New Student Literacies amid COVID-19

International Case Studies

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781800714687
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The COVID-19 global pandemic triggered the need to reconceptualize provisions to run an agile university at all levels. New Student Literacies amid COVID-19 explores how institutions needed to defend teaching, learning, research and innovation, and implement transdisciplinary approaches to address such complexities together with wider knowledge sharing to unlock solutions.

Delving into how universities resorted to intensive use of different technological platforms and resources to ensure that learning prevails, the chapters in this edited collection demonstrate how higher education institutions evaluated and assessed teaching methods and strove to uphold the concepts of inclusion, innovation, and cooperation of higher education. Including international case studies that highlight the issues related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, the authors showcase how different countries tried to cope with the sudden shift of education to the online mode of teaching and learning, and tried to resolve challenges of online mode of education, largely around the issues of digital pedagogy.

PART I

SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO NEW STUDENT LITERACIES AMID COVID-19 – INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES

Enakshi Sengupta and Patrick Blessinger

ABSTRACT

The world has seen a lot of disasters which have affected some part of the globe and healed in due course but rarely has any health disaster affected the entire world like COVID-19. It not only affected the health sector but caused a downward spiral of the world economy. The world was not prepared to face such a magnitude of the disaster. Overnight, schools and universities declared a lockdown affecting 1.57 billion students in 191 countries (UN, 2020). The sudden closure of educational institutions negatively impacted education around the world and much of the education sector shifted to remote learning. This exacerbated the shortcomings of those institutions who were unprepared for the sudden shift to remote learning. The global pandemic triggered the need to reconceptualize how educational institutions provision teaching and learning. Universities resorted to intensive use of different technology platforms and resources to achieve their learning outcomes. This volume explores how educational institutions needed to rethink teaching, learning, research and innovation, and implement innovative approaches to address such complexities. International case studies have been compiled that highlight the issues related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education and how different countries tried to cope with the sudden shift of remote learning and tried to resolve challenges around the issues of digital pedagogy.

Keywords: COVID-19; digital pedagogy; accessibility; higher education; online; teaching and learning; global pandemic; affordability; preparedness

INTRODUCTION

In December 2019, a virus slowly made its way from the Wuhan District of China and quickly spread throughout the world in less than a month until it was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) on March 11, 2020. The pandemic was not only creating havoc in the health sector when people were dying every day, but was also shattering the economic system of many countries and was having a devastating impact on human lives (Xiang et al., 2020). Social distancing and masking were the main solution left to flatten the curve of this infection which spread rapidly due to human contact.

Governments around the world declared the closure of educational institutions hoping that physical distancing and reducing interpersonal contact will minimize the transmission of this deadly virus mainly in places like universities where the population tends to be dense (Weeden & Cornwell, 2020). The transition was made almost immediately to the online mode of learning. The institutions were not prepared, and students and parents found the system to be alien. At the same time, it exacerbated other issues such as low connectivity, absence of hand-held devices or computers, lack of electricity, and unpreparedness of faculty to align content with online teaching. It also exposed inequalities, marginalization and the plight of disadvantaged students to pursue education.

The global crisis triggered the realigning of resources and educational provisions at all levels. The rapid, global transition to remote learning has been one of the boldest and most daring “experiment” the educational sector has ever implemented. The current crisis required all universities to become the vanguard of change and become more resilient and agile by building more effective teaching and learning platforms.

Dealing with disaster is not new for mankind. Gaus (1947), in his classic Reflections on Public Administration, recognized the role that catastrophe plays in reshaping public administration and policy systems. He argued that to be most effective, the government should be viewed as an integral part of an ecological system, which can exist and thrive only in relationship with their environments. He listed several factors useful to explain “the ebb and flow of the functions of government … people, place, physical technology, social technology, wishes and ideas, catastrophe, and personality” (p. 9).

For Gaus (1947), catastrophe

not only is destructive, so that relief and repair are required on a scale so large that collective action is necessary, but it also disrupts, jostles or challenges views and attitudes, and affords to the inner self as well as to others a respectable and face-saving reason for changing one’s views as to policy. (p. 16–17)

Thus, catastrophic events can be considered as change agents and when introduced into an ecological system, the system will react to achieve a new equilibrium. This note of positive thought as proposed by Gaus (1947) led institutions to seek newfound opportunities even amidst pandemic and chaos.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The current educational situation is unique and one cannot find its precedence in history. The transition to the online mode of education comes with challenges of providing quality education, adoption of the right mode and the correct platform for delivery, accessibility for all and the role of educators whose traditional form and work has changed drastically, almost overnight. Universities are conducting training modules to equip the faculty members to adapt to the online mode along with the support of the government who aims to boost digital literacy and digitization of educational services (Rashid & Yadav, 2020).

Some academics are also of the opinion that remote learning offers a myriad of advantages for individuals who are unable to attend a traditional full-time face-to-face university due to personal circumstances. The flexibility of asynchronous remote learning may provide wider access to those individuals and provide a chance to them to complete their education. Traditional higher education institutions are also exploring the concept of hybrid or blended forms of learning that may help improve the quality of face-to-face teaching by moving content delivery online and focusing in-person sessions on active learning, post-pandemic (Bowen,2012; Riffee, 2003).

Higher educational institutions have faced financial losses with cut down on fees and the drop-in enrollment rates for students. Countries that relied on international students saw a dwindling of student mobility and a negligible population willing to pursue their study abroad program online paying a higher amount of fees. “A decline in international student mobility in these countries risks affecting productivity in advanced sectors related to innovation and research in the coming years” (OECD, 2020 p. 11).

The economic disruption has resulted in budget cuts and retrenchment in educational institutions. Departments that were once thriving with international students and their recruitment has been downsized overnight (DePietro, 2020; Friga, 2020). The local governments have announced a significant reduction in the resources allocated to boost higher education (Ferguson, 2020). Declining of the budget is not a recent phenomenon. The last couple of years has seen a cut in expenses, increasing tuition fees, aggressive marketing strategies to enroll more students and innovative method of teaching–learning and the pandemic will only aggravate such situations and defer the growth of the institutions. One tends to apprehend the serious ramifications that this chaotic situation might cause toward social equity.

Universities are known to be significant contributors to social equity and viewed as institutions that can help provide a conduit for social mobility (Hazelkorn & Gibson, 2019; Hu, 2009; Marginson, 2018). Social mobility can be gained only when one can access higher education and success therein. Budgetary shortfalls may weaken the access to pursuing higher education as a result of increasing costs, diminished scholarships, reduced academic supports, this could have serious ramifications for social equity (Blankenberger & Williams, 2020).

CONCLUSION

Continuing education for students remains a top priority among academics and policy makers in universities. Efforts have been made in every possible way to minimize interruption in studies and there has been an urgent need for faculty who are capable of imparting education through online and other modes of long-distance communication. There are short term goals of finishing the semester and the designated curriculum, evaluating the students and assigning grades. Along with it exists a long-term planning process of being prepared in a futuristic manner for any impending crisis and designing an education system that can manage and set up a contingency plan that is capable of dealing with risks in the future.

Assessing and evaluating students remains a challenge and it is difficult to monitor how the online tests are being taken by the students. Lab-tests, practical exams and hands-on demonstration of knowledge can be more difficult to conduct online. In addition, not all students will have access to a computer, laptop or uninterrupted internet supply at home. Mental health and physical well-being of staff and students and ensuring a safe environment is now a top priority of universities. Universities have to ensure that regular communication channels are fully operational and careful attention is given to ensure that all queries and apprehensions are addressed.

This book volume discusses case studies and interventions that has been implemented by academics to ensure high quality, uninterrupted education for students. Strategic plans are explained with different theoretical models and framework which is being currently utilized and benefits gained. The information provided in this book volume is meant to benefit educators, leaders, policy makers, government organizations, faculty members and students.

CHAPTER OVERVIEWS

“Online Teaching, Learning, and Assessment during COVID-19: A Case of a Management Faculty in Sri Lanka” by A. W. Janitha C. Abeygunasekera is about COVID-19 Pandemic that has affected the smooth functioning of all aspects of life, while the education sector is one of the most influenced fields. This chapter presents a case of a faculty in a state university in Sri Lanka which underwent a transformation toward online teaching, learning, and assessment mode with the COVID-19 pandemic. The unexpected conversion to online mode impacted many parties, and among them, the lecturers and students were mostly affected within universities. The author explored the perception of students and lecturers on this unexpected compulsory transformation and identified how they perceive this new normal in teaching, learning, and assessment. In addition, the benefits and challenges faced, and the pre and post views on online experience were also studied. An online survey with students and a series of interviews with lecturers were exercised for data collection. The views that students have on online learning were different among the various study program levels, and the benefits and challenges faced by the differe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Part I. South Asian Countries
• Part II. Mena Region, Africa and Europe
• About the Authors
• Name Index
• Subject Index