The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and transformed education. Faculty members and students alike continue to learn new ways of teaching and learning. To understand this transformation and to promote reflection on teaching and learning, this three-part series of Virtual Symposium events was initiated. These symposia provided invaluable learning experiences and resulted in the current publication highlighting the lived experiences and insights of instructors, students and administrators during this pedagogical transition to online and distance education and provided several important strategies and resources to improve teaching and learning experiences going forward. The three areas of transformation included: 1) Confronting the challenges of the distance/online instructional modality; 2) Taking stock of the changes in thinking about, and practice of, distance/online instruction and learning; and 3) Considering how experiences will shape our practice as we look to the future of teaching and learning.

Cross-Analysis: Main Themes and Takeaways

Four main themes emerged from the cross-analysis of the emergent themes from the pre-symposium surveys and discussions that took place during the three events. The first and most frequently re-occurring theme was supporting the mental health and well-being of both students and teachers. First, participants reported concerns about mental health as they were feeling anxious, overwhelmed, isolated, and experiencing a strong sense of uncertainty in how to support students’ mental health and well-being. Through the progression of the Symposium series, these concerns shifted to gaining concrete strategies fellow instructors implemented to support their students, such as checking in with them, adopting a more flexible pedagogical approach and adapting the course design to meet their needs. These seem to indicate growth regarding a shift in viewing learners as humans first and considering their needs through the creation of a pedagogy of care. Consequently, participants appeared to have gained confidence in their practices in online and distanced teaching education.

Moreover, with time, the themes increasing student engagement and collaboration were solidified as one theme: the importance of building a community. This theme was particularly present in each symposium and it involved instructors’ desire to collaborate with colleagues for support, to decrease feelings of isolation and to promote student interactions to decrease feelings of social isolation from their peers. From one symposium to another, instructors’ efforts to build a community with their peers to improve the learning experience was evident. From insights and suggestions from the keynote speakers, panellists and others, the effort to humanize the experience, for example, became more apparent.

The third overarching theme was changes in pedagogical approaches to improve the learning experience. The nature of this theme started as technical in that it was directed towards learning how to use different online platforms and be flexible in adapting course content to—however this shifted to using online modalities to focus on inclusivity, academic integrity, and being pedagogically flexible. This further broadened by the end of the third event and focused on the shift away from traditional teaching methods to experiential and student-centered learning. This includes personalized learning approaches, meeting students’ individual learning needs, ensuring that additional services are remotely available to students and decreasing barriers to learning to ensure a more human learning experience as ways to improve going forward.

The fourth overarching theme across pre-symposium surveys and events was professional development and opportunities. The initial description of online instruction was frustrating, exhausting, time-consuming, overwhelming, and emotionally draining but was optimistic in recognizing possibilities. Instructors viewed these possibilities as exciting and dynamic, allowing them to develop digital competencies alongside the students, as well as having a diverse space for creativity, innovation and experimentation that transformed their educational practices. Instructors shared strategies and pedagogical approaches they have adopted to mitigate negative factors and continued expressing excitement and optimism about future online teaching experiences.

These events allowed for deep and enriching discussions that improved our understanding of methods to facilitate teaching and learning in distance and online modalities in higher education during the pandemic and the many unprecedented challenges that accompanied it. The sharing of lived experiences from members affiliated with different universities across Canada and abroad proved to be an effective approach to reduce stigma and stereotypes surrounding online and distance teaching which were highlighted in participants’ reflections, to build understanding and to improve knowledge translation.

Particularly, relevant themes from participants’ reflections included the challenges in combating stigma of online and distance teaching and learning, such as stereotypical assumptions among students, fellow colleagues, and post-secondary community at-large, like misconceptions that online and distance teaching and learning is easy. Participants raised the importance of addressing the stigma before examining challenges and emerging opportunities, the changes in instructional practices or student attitudes, and the future of teaching and learning in higher education. Student participants also reflected on their shift in attitudes toward online learning from resistance to acceptance, flexibility, and resourcefulness in the online student environment, with the suggestion that institutions hold virtual training on the use of technology.

The second theme from participants’ reflections was the challenges with isolation and fostering and maintaining social connections among students and with their instructors, especially in large online classes. Strategies to combat isolation, foster and maintain connections included implementing some form of synchronous meetings, whether they are virtual office hours and welcoming and chatting with students before and after a synchronous lecture. Ways of fostering connection between students and instructors included reaching out to students on a regular basis, being flexible and providing motivation, congratulation, and encouragement. Efforts to foster connections among students included implementing group work but not frequently; having an opportunity for students to introduce themselves using a multimedia approach like including an interesting fact about themselves, a photo or video of themselves or an animated Yoki, which can foster interest in each other and find commonalities; and other ways to interact with each other (e.g., discussion board, Padlet, separating students into smaller groups and breakout rooms to facilitate open camera interactions, and other “meet and greet” on Zoom or Teams tool, etc.).

The third theme, and a strategy that participants reported as being important in an online learning environment has been the use of “intelligent agents” in Learning Management Systems (LMS), and the ways instructors have used them to stay connected with students. These included the use of the intelligent agents on Brightspace/D2L to push announcements, updates, and other information to students to keep them updated with the course and their progress (e.g., class progress tool), encourage their efforts, and check-in to ensure that they are not lost in the cyber-world. Instructors can also understand which of the tools students are finding more useful for them. Creativity and novelty seem to be significant. These challenges and strategies seem to propose that instructors and students may not be accustomed to certain innovative ways of teaching and learning, possibly raising the need for reinforcement and collaboration.

The takeaways from these experiences and discussions indicate that the future of higher education following the pandemic could follow a hybrid educational model for its courses. This will focus on supporting the mental health and well-being of both students and instructors (both in-person and virtually), breaking down geographical barriers, and harnessing international relationships to offer greater flexibility and accessibility to students. Additionally, the future of education will involve a shift away from traditional teaching methods as we know it in academia towards student-centered, experiential, and personalized learning approaches to better meet students’ needs and promote a more human learning experience for all students.

However, it is also important to highlight that contextual factors also play a significant role in the future of education. For example, there is a possibility that the challenges participants reported facing may have been related to the urgency with which teaching and learning transferred to the online modality. Perhaps, this would have been different if the transition was not urgent in nature. Additionally, contextual factors related to the pandemic itself such as economic, social, cultural, and political contexts may have influenced the experiences. Therefore, they may not be solely representative of online teaching and learning. Consequently, future exploration would be necessary in the post-pandemic world to gain a greater understanding. Nonetheless, these insights can be used to temporarily empower learners and educators while they navigate changed deliveries, should there be any impending environmental event. Additionally, despite all the challenges that emerged because of the pandemic and the unforeseeable future, the information gained from these events highlight and leverage strengths that our academic community possess as well as their resiliency and optimism towards the future to come, which are commendable.