Student perceptions of rapid transition to emergency remote learning in a hands‐on agricultural college

The COVID‐19 pandemic in spring 2020 led to university closures and little time to convert all face‐to‐face courses online. We investigated how students in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA perceived emergency remote teaching during the early stages of the pandemic. The college maintains a hands‐on pedagogy and “Learn by Doing” approach that is challenging to replicate in a remote setting. We conducted a survey of student experiences (n = 304) during the spring of 2020. We found that most students had a negative experience with aspects of emergency remote teaching during the study period. Approximately two‐thirds perceived courses to be less effective at increasing knowledge and career‐related skills; approximately three‐quarters stated group problem solving was less effective; and approximately two‐thirds were dissatisfied with the quantity and quality of course content. Around 10% of students felt courses were more effective in these areas. Familiar instructional modes (synchronous and pre‐recorded lectures) were the most common and preferred by students (with 70 to 85% finding them useful vs 7 to 15% finding them useless), even though other instructional modes can be more effective strategies for online teaching. Our results highlight the need for concrete experiences in agriculture and natural resources courses. We suggest strategies for faculty and students to improve remote teaching outcomes in agriculture and natural resources disciplines. Core Ideas Students reacted negatively to emergency remote teaching during COVID‐19 pandemic. Lack of hands‐on experiences contributed to negative perceptions of remote courses. Familiar instructional modes were perceived most positively.