Rapid Transition to Online Teaching: Capturing Chemical Engineering Faculty Strategies, Challenges, and Successes from Spring 2020

In Spring 2020, academia took part in an unintentional experiment as universities cancelled in-person classes across the world. Faculty were forced to move their courses online, and in many cases without access to their campus facilities. In an effort to capture this rapid transition to online teaching we conducted a nationwide survey of chemical engineering faculty at U.S. ABET-accredited institutions. In this talk we report on the timeline of transitions across institutions, types of courses transitioned, and faculty’s self-reported descriptions of their course “before” the move to online teaching, and their plans for online teaching. Results comparisons based on characteristics such as institution type (research-intensive, primarily undergraduate, etc.), faculty rank, and demographics to shed further light on how different groups responded to and may have been affected by this transition are considered. Faculty’s ultimate execution of their plans, with an emphasis on highlighting challenges and triumphs, are also included. As the academic landscape undoubtedly shifts with recent events, we hope these results will provide both valuable reflective insight into how our community managed these unique circumstances as well as predictive insight into managing future challenges.