“Learning loss” – the idea that students failed to stay on their previous trajectory – has been much discussed in K-12 education during the pandemic. We hear far less about it in higher education, even though students and faculty members alike consistently say they believe students have learned less in the last year than they usually do.

In this week’s episode of The Key, we discuss what colleges and universities will be facing as most prepare to welcome students back to their physical classrooms this fall, and how professors and staff members who work with students might go about understanding which students have been set back and in what ways, and how to get them back on track.

We talk with Natasha Jankowski, former executive director of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment who is now a consultant on student learning and a lecturer at New England College, and Ereka R. Williams, associate provost for academic strategy and institutional effectiveness at Winston-Salem State University, in North Carolina.