Jennie De Gagne, professor, has been awarded grant funding from Duke Learning Innovation (DLI)'s Carry the Innovation Forward: Realizing Duke’s Post-Pandemic Future program. The title of De Gagne's project is “A Systematic Review of Zoom Pedagogy: Digital Divide Revisited in the COVID-19 Era."

Abstract

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have been pressed to alter their instructional modalities to keep the learning moving forward. Teachers and students have quickly adapted to remote learning, transitioning from a physical classroom to virtual learning. Unlike in online learning, where teachers and students deliberately choose to teach and learn online, in remote learning, neither of the parties plan nor elect to teach or learn this way (SUNY, 2021). Synchronous virtual lectures via Zoom or a video conferencing tool (hereafter Zoom pedagogy) have become the main tool to supplement face-to-face lectures. However, despite this innovative technological solution, the experience of Zoom pedagogy can be daunting and even frustrating. This stressful learning environment, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, can be challenged further by the digital divide if left unaddressed. Thus, using the systematic review methodology, this proposal aims at examining the barriers and facilitators to Zoom pedagogy perceived and experienced by health professions students from the lenses of the digital divide, digital equity, and digital inclusion to guide pedagogical and curricular updates. The outcomes of this project will be to expand the current literature on inclusive pedagogy, develop a set of instructional strategies, and explore possible alternatives to Zoom pedagogy in order to better meet the needs of a diverse student population.