Special Issue: Implications of COVID-19 on Higher Education A Qualitative Study Examining Home as Faculty Workplace During COVID-19 Self-Isolation

Objectives: Using the lens of the virtual workplace model, the current basic qualitative study examined how COVID-19 self-isolation affected both online and land-based faculty (working online as an emergency due to COVID-19) workspaces and work processes. Method: A total of 20 online and six land-based faculty completed e-mail interviews both one month and 3 months post self-isolation. Results: Online faculty were more satisfied with their home workplace, but both groups felt more negative about their online work, as they felt a loss of freedom and independence due to the isolation. Conclusions: Findings indicated that both land-based and online faculty showed indications of stress due to self-isolation, which in turn affected their feelings about work. Gaining a sense of control seems to be essential to reducing stress over time. Implication for theory and/or practice: Future researchers may wish to examine the relationship of feelings of employee burnout to the stress of the pandemic. How working from home interacts with burnout is not yet known, particularly for online faculty. Both employers and virtual workers may wish to utilize the study’s findings in recognizing a need for control in virtual workers.


Introduction
Regardless of whether employees show symptoms of COVID-19, 88% of U. S. companies, during the COVID-19 pandemic, encouraged or required their employees to work from home (Facilityexecutive.com, 2020). Most universities moved online in Spring 2020, with many remaining online for fall; thus, college and university faculty were required to self-isolate and work from home with their families (Smalley, 2020). Little is known as to how faculty transitioned from land-based to working online, nor is it known how self-isolation affected faculty who worked online pre-pandemic. Through a basic qualitative study, we examined how both online faculty and land-based university faculty coped with the COVID-19 imposed self-isolation.

Online Faculty and the Home Workspace Environment
There is little previous research examining the online faculty workspace. In one of the few studies in this area, Stadtlander et al. (2017) found that most of their online faculty participants consciously separated their home and workspace through either having a separate room/area or by managing their time through a work schedule that separated work and home. The faculty mentioned flexibility and the ability to control for potential interruptions as advantages to their workspace. Negatives to working from home were feeling lonely and missing working with colleagues face-to-face.
Most participants in Stadtlander et al.'s (2017) study indicated that the ambiance of the home had not changed as a result of incorporating a workspace. These findings supported previous research in the area of telecommuting regarding work-life balance (Golden et al., 2006). Stadtlander and colleagues speculated that developing a balance between work and home may require clearly defined home and work areas. Participants indicated that positive aspects of working at home were having the flexibility to set their own hours, being able to control work-related interruptions, and having a reduction in their stress levels through not having a daily commute. However, they also reported negative aspects to their work, such as being lonely and missing the social aspect of the workplace. The faculty also reported the need to justify their work status with family and friends who encroached on their work time. It is not known how COVID-19 self-isolation affected how online faculty do their work nor if there are any differences evident with land-based faculty working from home on an emergency basis. The current study examined these issues. Vischer (2007Vischer ( , 2008) proposed a workplace model in which workers in an in-person setting seek a level of comfort in their workspace and manipulate their environment to achieve it. In the model, three hierarchical categories are proposed: physical, functional, and psychological. Physical comfort referred to basic human needs (i.e., safety, hygiene, and accessibility). Functional comfort was defined in terms of support for users' performance in work-related tasks and activities. Psychological comfort referred to feelings of belonging, ownership, and control over the workspace. Hyrkkänen et al. (2012) extended this model to accommodate the virtual worker. In the extended model, it is important for the virtual worker to develop psychosocial comfort in their virtual work environment, given that the work environment is the product of both physical and virtual worlds. Hyrkkänen and colleagues related this model to human interaction with computers and virtual tools (e.g., smartphones). Stadtlander et al. (2017) further extended the Hyrkkänen et al. (2012) model of the virtual workplace to accommodate online faculty. Stadtlander and colleagues reported that online faculty tended to manage their physical, functional, and psychological comfort in performing their work-related tasks primarily through integration of workspace with home needs, time management, and control of work surroundings.

Theoretical Framework: The Virtual Workplace Model
In the current study, we applied the virtual workplace model to both online and land-based faculty working from home on an emergency basis. Qualitative questions examined changes in the home workspace due to  In order to examine the physical comfort aspect, questions addressed whether faculty changed the structure of their home environment or attempted to separate home from work in a physical manner (e.g., using a room as an office). To address the functional aspect, questions were asked about changes to how faculty structured the workday or controlled for interruptions during the workday (also the influence of children at home or caretaking of an older adult). Finally, to examine psychological changes, we asked questions about changes in the home's ambiance and if there were perceived benefits or problems in working at home.

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to extend previous findings of Stadtlander et al.'s (2017) study of online faculty's workspace by considering changes in work due to COVID-19. The present study examined how self-isolation due to COVID-19 affected both online and typically land-based faculty's workspace and work process and whether their feelings about working at home had changed. Three primary research questions guided the study.
1. What is the impact of self-isolation on online faculty's feelings about their workspace? (physical fit) 2. What is the impact of self-isolation on how they do their work? (functional fit) 3. What is the impact of self-isolation on their feelings about their work? (psychosocial fit)

Method
The study was approved by the principal investigators' (PIs) university Institutional Review Board (04-20-20-6783011). Advertisements were placed in the weekly newsletter at the online university at which the PIs are employed as well as on the PIs' social media pages. Interested faculty contacted the PIs, who sent the volunteers an e-mail interview (Appendix A). Participants completed the interview and returned it via e-mail.

Participants
A total of 20 online faculty responded and completed the e-mail interview. During the same one-month period, ads were placed in social media (Facebook and Linked In) for land-based faculty who were teaching online as an emergency due to COVID-19. Despite repeated recruitment attempts, only six land-based faculty responded and completed the interview.

Instrumentation
Participant demographics were assessed. Besides the standard demographic questions assessing age, gender, race, marital status, and education, questions were also asked about teaching history, including whether they were full or part-time, the number of years at their current institution, and total years of teaching. We also asked about aspects of their homelife that may affect their working from home, including if they had children at home or were a caretaker for an older adult.

E-mail interviews
In the present study, we conducted e-mail interviews (Bowden & Galindo-Gonzalez, 2015;Hawkins, 2018;Ratislavová & Ratislav, 2014). Similar to more traditional methods of interviewing, which involve the researcher asking a question and the participant responding, e-mail interviews also are interactive, but all the questions are presented at one time and the participant can answer them at his or her own pace. In an

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interactive e-mail interview, the researcher and the study participant exchange information over the internet using the participant's and the researcher's e-mail. The researcher presents a series of open-ended questions that the participant answers and sends to the researcher. The participant can ask for clarification and the researcher will respond. The researcher can also ask questions in the form of probes to ask for additional information or clarification. Qualitative researchers using e-mail interviews for data collection have reported that the scheduling advantages of the e-mail interview increase access to participants and encourage greater participation of working adults (Fritz & Vandermause, 2017).

Follow-up interviews
Follow-up e-mail interviews were also conducted 2 months after the original interview (thus, after 3 months in self-isolation) to assess changes over time for participants. A total of 17 of the 20 (85%) online and five of the six (83%) land-based faculty returned the follow-up e-mail interview.
In the present study, the e-mail interviews (see Appendixes A and B) consisted of a demographics section and a series of qualitative questions. The first interview had 12 qualitative questions, and the follow-up e-mail interview consisted of five open-ended questions repeated from the original interview.

Analysis
Descriptive analyses are reported for the demographic questions. To analyze the qualitative data, we used a content analysis table for each interview question to categorize participant responses. Keywords, phrases, or emerging patterns, as well as the main points of each individual's quotes were recorded as codes, particularly words repeated by participants. Themes were identified by highlighting reoccurring or similar code words in order to detect similarities and differences, underlying meanings, or trends in experiences.

Results
A total of 20 online faculty and six land-based faculty responded and completed the e-mail interview. As saturation appeared to have been reached with the smaller land-based group, the researchers stopped recruitment to avoid having the time in isolation differ for the two groups (see Table 1 for demographics of both samples). When asked whether they separated their work environment from their home environment in some way, 11 (55%) online faculty indicated that they did, while only one (16.7%) of the land-based faculty responded positively. The main method of separating work and home tended to be through using a separate room or office: "I do my work in my office. Being in my office helps me to focus" (Participant 7, online faculty). "My home office is a separate room in my home though separate from my family living/activity areas though not due COVID/self-isolation" (Participant 12, online faculty). The one land-based affirmative comment was, "I have no job-related materials in my bedroom or living room, just in the designated areas in my office" (Participant 107). A few participants mentioned restricting their hours of work: "I dedicate specific hours to work environment and home environment. I have a 17-year-old at home doing remote learning. We make sure that we have work time and personal time" (Participant 10, online faculty).
Those that did not separate home from work mentioned a variety of reasons: "No. I like the ambient noise" (Participant 6, online faculty). One indicated that their work area has taken over the family's dining area: "Not so much. The space we usually use for family meals is always covered with papers, pens, computer cords, etc." (Participant 102, land-based faculty). "No. There is no separation of work and home. I feel that there is no division" (Participant 103, land-based faculty).

RQ2: What is the impact of self-isolation on how they do their work? (Functional Fit)
When asked about differences in when they worked online, the majority in both groups (13 online and four land-based) indicated that work times stayed the same pre and post COVID-19. Examples included: "Nothing has changed from my daily work routine. Stay-home requirements has curbed my work-related travel and I also do not have access to any community locations (malls) in which to break up the day" (Participant 4, online faculty). "Nothing has changed in this regard. My hours remain 0800 to 1300" (Participant 14, online faculty). Two land-based faculty and one online faculty mentioned that they were working longer hours post COVID-19: "Since COVID/self-isolation, I have had to spend anywhere 4-12 hours a day, 7-days a week, redesigning the course" (Participant 104, land-based). "I am working 9 am -9 pm with frequent breaks throughout the day for exercise and meal prep" (Participant 103, land-based).

RQ3: What is the impact of self-isolation on their feelings about their work? (psychosocial fit)
The majority of both groups (n = 12, 60% of online faculty, and n = 4, 66% of land-based) reported that their home's ambiance had changed negatively after COVID-19. The greatest benefit reported by online faculty (n = 6, 30%) was the opportunity to spend time with their family. Comments included: "I get to see my family so much more" (Participant 3, online faculty). "My

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Open Access Higher Learning Research Communications 101 children help out with home chores, meals, etc., since they are home more. I love having a lot of time being home, grocery shopping, etc., together. We have grown closer with one another" (Participant 12, online faculty).
It has been challenging because we are all home, and we can get on one another's nerves. That said, overall, I think we are heroes. My husband lost 90% of his business, and I am down to one class. Things are coming back, and our family is stronger for it. (Participant 9, online faculty) For land-based faculty the greatest advantage (n = 4, 66%) was not having a commute: "I do not miss the commute; I have more time to relax in the morning with my coffee and husband and kids. I feel like I have been able to take better care of my home and errands, etc." (Participant 102, land-based). "(I) get more writing done, less wasted time as there is no traffic (Participant 104, land-based). Three faculty (50%) also mentioned saving money by working from home: "I do not need to pay for an essential caretaker" (Participant 101, land-based). "The benefits that I enjoy include not having to spend money traveling to work and buying lunch" (Participant 107, land-based).
Seven (35%) online faculty reported that there were no disadvantages for them currently. Four (20%) online faculty reported the biggest disadvantage was their own negative emotions: "I find I am more anxious and as a result tend to see things in a negative way" (Participant 1, online faculty). "I started watching news from several major cities and trying to be on top of the statistics. It starts to worry the mind" (Participant 8, online faculty).
I am getting more antsy. My job has not changed but I feel more drained and bored. I have no distractions at all. Running errands, going to the gym, attending volunteer meetings provided variety.
(Participant 3, online faculty) Two (33%) land-based and two (10%) online faculty mentioned being busier: "I am just much busier at work than before. It seems our students have much more time to work on their dissertations (which is great!) but I am swamped" (Participant 13, online).
I found that the amount of time I needed to spend teaching from home increased from 1-2 hours/1-2 days a week (except midterms and final exams) to about 40+ hours/7days a week, every week. My biggest problems were that many of the students did not have laptops/computers or (reliable) access to the internet, some only have cellphones or tablets, some only have Apple laptops/computers and their documents (called pages) can't be opened on an Android computer (word document).

(Participant 104, land-based)
One big problem is the constant e-mails that I must respond to. It seems as though some employees are compelled to justify their jobs and show that they are working by sending e-mails. Another problem is the seemingly non-stop ZOOM meetings that don't really disseminate.

Follow-up E-mail Interview
Two months following the initial interview (thus, 3-months in self-isolation), a follow-up interview of the same participants (see Appendix B) was conducted to examine changes over time using questions repeated from the first interview. Stadtlander & Sickel, 2021 Open Access

RQ1: What is the impact of self-isolation on online faculty's feelings about their workspace? (physical fit)
When asked at 3 months post isolation, 10 of 17 (58.8%) online (and no land-based) faculty responded they had made no changes to how or when they did their online work. Four (23.5%) online and 3 (60%) land-based faculty mentioned they find themselves moving locations of their work around their home. Some examples include: "I have not really changed where I do my online work, but I have varied where I sit and now, I use my desktop computer more often" (Participant 11, online).
I have not made any additional changes since the first interview. I move from space to space so that I have sufficient privacy. I used to find it annoying but now, after staying home so much, I appreciate the change in surroundings more (Participant 1, online).

RQ2: What is the impact of self-isolation on how they do their work? (Functional fit)
While there was not a specific follow-up interview question regarding this research question, 2 (11.8%) online faculty mentioned they have been better organized during isolation. "Enhanced skillsets. Specifically, I'm pretty much a guru at desktop organization now" (Participant 14, online).
I seem to have become more organized on how I do my online work (scheduling on calendar) and I have done a lot of 'Spring' cleaning to unclutter the entire home which allows me to think more clearly and compensates with "overcoming" the sense of lock-down (Participant 8, online).

RQ3: What is the impact of self-isolation on their feelings about their work? (psychosocial fit)
When asked if their feeling about their work have changed, 7 (46.7%) online faculty (and no land-based) indicated that their feelings had not changed. Four (23.5%) online faculty indicated that they were grateful for their job/ work, some examples include: "I am grateful that I have a job although my work has been reduced by so much that if I did not have my husband, our family would be homeless" (Participant 8, online). "I am more appreciative of (my work)!" (Participant 8, online).
Five (29.4%) online faculty and 5 (100%) land-based faculty made negative comments about how they felt about work. Some examples include: "I am working more and at the same time questioning the apparent movement of the college/university to be more focused on 'getting the students through' rather than on educating them" (Participant 5, online). "About my teaching position at the college, I have felt detached from my students. Also, I have a heightened sense of anxiety about job security, and such" (Participant 102, landbased). "The job has become even more tedious due to the constant Zoom meetings and e-mails that seem to be excessive." (Participant 107, land-based).
I am a nurse educator. I wanted to feel like I was contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic in a meaningful way. I felt that I needed to return to the clinical area and make some kind of difference as a frontline worker. I have a set of skills and experience that are desperately needed. It feels weird to sit back and not contribute (Participant 5, online).

Discussion
Overall, findings from the current research provide a limited reflection of the experience of both online and land-based faculty adapting to self-isolation due to COVID-19.

RQ1
: What is the impact of self-isolation on online faculty's feelings about their workspace? (physical fit) Stadtlander & Sickel, 2021 Open Access

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Consistent with Stadtlander et al.'s (2017) findings with their online faculty sample, at time one, online faculty clearly had pre-established a separate workspace in contrast to few of the land-based faculty, perhaps providing more feelings of control for the online faculty during the pandemic. Regarding physical fit at time two, some online and land-based faculty indicated they would change work locations around the house, which may be interpreted as, over time, gaining control over how and where they work RQ2: What is the impact of self-isolation on how they do their work? (functional fit) Overall, both online and land-based faculty reported working the same number of hours as before selfisolation, so both online and land-based faculty functional fit does not appear to have changed greatly over the study time frame. Three faculty (2 were land-based) mentioned working longer hours at time one as they had to develop new courses or methods of working online. By time two, this issue appeared to have been resolved, with no one reporting longer hours.

RQ3: What is the impact of self-isolation on their feelings about their work? (psychosocial fit)
Both online and land-based faculty reported self-isolation had negatively affected the ambiance of their work environment and their emotions at time one. The stress of self-isolation appeared to influence even online faculty's feelings about their work, although, to all appearances, their jobs had not been directly affected. It often seemed that the reason for the change in feelings about their work was not clear to the individual; they simply reported feeling less freedom or depression.
Although most reported no changes in their feelings about work at the follow-up, some online faculty reported gratitude for their jobs. Other land-based faculty reported negative feelings about increased work hours and technology requirements and concern about work quality as well as increased anxiety about job stability.
Taken collectively, these findings suggest perceived stress and sense of control may be two aspects particularly salient to both online and land-based faculty working in response to self-isolation during COVID-19. Findings also suggest that employers of both online and land-based faculty, who have been required to work virtually, may want to consider faculty satisfaction and stress relative to their employee change in working environment. A link has been previously reported between feelings of loss of control and stress and burnout in employees (Southwick & Southwick, 2018). Promoting a sense of control for employees in their home workspace and how they do their work may increase employees' job satisfaction and reduce possible burnout. This could be accomplished by encouraging faculty to set up a separate workspace and providing the time, office equipment, or supplies to do so.
This study also suggested physical and psychological fit may be particularly important to all virtual faculty work; however, functional fit appeared to be less important for the faculty. Certainly for the online faculty participants who were already familiar with working online but perhaps also for traditionally land-based faculty who may already be familiar with most of the technology (computers, internet use, educational software utilized in land-based jobs), functional fit simply may not have been an issue for the current participants, as they had already worked out equipment-based solutions.
Prior to COVID-19, there was considerable and expanding literature on the existence of faculty burnout, given the changing and increasingly demanding nature of university faculty work in an era of increased educational options (Cross & Pollk, 2018). Faculty burnout is understood to have detrimental effects on faculty performance and health (Sabagh et al., 2018). Predictors of burnout, including demographic variables, job demands, resources, personal characteristics, and stressors beyond the workplace, overlap with categorization of physical, functional, and psychosocial fit as described in the present study (Hyrkkanen et al., 2012;Vischer, 2007). Given the unique stress that COVID-19 has had on both online and land-based faculty, more research

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to replicate and refine this study's outcomes and to assess these findings relative to the larger issues of overall faculty performance, health, and burnout is warranted.

Study Limitations
Online faculty volunteered based upon an ad in the faculty newsletter and land-based faculty through social media. Because of these recruitment methods, the sample tended to be older and was predominately female, White, and married. Presumably, only those individuals very interested in the topic chose to participate in the e-mail interviews.

Implications for Future Research and Practice
Future researchers may wish to examine the relationship of feelings of employee burnout to the stress of the pandemic. How working from home interacts with burnout is not yet known, particularly for online faculty. Both employers and virtual workers may wish to utilize the study's findings in recognizing a need for control in virtual workers. Employers could promote such control by encouraging employees to establish home workspaces that are personalized to the individual's needs and providing the necessary equipment to set up such a space. Both faculty and their employers also must acknowledge that they need to give up some of their former job expectations when employees are working at home. It is realistic that while working from home, faculty will be doing household tasks and caring for children or older adults and accommodations for this need to be expected.

Conclusion
The present study examined how faculty's feelings about their work and home workspace changed due to COVID-19. Findings indicated that both land-based and online faculty showed indications of stress due to self-isolation, which, in turn, affected their feelings about work. Gaining a sense of control seems to be essential to reducing stress over time.