We did it! Just prior to writing this comment, I submitted my final grades and let out a huge sigh of relief. I pause now to recognize the immense achievement of the collective sociology teaching and learning community consisting of faculty at colleges and universities of all types, high school teachers, graduate teaching assistants, students, and all those who have supported and enabled the continued instruction of sociology during an unprecedented time. We faced the global COVID19 pandemic and were asked to do what seemed initially like the impossible: move into an emergency remote instruction model for which we were largely underprepared. The immensity of the challenge is even more admirable when we consider the pre-COVID percentage of students enrolled in distance education courses. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2017, only 15.7 percent of all students in degree-granting postsecondary institutions were enrolled exclusively in distance education courses. Astonishingly, by the end of March 2020, that percentage (though specifically unknown) is likely to have escalated to nearly 100 percent. This large-scale transition to a distance learning format was even more remarkable considering that the timeline for moving courses from face-to-face delivery to exclusively remote instruction was, on average, just several days. Furthermore, the teaching and learning community had very little warning. My own precursory analysis of social media posts and The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed articles suggests that the first inkling that an educational tsunami was developing came from the University of Washington and the University of California systems. On March 7th, the University of Washington announced that starting on March 9th, all classes and finals would be held remotely. It was on March 9th that the reality of going remote started to look inevitable, when Amherst College cancelled classes prior to spring break from March 12th to 13th, stating that it would move to remote learning on March 23rd. Amherst was the first college to encourage students to take as many of their belongings with them as possible without giving a return-to-campus date. This announcement sent shock waves through the higher education community. I began providing the students in my classes and internships with emergency plans in case Elizabethtown College also went remote—though at the time, no one really believed it would happen. On March 12th, Elizabethtown College announced that classes would be canceled starting March 13th and that classes would resume online on March 18th to continue the learning experience remotely. Faculty and students were notified at the same time. My point here is that everyone reading this piece probably has a similar version of this story and timeline. Regardless, as a community of educators that teach sociology, we need to take a moment to celebrate and a chance to reflect. The remainder of my comment will focus on three takeaways resulting from the emergency remote instruction we were plunged into. I use the word takeaways instead of lessons, because this educational journey is far from complete. As I write this comment, the future of instruction for the fall semester remains uncertain. Institutions are developing a plethora of contingency plans. Still, it is important that we reflect on what we have collectively experienced to begin to plan ahead. Please note that these are my personal takeaways based on my own experiences, reading of the limited literature, and narratives of those involved in faculty development. I will not be providing solutions or recommendations at this time.

中文翻译：

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编者按：COVID-19 大流行的三个教学要点

我们做到了！就在写这篇评论之前，我提交了我的最终成绩，并松了一口气。我现在停下来承认集体社会学教学和学习社区的巨大成就，该社区由各种类型的学院和大学的教师、高中教师、研究生助教、学生以及所有支持和推动社会学继续教学的人组成在前所未有的时期。我们面临着全球 COVID19 大流行，并被要求做最初似乎不可能的事情：进入我们在很大程度上准备不足的紧急远程教学模式。当我们考虑到参加远程教育课程的学生在 COVID 之前的百分比时，挑战的巨大性更加令人钦佩。根据国家教育统计中心的数据，2017 年，在授予学位的高等教育机构中，只有 15.7% 的学生完全注册了远程教育课程。令人惊讶的是，到 2020 年 3 月底，这一百分比（尽管具体未知）可能会上升到接近 100%。考虑到将课程从面对面授课转移到完全远程教学的时间平均只有几天，这种向远程学习形式的大规模过渡更加引人注目。此外，教学和学习社区几乎没有警告。我自己对社交媒体帖子和《高等教育纪事》和 Inside Higher Ed 文章的初步分析表明，教育海啸正在发展的第一个迹象来自华盛顿大学和加州大学系统。3月7日，华盛顿大学宣布，从3月9日起，所有课程和期末考试将远程举行。3 月 9 日，远程学习的现实开始变得不可避免，当时阿默斯特学院取消了 3 月 12 日至 13 日春假前的课程，并表示将在 3 月 23 日转向远程学习。阿默斯特大学是第一所鼓励学生在不提供返校日期的情况下随身携带尽可能多的物品的大学。这一消息在高等教育界引起了轰动。我开始为我的班级和实习生提供应急计划，以防伊丽莎白敦学院也变得偏远——尽管当时没有人真的相信这会发生。3月12日，Elizabethtown College 宣布将从 3 月 13 日起取消课程，并于 3 月 18 日恢复在线课程，以继续远程学习。同时通知了教职工和学生。我的观点是，阅读这篇文章的每个人都可能对这个故事和时间表有类似的版本。无论如何，作为教授社会学的教育工作者社区，我们需要花点时间来庆祝和反思。我的评论的其余部分将集中在我们陷入紧急远程指令的三个要点上。我用外卖这个词代替课程，因为这个教育之旅还远未完成。在我写这篇评论时，秋季学期教学的未来仍然不确定。机构正在制定大量的应急计划。仍然，重要的是我们要反思我们共同经历的事情，以便开始提前计划。请注意，这些是我根据自己的经验、对有限文献的阅读以及参与教师发展的人员的叙述得出的个人结论。我目前不会提供解决方案或建议。