Developing Academic Engagement Through a Virtual Week of Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity: Rethinking Collaboration

Abstract

The goal of having a Week of Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity (RSCA) virtual event was to highlight and acknowledge the valuable array of research, scholarly, and creative activities that are currently being done across the entire campus at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). There’s no doubt that in 2020 and 2021, our lives have been impacted in a multitude of ways. The COVID-19 global pandemic placed restrictions on in-person gatherings that forced many to rely on virtual meetings. Even with ‘zoom’ fatigue taking over, we felt that it was essential to hold the Week of RSCA event virtually in the 2020–2021 academic year. Students, faculty, and staff on campus are a community that supports one another, and CSULB seeks to enhance its local/national/global communities with the research, scholarly and creative activities that we conduct on our campus. This paper describes the development of the Week of RSCA event, its transition from an in-person to virtual event, the challenges for delivering a virtual event, and the lessons learned when we have to rethink collaboration during a pandemic.