2023 BEA On-Location

During the peak of the Covid crisis, academic programs across the country quickly pivoted from face-to-face to online instruction to serve the needs of our students. The global pandemic’s lingering effects have not been all bad, as institutions quickly realized that much of the content we teach can be delivered successfully in a wide range of modalities: in person and online, synchronously and asynchronously, in shorter 8-week bursts or traditional full-semester courses. Faculty members who once only taught face-to-face learned to deliver content using a range of new technologies and teaching techniques. Student populations have also shifted, with many institutions eliminating standardized entry exams (ACT, SAT), expanding undergraduate access to previous under-served and under-represented communities, and many students staying closer to home. How are assessment teams pivoting in concert with expanding delivery methods, and what effect are these changes having on student learning outcomes? This panel examines some of those effects, such as: • Whether students who transfer (from community colleges or regional campuses) fare the same as students accepted to four-year institutions as freshmen, • Whether the course’s delivery method (8-week v. 16-week, face-to-face v. online, synchronous v. asynchronous, etc.) affects student scores on key learning outcomes, and • Whether International students have as much success in introductory journalism/media classes as those based in America
Panelists: Laura K. Smith, University of South Carolina-Columbia
Nina Brook, Univ. of South Carolina-Columbia
William Hanff, University of the District of Columbia
Teresa (Terry) Filipowicz, Pima Community College, Arizona