Photo courtesy of Ruben Rodriguez, Unsplash.

A white person in a long sleeve shirt types on a laptop sitting on a table, next to a window that looks out over green trees.

According to Pew Research Center, in 2019 more than 25% of homes in the United States did not have consistent Internet access. An April survey showed that lower-income families often have to use public Wi-Fi to complete work. Photo courtesy of Adrien Swancar, Unsplash.

An individual with curly hair in a bun and glasses faces two laptop screens on their desk. Their back is to the viewer and they are silhouetted by lamp light from the right.

A study published in October by the nonprofit organization Bellweather Education Partners estimated that 3 million of the nation's most marginalized children could be displaced from both in-person and online classrooms. Photo courtesy of Nicole Geri, Unsplash.

A person wearing ripped jeans sits criss-cross on a white sheet. They are surrounded by open books, and a laptop is open in front of them.

According to an analysis from McKinsey & Company, the average student learning online could fall seven months behind academically. For communities of color, Black and Hispanic students could fall nine to 10 months behind due inequity of resources. Photo courtesy of Windows, Unsplash.

Technological issues and safety precautions interfering with learning

For some educators, online learning and social distance regulations have forced them to rethink how they approach teaching and encouraging cooperation between students. For online classrooms, this means adapting to applications like Zoom and Google Meet, and trying to encourage class discussions through breakout rooms and “raise hand” features.

Nanes, who taught a comparative politics course in the spring during the first lockdown, utilizes pre-recorded lectures for her students, encourages student responses to readings and lectures as part of class participation. In the spring, she assembled weekly in-depth videos with informational slides and graphics to discuss lecture material. However, despite teaching in the spring and summer, Nanes says that constantly changing technology, both in applications and in classrooms, impedes her teaching.

“I don’t know how to make the VoiceThread videos anymore,” she said, referencing the lecture videos she curated for her comparative politics class during the spring 2020 semester. “When I think I’ve figured out the technology in the classroom for my in-person classes, it’s different by the next week, and I’m back at square one.”

Cutler recounted similar technological issues of a time when the website Blackboard experienced a national outage for over thirty minutes of class time, which prevented his students from joining the Zoom lecture through a link on the site.

For educators teaching hybrid courses, formatting the same lessons for online and in-person students is difficult. “It’s a lot of pre-planning things that you always have to think about, and of course you forget things, so you feel behind all the time,” said Elder.

"The being in-person is more difficult when there are virtual students as well. You have to balance the attention and work for the online and in-person students, and you have to deal with technological issues, which then leads to using class time trying to fix those issues. That’s the biggest challenge, I would say."
Michelle Elder, history teacher at Lake George Junior/Senior High School

For hybrid and in-person classes, educators must also figure out a way to allow students to work together, while simultaneously following social distancing regulations.

“I like group work. I like having kids work in groups, go around the room, [and] use markers at the whiteboard,” said Elder, who in the past has taught the details and nuances of world history using interactive timelines on classroom whiteboards. “Now we have to sanitize everything, and try to do the same group work without moving around.”

All of the educators interviewed for this story commented on how they understood the need for social distancing measures, but they are concerned about students falling behind.

Personal issues impacting teaching

“It may sound silly, but I put shoes on every time I teach, even if I’m not leaving the house,” said Cutler, who is teaching his "Media and the Law" course at Hofstra University from California.

Where remote students have been going to classes in their pajamas from their beds, educators around the world have had to formulate and restructure lesson plans tailored to a fully-online or hybrid curriculum. For some, this means lecturing to online classes where students opt to leave their cameras and microphones off, letting educators teach with little of the regular engagement from students they’ve grown used to over the years.

“Students may not think we notice, but we can tell when people are dozing off or not listening,” said Cutler. "Our energy and our focus and our attention are very different [when we go to class online]."

He continued, "It requires an intentional decision to switch on and be present. Much easier to do that in a formal setting than in [remote] settings.”

Hybrid teaching also poses personal issues for educators also dealing with shutdowns and safety concerns. Audrey Vanvlack, an english and advanced placement literature teacher at Lake George Junior/Senior High School, commented on how she was balancing her job as an educator with her role as a mother concerned about childcare services. Nanes voiced a similar concern about having access to safe daycare services that work with her need to teach hybrid courses.

Desks are separated by six foot intervals in an empty classroom

Inside a classroom at Lake George Junior/Senior High School, desks are separated by six feet to maintain social distancing, November 2020.

A white, blue, red, and black sign with a cartoon of a person wearing a masks reads: "For our safety and yours, masks required while on the premises."

According to a recent survey by the National Education Association, 28 percent of educators said that the pandemic made them more likely to leave teaching or retire early. Signage at Lake George Jr./Sr. High School reminds students to wear masks, November 2020.

An empty cafeteria, in which there are no tables, but rather desks separated by six feet.

An empty cafeteria at Lake George Jr./Sr. High School, November 2020. The school began the fall 2020 semester with hybrid learning, allowing students to opt to remain online if they chose.

Moving forward

For both students and educators, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted, and most likely will continue to impact learning and teaching. Overall, the general consensus among teachers is that they miss interacting with their students face-to-face without having to worry about safety concerns, and they hope to keep students in school in the future.

High school teachers Michelle Elder and Audrey Vanvlack talk about their experiences with hybrid learning and in-class social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background photos above are courtesy of Felipe Schiarolli (Unsplash), Chris Montgomery (Unsplash), and Jeremy Philemon (Unsplash).

Learn more about COVID-19 and it's impact on small businesses here.