RAPID: Student and Instructor Perceptions, Attitudes, and Emotions Surrounding Online Spaces and Institutional Supports during a Pandemic (COVID-19)

In response to COVID-19, higher education institutions moved to online formats. This research aims to explore issues surrounding challenges and inequities faced by students and instructors at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The project design consists of surveys and semi-structured interviews. Surveys will include measures of attitudes (e.g., belonging, compassion), motivation, and emotions, along with questions about instructional and institutional supports, resources, and challenges. Interviews will focus on the experiences of students and faculty respondents from a variety of diverse backgrounds, and will include think aloud protocols with survey items, questions regarding perceptions of institutional and instructional practices and responses, needed supports, and follow up questions based on survey data.

Results from this research will inform issues tied to the digital divide and will indicate institutional and instructional strategies, supports, and communication that are most versus least effective, informing recovery from this pandemic and future planning to mitigate inequities in learning opportunities and institutional resources at 2- and 4-year HSIs.