{"id":6817,"date":"2023-04-10T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ele.local\/?p=6817"},"modified":"2023-09-27T10:50:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T15:50:59","slug":"the-role-of-digital-learning-in-academic-disruption-lessons-from-ucfs-experience-with-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everylearnereverywhere.org\/es\/blog\/the-role-of-digital-learning-in-academic-disruption-lessons-from-ucfs-experience-with-hurricanes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role of Digital Learning in Academic Disruption: Lessons from UCF\u2019s Experience With Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being in a region prone to hurricanes, the University of Central Florida is used to dealing with academic disruption and has well-documented emergency plans. If there\u2019s any advantage to hurricanes, it\u2019s that they typically give plenty of advance notice that UCF needs to set up its experienced 24\/7 Emergency Operations Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like being stalked by a turtle,\u201d says Thomas Cavanagh, Vice Provost for Digital Learning at UCF. \u201cYou watch it for a week and a half as it gets closer and scarier, so you can prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurricane Ian in September 2022 was one such slow-moving disaster that disrupted academic operations at UCF. It caused catastrophic wind and flooding damage in surrounding communities, and it was one of the deadliest on record, killing over 150 people in the state.<\/a><\/p>\n

The UCF campus itself had almost no damage from the storm, so, in theory, as soon as the power and internet service were restored, classrooms and other facilities were available to function as normal. And, since online courses are stored in a datacenter far from Florida, UCF could also, in theory, immediately resume instruction.<\/p>\n

Even so, classes at UCF were suspended for a week, which illustrates how off-campus disasters can cause on-campus \u2014 and online \u2014 disruption.<\/p>\n

The primary reason is that employees and students were scattered far from campus and dealing with various degrees of displacement and ongoing emergency. Many employees lost their homes, and private off-campus apartment buildings flooded, displacing 600 students.<\/p>\n

Another issue is that many students had returned to their family homes in other parts of the state that were more severely impacted. \u201cAt the time, we didn’t know how many students [from the Gulf Coast] were down there to be with their parents,\u201d Cavanagh says.<\/p>\n

The takeaway from that experience for other campuses, says Cavanagh, is that when it comes to academic disruption, the campus and the institution aren\u2019t synonymous. The former can be mostly fine, while the latter can be severely disrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have people with connections back to the main campus being impacted,\u201d he says, \u201cit\u2019s more consistent to say, \u2018We’re shut down. People need to take care of health and safety and we’ll deal with all the rest of it when it’s safe.\u2019 Our general rule is, if the university is closed, it\u2019s closed online. It would be wildly inconsistent between everybody who uses the systems, because some are without power or they don’t have internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of digital learning in recovery<\/h2>\n

When online classes at UCF are suspended during emergency periods, the resources of the Division of Digital Learning do play one important role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LMS is like the campus watering hole,\u201d Cavanagh says. \u201cAt some point all the residents come there, so it’s a great place to put key messages. We amplify official university messaging, either through the mobile app or the LMS, to make sure everybody is seeing what they’re supposed to be seeing. In an emergency, [digital learning tools] become really useful for communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recovery phase after the emergency is where UCF leans on remote learning, he says. Once everyone is safe and available to return to teaching and learning, online might be the best means for doing that.<\/p>\n