COVID-19 and Community College Instructional Responses
Open accessAbstract
Like all educational institutions, community colleges rapidly shifted to online instruction in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about what factors shaped individual college responses. This survey of distance education leaders (N = 45) in the California community colleges system aimed to: a) characterize pre-COVID distance education resources, emergency responses to the pandemic, and readiness for online instruction in the fall, and b) determine how pre-COVID distance education resources, emergency responses, and fall readiness relate to each other. We find wide variability in pre-COVID distance education resources. These pre-existing resources were related to institutions’ responses: Colleges with fewer pre-COVID resources focused on foundational efforts such as creating online student services, while institutions with greater pre-COVID resources offered somewhat broader responses to training students and faculty in skills to successfully transition online. Finally, although colleges improved their readiness for continued remote instruction in the fall term in terms of training faculty and providing students with technology to access classes, respondents estimated that roughly a third of students would still face barriers accessing remote classes.
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Synchronous learning generally requires a stable internet connection, reliable technology, a quiet and distraction-free environment, and ability to schedule time to attend classes.
“Moreover, synchronous learning generally requires a stable internet connection and access to reliable technology, as well as a quiet and distraction-free environment for effective participation and the ability to reliably schedule time to attend classes (Hart et al., 2021b;Hart et al., 2025a).”
From Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges (2026) · cites this paper as Hart et al., 2021b
The “Online Learning Demands and Removing Barriers to Student Readiness” section (page unavailable) says students need computing devices and connectivity for online classes and that online learning calls for time management. It does not specify a quiet, distraction-free environment or the ability to schedule attendance at synchronous classes. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInstitutions scaled up student-facing supports such as virtual academic counseling, technology access, and communication/case management tools.
“Institutions also scaled up student-facing supports, such as by adding or expanding virtual academic counseling, providing students with access to technology such as laptops or hotspots, and implementing new communication and case management tools to better track and assist students (Hart et al. 2021b;Hart et al., 2025a).”
From Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges (2026) · cites this paper as Hart et al. 2021b
The Discussion and Research Question 2 sections report adoption of virtual counseling and distribution of laptops or Chromebooks and hotspots. The cited paper does not report implementing new communication or case-management tools to track and assist students, so that part of the sentence is unsupported by this source. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOnline education resources and student support services further expanded during the pandemic across the CCC.
“Yet, these online education resources and student support services further expanded during the pandemic across the CCC (Hart et al., 2021b).”
From Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges (2026) · cites this paper as Hart et al., 2021b
Many colleges expanded professional development training to support instructors newly teaching online.
“Many colleges expanded professional development training to support instructors newly teaching online (Hart et al., 2021b).”
From Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges (2026) · cites this paper as Hart et al., 2021b
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Hart, C. M. D., Baker, R., Hill, M., Alonso, E., & Xu, D. (2026) · Research in Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s11162-025-09873-3
“…the other hand, synchronous instruction often requires a stable internet connection and access to reliable technology, as well as a quiet and distraction-free environment for effective participation and the ability to reliably schedule time to attend classes (Hart et al., 2021; Hart et al., 2022).”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Hart, C. M. D., Xu, D., Hill, M., & Alonso, E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Venue
- Online Learning
- Publisher
- The Online Learning Consortium
- Published
- 2021-03-01
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1092-8235 (ISSN-L)
- 2472-5730
- 2472-5749
- OpenAlex
- W3134055319
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 14.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Online Learning (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Scholarly Commons (University of the Pacific) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Spencer Foundation (202100019)
- University of California, Irvine
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education during COVID-19 pandemic
- Social Sciences › Education › E-Learning and COVID-19
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, community colleges, online instruction, emergency remote teaching, faculty training, California community colleges, institutional readiness
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