Let All Voices Be Heard: Creating an Engaging and Inclusive Asynchronous QR Classroom

Abstract

With the shift to remote teaching, many instructors used Zoom for synchronous work. However, this presented issues (fatigue, turning cameras off, inequitable technical hurdles) that motivated quantitative reasoning (QR) instructors to look for asynchronous alternatives. A common technique has been text-based online discussions, which can be difficult for students to find engaging. This mixed method study (N = 41) describes an inclusive video alternative, specifically for teaching QR and quantitative fluency skills, which was piloted in two asynchronous sections and one hybrid section of the same course. Students posted their video responses, watched their classmates’ videos, and wrote short lessons-learned papers. After measuring how many students addressed a set of QR questions and the length of video and written submissions, two coders independently rated the quality of students’ written reflections as well as the reasonableness of their oral arguments. Fewer than half of the students addressed most QR questions, about a third presented arguments with medium to high reasonableness, and approximately 40% of students reflected substantively, with no significant differences found by class format. Students in the hybrid section had medium reasonableness of QR arguments, which differed significantly from online students whose arguments had low reasonableness. The length of videos and written submissions were significantly and positively correlated with the number of QR questions addressed. The findings suggest a QR activity with asynchronous videos, which allows students to see and hear each other, may be an effective pedagogical option to improve engagement and accessibility in online courses.