Online Learning Continues Even With In-Class Instruction

Although students at Washington State University returned to campus this fall, technology and many of the remote teaching strategies used during the pandemic are likely here to stay.

When students left campus in March of 2020, W-S-U already had many of the technologies in place to transition to online learning. Their biggest challenge was switching educators to remote instruction, says Dave Cillay, WSU vice president for Academic Outreach and Innovation; “We had almost 1,000, faculty members go through some type of training. Some are well versed in the tools already, and they wanted just some tweaks to what they already knew. Others were beginning from scratch.”

Now that students are back in-person, many are continuing to see more flexible learning options than before the pandemic, and the ability to interact with classmates using technology. Cillay says, “Students were responding and commenting and connecting. In the large lecture hall class[es], I couldn’t necessarily do that.

Video recordings mean that students are now able to watch their classes online, even if they missed attending in-person. Some students in large classes have also found Zoom lectures to be more engaging because of the ability to talk with other students via the chat function.