Minoritized students’ experiences with pandemic-era remote learning inform ways of expanding access.

Abstract

COVID-19 increased problems of access for students, particularly for students who experience diverse dimensions of minoritization in the university (e.g., first generation [FG] to college, students of color, low-income). Here, access refers to institutional policies and practices that offer equitable learning and educational opportunities. To date, limited research has focused on how minoritized students grappled with challenges of access during their day-to-day experiences of pandemic-era remote learning. The present study fills this gap by documenting how minoritized undergraduate students navigated challenges related to access and how, in community with others, they leveraged strengths to expand opportunities for access. Fifteen undergraduate seniors-the majority of whom identified as FG, low-income, and/or students of color-participated in in-depth interviews during their first term of pandemic-era remote learning. The results illustrated how remote learning both limited and broadened four areas of access: learning space, learning materials, course participation, and social connections and community. We documented how flexible and collaborative practices with instructors, peers, and family provided a powerful approach to strengthening access to learning across all four areas. The results provide critical insights, as shared by students themselves, on how institutions of higher education can reduce longstanding and new inequities and invest in strategies for expanding access. Such insights are timely for continued learning in remote instruction and for consideration of long-term practices as we shift back to forms of in-person learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)