Designing Learning Environments That Support Diverse Students' Needs in a Teacher Education Program

Literature Review

Institutions of higher education (IHE) located in rural America were particularly faced with unique challenges transitioning to the remote offering of courses this past Spring 2020. Faculty may ask themselves, what are our students learning? Most college and university instructors focus on student learning outcomes and less on students’ experiences as they matriculate through the program (Sande et al., 2021). The abrupt presence of COVID-19 and the sudden requirement to change business as usual prompted faculty to consider not only the content and presentation of content to students but the context in which students ultimately acquire knowledge and skills. What is important is students' preparedness and experiences of actually navigating the higher education system without always relying on faculty intervention. The two things that were evident during the transition: the critical role of the student-faculty meeting in person and the lack of faculty and students' preparedness for the sudden shift to remote engagement (Sande et al., 2021). Overall, faculty need to be armed with tools to work with students irrespective of the conditions or situations that face them. That preparation will include a toolbox of best practices in teaching and learning for both remote and face-to-face instruction.