Article 3: An Exploratory Study On The Emergency Remote Education Experience

From Digital Culture & Society

Oliveira, G., Grenha Teixeira, J., Torres, A., & Morais, C. (2021). An exploratory study on the emergency remote education experience of higher education students and teachers during the COVID‐19 pandemic. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(4), 1357–1376.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13112

https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.13112

Contents 1 Context 2 Overview 3 Strengths and Weaknesses 4 Assessment

[edit] Context

This article serves to showcase the results of a study of Portuguese speaking higher education students’ and educators’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the unprecedented onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the educational landscape underwent a seismic shift, swiftly transitioning from traditional in-person learning to a predominantly virtual format. This rapid change had profound and enduring repercussions that continue to reverberate within educational spheres. Understanding the multifaceted implications of this transformation has become imperative. The findings of this study will be discussed further in the Overview, but overall, it was found that innovative practices and solutions need to be implemented to improve distance education programs in higher education.

[edit] Overview

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of how learning was mediated by technology during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemics and the ways students and teachers experienced this change. The near-instantaneous transition from in person to virtual learning had grievous impacts that are still being felt and unpacked. It is of great importance to evaluate the experiences that were had during this time to provide well-designed distance learning efforts in the future. Recognizing this importance, researchers Oliveira et. al (2021) followed a qualitative research design, conducting thirty in-depth interviews with 20 students and 10 educators. Their aim was to identify and characterize the education process, the technology used in said process, and the personal adaptation of higher education students and teachers who were experiencing an emergency in education for the first time. The results from these interviews were then analyzed following a thematic analysis approach, stated to provide evidence of impacts of remote education on the education process, ICT platform usage, and personal adaptation. They found mixed outcomes, overall bringing new insights for higher education institutions on future actions to take to curate the learning experience with new standards, appropriate training for both students and educators, and improved remote evaluation practices.

[edit] Strengths and Weaknesses

In terms of strengths, this paper went in depth regarding the specific barriers and obstacles faced by students and educators. There were four categories: personal self-imposed obstacles caused by resistance and rejection of happenings, obstacles conducting tests, evaluations, or the obtaining of feedback, technical obstacles like weak internet speed, security, piracy, and confidentiality, and finally financial and organizational obstacles like internet or device access. For educators specifically, a lack of online technology readiness was reported, as well as issues with preparedness, confidence, support from their institution, access, increased workload, afflictions, and affordances. For students specifically, COVID-19 caused demotivation, distraction, anxiety, poor mental health, sleeping troubles, personal finance concerns, and reduced access to medical care. Changes like reduced opportunities for peer discussion and questions, unmotivated pass/fail options, and insufficient flexibility of coursework plagued students as well, with the final barrier being a new living situation. In terms of weaknesses, this study suffers from a limited sample size, with the sample also leaning heavily female. 23 of the 30 interviews were conducted remotely because of difficulties with social distancing and remote work, impacting the quality of data.

[edit] Assessment

This paper provides an in-depth look at the experiences of Portuguese-speaking students and educators in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers concluded by stating that the pandemic led to tremendous changes in higher education institutions, with their results showing an increase in teacher-student interaction, difficulties in controlling evaluation fraud, constraints in attaining the desired learning outcomes, lack of training or resilience to adopt new technologies, and negative personal experiences related to productivity, motivation, workload, and mental health. Their study aligns with other studies on the subject in the sense that general lack of online readiness and the disruption caused by the transition from offline to online are important factors at play. To them, innovative approaches need to be developed and explored to increase outreach, particularly distance education programmes. The experience from the pandemic can be leveraged to allow teachers to use their new competences in a post-pandemic world, and new skills can be taught to students. Overall, it is a solid examination that suffers from a small sample size and a somewhat unfocused thesis. The findings of this study contribute to the already existing knowledge of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in higher education.

Jw21mx 22:30, 7 December 2023 (UTC)