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The New Normal: Best Practices for Virtual Learning Communities in a Hybrid World

Research Open House 2022

Christine Tenny, MS Data Analytics and Visualization ’22; Christy Laperriere, MS Information Experience Design ’22, and Eesha Parasnis, MS Information Experience Design ’23
Irene Lopatovska
School of Information

As a result of the world turning to virtual solutions as an alternative to physical experiences due to the Covid-19 pandemic, educational institutions had to adapt to this new world by offering both undergraduate and masters programs that were predominantly remote.

This adaptation represented a transition that was entirely foreign, allowing for very few opportunities for students and educators to socialize or connect in familiar ways. Research conducted in the 2021 school year, identified a gap in networking opportunities, social isolation, and siloing amongst students and faculty as direct results of these circumstances.

Faculty were interviewed as part of the research process.
Faculty were interviewed as part of the research process.

With the 2022 school year representing a turn towards a hybrid model, The New Normal: Best Practices for Virtual Learning Communities in a Hybrid World was an opportunity to track these findings to understand how they could be mitigated in the future should the Institute ever have to return to a fully remote model of learning and educating.