Technology and educational ‘pivoting’ in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic: A collected commentary (original) (raw)
Technium Social Sciences Journal, 2021
Although technology in its various forms had already permeated peoples’ lives, the closure of educational institutions worldwide due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic thrust education sectors in many countries into fraught experimentation with online learning. Many educators had to adopt pedagogical practices that were in tandem with online instruction. The pandemic had a silver lining as it opened doors to new ideas and technologies that could be leveraged to enhance STEM education. This paper adopts the desk top research approach to establish the technologies that were leverageable for STEM education during the ongoing pandemic, and to determine pertinent concerns about moving STEM education online. The study found that most institutions leveraged basic synchronous and asynchronous technologies for STEM education during the pandemic. The study also established that a few institutions were embracing sophisticated technology like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in enhan...
Inspiration of Technology; Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education
2020
Just like every other virus, there is a recent outbreak of COVID-19 which hampers with the school academic activities. This virus been an influenza, epidemic and airborne disease had affected a lot of lives, affecting national economy as well as shutting down all schools at all levels. Thus, there is a need to introduce technologies which can help students continue with their learning from their different isolation centres. The present study investigated (i) various technologies that can be used for learning from their isolation centres; (ii) influence of these technologies in combating the learning gaps established by COVID-19; and (iii) readiness of students to use these technologies. It was concluded that mobile learning, google classroom, webinar zoom application and web-based authoring system among others can be used to resolve the academic activity crisis established via the pandemic but clustered teaching is apt for those without access to versatile technologies and electrici...
COVID -19 EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PANDEMIC ERA
2021, INTE 2021, ISTEC 2021, IETC 2021, ITICAM 2021, IWSC 2021 KONFERANSI BİLDİRİLERİ, 2021
In a globalized world, an advanced point is reached by arguing about the production and consumption of information. Information technologies used in the production of information are also increasingly diversified. Information technologies have a serious role in the formation of today's conditions. The expansion of these technologies helps to improve many jobs, vital changes. In this way, it is seen that many business processes are getting better in speed, time, even spatial situations. On the other hand, a new type of corona virus (COVID-19), which originated in Wuhan, Hubey Province, China, has been declared a global epidemic, spreading rapidly all over the world. The pandemic process which began in December 2019 and is still ongoing today has brought with it many disadvantages. As the world grapples with an epidemic of corona virus, the rate of increase in cases in China has come to a standstill and the process of normalization has begun. There is no doubt that information technologies have contributed to this situation. The effects of the outbreak have also profoundly affected educational institutions. In our country, Primary School, Secondary School, Secondary Education and higher education institutions are working on the implementation of distance learning methods. In addition, educational technology according to the situations that arise during the course of the pandemic; globalizing world, educational policy, educational technology, and the concept of remote education, the importance of educational technology, distance education distance education and emergency, concrete and abstract learning technologies, teachers and educational technology, the situation in the world of educational technology research, distance education, technology, events, relationships, the process of universities in the overall assessment of the pandemic discussion and conclusion with recommendations in higher education, the economic dimension in the context of the evaluations reviewed. The main goal of the research is to determine what higher education institutions should do by revealing the differences in risk management, the reactions they will give, and methods they will use. It is of great importance, especially in terms of directing the work to be done after the pandemic outbreak.
Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Available at https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216903/, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic brought frightening headlines. Each day dawned with news highlighting the number of cases (and deaths), the contagiousness of the disease, the lack of a cure or vaccine, and the scarcity of personal protective equipment for our healthcare and other frontline workers. One of the few positives was the speed at which many global partners joined to battle the disease. Academic researchers and even academic journals joined in the fight. For instance, in addition to giving open access to articles, many medical journals switched to a speedier review to be able to quickly publish promising results. So, as researchers were making early discoveries, they had a way to bypass a traditionally longer review and publication process to give hope, share building blocks, and encourage collaboration.
Post-COVID-19 Education: A Case of Technology Driven Change
https://www.scitepress.org/ProceedingsDetails.aspx?ID=ew9K0nh+658=&t=1, 2021
The transition from face to face to remote teaching during the COVID-19 health crisis, has been viewed by privately owned companies, prestigious universities, international organizations and politicians as an opportunity to promote the digital paradigm in education. A carefully carved rhetoric bundles the reduced funding of education, the maturity of digital technologies and the experience of remote teaching during the COVID-19 restrictions to promote the idea of rewiring and rethinking education as a synonym for change.
Research in Social Sciences and Technology
This paper argues that the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic created a space to reconceptualise education and rethink priorities. Although no one will deny the devastating impact of the pandemic, humans have been able to continue with various projects, including the global education project, largely made possible through unprecedented technology advancement, as well as the uptake of technologies that advanced pre-COVID-19. In many ways, the clear distinction between human and technological (being non-human) practices has blurred to a point where the mere nature of human projects such as the global education project has become post-human. While different schools of thought on the nature of “post-human” exist, we use it to refer to what we are becoming together, a comprehension and awareness of the connectedness between humans and their natural and technological environment and the ethical concerns that come with it. COVID-19 provides an opportunity to reconsider the connectedness, com...
Education and Technology During COVID-19 Times
Education and New Developments 2021, 2021
It is difficult to separate technology from education because technology is embedded in teaching. The best technology for teaching is the one that does not interfere with the communication between the teacher and the students. In other words, it should be barely “noticeable” in how it is used, and easy enough to use that it does not require special training, such as window in a room to see the flowers outside, without interfering in any way. The technology used during an in-person classes is so basic, transparent, and simple, since it consists of a classroom, chairs, blackboard and pieces of chalk. However, a piece of chalk could break. In this case, the flow of information is interrupted; which is why the plastic whiteboards and markers are preferable and cleaner. An electronic board may seem to be better with its many improvements with computers; however, its higher technology could get in the way if it is not used properly. During the pandemic, different technologies, like comput...
Technological Adaptation Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Panacea for Teaching and Learning
2023
The Internet has transformed people's way of life and their access to education in the 21st century. The use of digital technologies in education has become extremely prevalent. The teaching-learning environment has shifted dramatically with the advent of ICT. Although some institutions are still wedged to traditional teaching learning procedures, refusing to incorporate technological tools in their teaching and learning. Their teaching-learning is based on old techniques. The unexpected outburst of Covid-19 in March 2020 shuttered the entire world. This sudden outbreak revolutionizes the whole educational procedures overnights. Many academic institutions that were earlier resistant to use ICT in teaching-learning were compelled to use digital technologies in their teaching-learning process, the only option available. The article focused on the importance of ICT tools in the teaching and learning process, with accompanying challenges of the implementation. It further suggested ideas for teachers and learners about how to cope with these difficulties and obstacles.
Reimagining Science and Technology Education in the COVID-19 Portal
Journal for Activist Science and Technology Education, 2020
Volume 11, Issue 2 (2020) [jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/jaste] ii more refugees and displaced people in the world than ever before, and these figures will likely rise as a result of the pandemic. The brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police is another world shaking event. This sickening and needless death and many others have led to uprisings in the US by Black Lives Matter (BLM) and those held in solidarity around the world. Protestors, in defiance of lock-down, have brought deeply ingrained injustices home. BLM have reignited and reoriented civil rights movements, bringing attention to racialized injustices, violence and police brutalities. The BLM movement has ruptured civic spheres and injustices that were somehow accepted as a tragic part of everyday life, are now repugnant and indefensible. As JASTE editors and authors, we stand in solidarity with BLM and all those who have taken to the streets in protest. We reflect on ways that science and education practices, including our practices, are deeply implicated in perpetuating anti-Black racism and inequalities. We acknowledge that racism is a public health and environmental issue that is further worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all vulnerable to COVID-19 although, in practice, of course, the virus affects different groups in very different ways. The pandemic builds on ingrained inequalities and injustices of racism, colonialism, capitalism, class-struggle, poverty, food and health insecurities and environmental degradations. It is a crisis that builds on crisis. The following articles in this journal issue make this abundantly clear. The planetary environmental crisis has been somewhat occluded by COVID-19. Buried in the media and news items are conflicting reports of nature flourishing with fauna and flora returning to cities, improving air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions still rising but doing so at reduced rates. Recent news items have marked the last 10 years as the hottest on record, and Siberia is currently grappling with debilitating temperatures and forest fires previously unknown. Indeed, some have asked whether the pandemic should be conceived as dry run-a warm-up act for something much worse. Others have seen it as a moment in which a Green New Deal might be realised. Around the world, there has been mass closure of institutions of education to restrict the spread of the virus, millions of learners are now out-of-school. UNESCO has been monitoring school closures, highlighting how girls and rural, working class communities have been disproportionately affected. During the pandemic, makeshift educational arrangements have been put in place, mostly in the form of online and distance learning. Students and families lacking computers and stable WIFI connections are further marginalised. In the countries first affected, schools are now reopening. Education administrators, teachers and students are juggling (im)practicalities of social distancing, daily temperature testing, and how best to organise and timetable smaller classes. Teachers are managing unprecedented back-to-school anxieties and uncertainties. This virus is placing a hidden toll on young people and families. Many youth are reluctant to return. Lots have refused. During lockdown, teachers and administrators have been offering students support and encouragment. We have been worrying about our students and how they are reacting to the circumstances, reaching out and offering compassion and care, sharing anxieties, and working together to make sure that assignments are completed, and courses finalised. We are continuously reminded that emotions and relationships form the basis of every successful classroom. Institutions of education provide support and infrastructures extending way beyond the academic curriculum. These institutions build communities, forge relationship, adding to community resilience and offering hope. Families and students rely on access to school meals, electronic communications and other material resources that schools provide. At York University, for example, over 800 students are reliant on the university food bank. It is important to remember that in lockdown these resources are largely unavailable.