From emergency to sustainable online learning: Changes and disparities in undergraduate course grades and experiences in the context of COVID-19

The abrupt transition to online instruction has created an opportunity to improve models of online instruction. We investigated changes in student grades and experiences during emergency online learning (spring 2020) and sustainable online learning a year later (spring 2021) relative to a pre-pandemic in-person semester (spring 2019). We examine variation in outcomes by student sex, first-generation college student status, and ethnic-minority status to understand the consequences for educational equity. For students enrolled in four undergraduate courses at a U.S. research university, we combined student survey responses (N = 1290) with registrar records (N = 2375). We found that students received higher grades on average during emergency online learning, but the transition to sustainable online learning significantly exacerbated the achievement gap for ethnic-minority students. While the overall course experience improved going from emergency to sustainable online learning, we found differences between identity-based groups. Overall, historically disadvantaged students experienced lasting negative effects following the disruption. Student experiences and learning outcomes should therefore be monitored and supported to avoid exacerbating educational inequities during prolonged periods of online learning.