Through my membership with the Flexible Learning Association of NZ (FLANZ), I am able to access the presentations for this week's Asia-Pacific Online and Distance Learning (APODE) 2021. Presentations run all week but I am only able to attend a couple. Hopefully, recorded sessions will be available on the FLANZ website.
Here are notes are from a panel discussion with Dr. Aras Buzkurt and Dr. Ramesh Sharma on 'distance education for a new normal: Implications for a post COVID world.
Dr. Sharma began with welcome and thanks to the other associations aligned with APODE and for their support. Introduced the role and objectives of APODE.
Reiterated how the pandemic has spotlighted distance education and the importance of leveraging off this. Introduced Dr. Buzhurt and himself.
Dr. Sharma began with overview of the pandemic and how it has affected education across the world. Made the connection to the possibilities availed - see The Fourth Education Revolution (Sir Anthony Sheldon) - with the 4th revolution based around AI.
Sumised there were 3 waves of pandemic pedagogy - f2f to screen - screen - mask to mask education. Provided an example from India whereby the school used loudspeakers to broadcast learning to students living in several apartment blocks as the students did not have internet. Suggested 'it is better to fail originally than not to innovate at all'. Normal is very much based on context. The pandemic provides the impetus to question existing pedagogies. Building to last is now not viable, it should be build to adapt. Need to humanise pandemic pedagogy, especially in countries which have digital equity challenges. Transactional distance can be bridged using a range of methodologies. Affective proximity always important in teaching/learning. An intellectual renaissance required to work through and seek solutions which will work across many contexts.
Reminded the audience to look at Asian Journal of Distance Education.
Dr. Bozhurt then presented a series of reflections - sometimes it takes a natural diaster to reveal a social disaster (Jim Wallis). Shared the shift of paradigms BC (before covid) and AC (after covid) leading to a new and next normal- with normal being a relational / subject to interpretation term. Responses from education (teaching and learning) are also not predictable or set. Emergency remote education (ERE) summarised as 'not normal' due to the need to respond rapidly. Trying to use substitution approach has not been successful in may cases. However, we could have created a global /online village for all learners! New learning ecosystems - transformations, digital ecosystems and digital 'twins' are now available. For both teachers and students, digital burnout and fatigue have made the experience more difficult. Issues of surveillance, ethics and data privacy have been highlighted. The digital divide began visible and obvious, leading to social divide and inequities in access to education. Called for more opennes and open education.
Called for the need to support parents as teachers and the building of relationships between families, teachers and school. Including support for the mental anxieties triggered across the pandemic. Pedagogy of care and trauma-informed teaching and learning anchors human-centred pandemic pedagogogy. Support communities need to be financial, emotional and pedagogical.
Contented that Higher Education especially has had their approaches revealed (not all for the good). Proposed a shift towards a hybrid/blended modality in education with openess, flexibility and different entry points to address inequalities. Now is the time to renew, recalibrate and reposition. People first, content second, technology third (Dennen, 2020). Teaching and learning are primarily about human beings, for human beings and by human beings. Finished with 'what will learners remember from this time' - students will remember not the content, but who cared about their learning'. In the educational kingdom, context is king, content is queen, quality is the crown and care and empathy are the kingdom itself.
Good summary.
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