STEM Courses During the COVID Pandemic: Lessons from Spring 2020

The abrupt transition to remote instruction in response to COVID posed significant challenges for both students and instructors. This report provides data on the prevalence of the different kinds of challenges students faced and the ways in which low-income and minoritized students were differentially affected by the shift to remote instruction. It also describes the nature of STEM courses in spring 2020 as they were taught at a distance from the perspectives of both students and instructors. The report offers findings from two research activities conducted concurrently. It discusses a survey of a nationally representative sample of over 650 undergraduates who were taking STEM courses that included in-person meetings when they began and had to switch to entirely remote instruction. It also includes qualitative descriptions of 28 STEM courses offered by nine institutions, based on interviews and focus groups with students and instructors.