Human-centered approaches to teaching and learning remotely endure, improving access
Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities into lockdown in March 2020, the University of Maryland College of Information (INFO) faced a daunting challenge: How do you teach a hands-on, team-based user-centered design course—where students collaborate around round tables, sketching and prototyping together—when suddenly, everyone is scattered across bedrooms and home offices?
For Stacy Merrill Surla, assistant director of the Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction (HCIM) program, the answer lay in her background as a UX consultant. “I come from a consulting background where I’m doing user-centered design for clients with teams, working remotely across cities and even countries,” she says. “So as a UX person, I already had approaches for making this sort of thing work.”
But the transition wasn’t easy. “We had two weeks to figure it out—just like everyone else in the college and the whole university,” Surla recalls.
Surla praises UMD’s compassionate policies during the transition, such as allowing pass/fail grading and suspending course evaluations for instructors. “The university said, ‘We’re not going to punish anyone for struggling,’” she says. “That was human and compassionate. It was like a moonshot—we just had to make it work.”
The INFO College quickly mobilized to support faculty. INFO Associate Professor Tamara Clegg secured a mini-grant to launch “Teaching Design Online,” a collaborative effort to develop best practices for remote instruction. Surla, then an adjunct professor, joined the initiative.
“That was transformational for me,” she said. “We had to workshop how to teach design principles in a virtual space. How do students create physical prototypes when they’re stuck at home?”
One solution? A “prototype scavenger hunt.” Students used household items—like skateboards and trash cans—to build low-fidelity prototypes. One team designed a “trash bot” to address campus litter, testing their creation in person once restrictions eased.
Tools That Transformed Collaboration
The shift to remote learning accelerated the adoption of digital collaboration tools. While platforms like Zoom became ubiquitous, Surla and her colleagues explored alternatives like Discord, originally a gamer-focused app.
“Zoom is very hierarchical—the meeting owner controls everything,” Surla explains. “But in Discord, you have channels. Teams can jump in and out, hold video calls, or chat asynchronously. It’s much more flexible.”
Other tools, like Figma for wireframing and Canva for design, also became staples. “These tools were always there, but COVID forced them to evolve,” Surla says. “Now, they’re intuitive enough for anyone—not just tech professionals.”
Ultimately, the experience reinforced the power of user-centered design—not just in tech, but in education itself. “We’re wired to connect,” Surla says. “These tools let us do that, even when we’re not in the same room. And that’s something worth keeping.”
The Unexpected Benefits of Remote Learning
While COVID-19 was a horrible tragedy, Surla acknowledges that the shift to remote learning had lasting positive effects:
Inclusivity: Students who struggled to speak up in class found new ways to engage, like using chat functions.
Flexibility: Hybrid options made education more accessible for working professionals and those with caregiving responsibilities.
Improved Tools: Remote collaboration tools became more user-friendly, designed for real-world contexts (like joining a Zoom call from a car).
“Before, remote teaching was seen as a last resort,” Surla says. “Now, it’s not just acceptable—it’s often beneficial.”
The pandemic didn’t just force education to adapt—it revealed what was possible when necessity met creativity. The lessons from INFO’s rapid shift extend beyond remote learning: They prove that with the right mindset, even the most hands-on disciplines can thrive in digital spaces. As Surla puts it, “We didn’t just survive the transition—we discovered better ways to teach, collaborate, and include everyone.” When education embraces flexibility and human-centered design, everyone gets a seat at the table—whether that table is round, virtual, or somewhere in between.