The LGBTQ student experience of emergency remote learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everything that we do including how we teach and learn. Many k-12 schools in the United States were forced to teach remotely for safety reasons, but the impact of that change of instructional model is further reaching than the academics. Many LGBTQ students experienced additional social and emotional consequences from the online and hybrid learning as a result of their sexual or gender minority status, physical separation from the school and reduced access to the support systems that schools often provide through counselors, friends and LGBTQ youth groups. This study used queer phenomenology to investigate how LGBTQ minority status has mediated the student experience of online and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study consisting of 29 survey responses and 10 in depth interviews found that the structures of emergency remote learning made the educational experience feel impersonal, hindering students’ ability to discuss issues of gender and sexual identity with trusted adults in school, but the change in school routines also reduced social and academic pressures and social stigma related to LGBTQ identities, enabling students to dedicate more time to identity work. Overall, the solitude that LGBTQ youth faced during the pandemic forced them to reflect on their identities and how those identities had been impacted by social pressure.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

Texas Tech University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Flannery, Lisa

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Greenhalgh-Spencer, Heather

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Cho, Jeasik
• Mayo, Cris

• LGBTQ
• Distance and online learning
• COVID-19
• Minority stress
• Queer phenomenology

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2346/100092

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ttu-ir.tdl.org:2346/100092