Pandemic Pedagogy: Preparedness in Uncertain Times: Volume 49

What started as an apparently benign virus in a remote district of China suddenly had the entire world under its grip, with thousands dying every day in all parts of the world. World Health Organization declared it a pandemic and requested every country and every institution to minimize human contact and maintain spatial distance. The pandemic was there to stay and while the world tried to find its antidote months and years passed before a solution was found, or nearly so. Educational institution was affected with the entire economy of every country. Future of our next generation and the continuity of education were at stake. The only possible solution was to teach and learn from the safe corner of one’s home. It meant a transition of the entire education system to an online mode, which was unprecedented. Institutions grappled with technology, trying to find the right approach of imparting education, with added expenses and training the academicians to find a level of comfort teaching online. This book explores the theory that evolved around online teaching and cites evidence that has been gathered toward self-regulation and resiliency, highlighting the power and privilege and the best practices for implementing techniques to support students. COVID-–19 meant a paradigm shift toward teaching–learning methods and soon became the “new norm” in designing curricula so that students can continue with their journey toward acquiring high-standard quality education without any disruption in the future.

Perceiving the world as a global village has never been a more acceptable and realistic notion than nowadays. The COVID-19 pandemic has – beyond a reasonable doubt – united the world as never before into the one human community striving to achieve the one goal: survive and go back to “normal” life. Educationally, there is a true demand to set effective approaches, initiatives, and programs that would promote and prompt intercultural citizenship and global citizenship for students, particularly tertiary students, Generation Z, who will be leading the world or the global village post-COVID-19. In response to such a demand, the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) and Phoenicia University (PU), Lebanon, planned and implemented a joint intercultural program: The Global Cultural Village. The Village connected and brought together 20 students (10 Afghani and 10 Lebanese) from two different cultures at a time of social and physical distancing all over the world. Over a period of five months, virtual, fortnightly meetings (discussions and presentations) were led by the students themselves and facilitated by three conveners from both universities. This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the intercultural experiences and competencies acquired by the students throughout this program and the subsequent impact on students’ intercultural citizenship and global citizenship knowledge and skills. The methodology adopted was a mixed methods one, entailing a pre-test questionnaire (76 candidates), observational field notes (3 conveners), and post-test semi-structured interviews (14 participants). The study found that the Global Cultural Village created a safe and pleasant virtual environment that stimulated sufficient curiosity, a genuine desire to learn about the other culture, and mutual respect among both the Afghani and Lebanese students. The Village has succeeded in developing students’ intercultural competencies and intercultural communication skills. Students’ intercultural citizenship knowledge, skills, and capabilities have significantly developed as a result. Such a significant development has positively impacted students’ global citizenship knowledge and skills, where they started authentically connecting and practically engaging in global issues and discussions amid COVID-19 and are equipped to do so post the pandemic. This case study will inform higher education institutions (executives, faculty, and staff) in meeting their commitments toward internationalization and contribute to the developing literature about intercultural citizenship and global citizenship amid and post-COVID-19.

Online, distance, and eLearning (ODeL) continue to gain recognition as a mandatory component of delivery of education in institutions of higher learning (IHL) around the world following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This paradigm shift is informed by the need to ensure uninterrupted, valuable, and safe learning experiences for learners during the pandemic. However, governments ordered the closure of schools and colleges following the declaration of COVID-19 as a world pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). A report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization revealed that there was a significant loss of schooling time following the closure of educational facilities which affected over 1.5 billion learners in 194 nations globally. This study explored the use of online approaches to intensify online learning efficacy in IHL. Data collection was conducted using qualitative methods and data analysis done using themes and sub-themes. Findings from this study indicate that students’ engagements on discussion forums are consistent with collaborative learning. Results further support the view that regular, prompt, and meaningful feedback is critical in promoting constructive learning and reflection among students. Based on the findings of this study, practical implications are discussed for stakeholders interested in establishing and strengthening effective delivery of online learning content to enhance students’ learning experiences.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both educators and students adapted to course delivery modes no longer centered on in-person interactions. Resiliency and self-regulation are key to success in online contexts, but the rapid transition to remote learning left many students without the necessary support to develop these skills. Much of the existing literature on self-regulation and resiliency focuses on cognitive processes and strategies such as goal orientation, time management, and mindset. However, the added stress and trauma of learning in the context of a global pandemic highlighted the many other factors relevant to students’ development of these skills. Drawing from the literature, the authors explore evidence-informed teaching practices to foster self-regulation and resiliency, highlight the power and privilege of being able to be resilient, advocate for the development of pedagogies of kindness, and emphasize the “how” of implementing techniques to best support students. The authors provide evidence-informed suggestions with the goal of assisting instructors and students during times of high stress, while acknowledging their limitations in addressing structural inequalities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the authors argue that evidence-informed techniques and compassionate pedagogies adopted during a period of upheaval remain applicable to future in-person and online pedagogies.

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to rapidly translate our face-to-face interactions to remote, often computer-mediated ones. Many of us struggled to adapt since many instructors have built careers on in-person relationships. How would we maintain the humanity of an emergency remote classroom? How would we support our students’ growth when a rapid venue change was demanded? Our small, liberal arts college, like so many others, took up this challenge. In this chapter, we attempt to answer these questions using our reflections and student perceptions of successful and unsuccessful experiences. Following the switch to remote learning, we scrambled to develop and gain Institutional Review Board’s approval for a protocol which surveyed a rolling sample of our student population daily. The brief window of opportunity prevented piloting the protocol which was based primarily upon our team’s collective knowledge and experience as scholars and educators. The following fall, we followed up with a survey (aligned with the prior survey) and focus groups. We found that empathy within the classroom in this time of stress made all the difference. We relate what we’ve learned with respect to compassionate communications, course design, and adaptation. In each section, we offer a set of specific recommendations.

The overall aim of this chapter is to provoke reflection around how higher education (HE) engaged students in online learning during COVID-19. Discussion will outline the challenges that HE faced in engaging students in a complex and uncertain COVID-19 landscape and how this changed the dynamics of student engagement and support. It also discusses the role of the academic in the use of inclusive pedagogies to ensure that learning and support met the needs of the students’ in their online learning journeys. The chapter concludes that while COVID-19 meant wide scale change for HEIs that these best practices should create the “new norm” in curriculum design and is an era where HE professionals should be proud of the legacy they leave and the support they gave to ensure that students could continue their learning journeys.

This chapter explores the contribution of The Open University (OU) Library to influencing curriculum decisions about embedding digital and information literacies in an online environment. Recommendations can be applied to higher education (HE) institutions as they develop permanent e-learning strategies to prepare for a long-term solution to online learning experiences. Learning providers are creating strategies for online content creation, student engagement, and skills development. It is an opportunity to demonstrate their value by making an effective transition to online learning, streamlining services to create student-centered experiences.

It investigates existing e-pedagogical approaches developed pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic to embedding digital literacies in practice, drawing on the OU’s experience of developing effective frameworks for online teaching programs. The aim is to review institutional preparedness for effective transition, so that staff members and students can adapt to post-COVID realities. This draws upon student-centered, holistic design of programs to embed accessible and inclusive processes in distance learning, utilizing technological solutions to create optimal teaching and learning environments.

It will also make recommendations about how embedding digital literacies within the curriculum will equip graduates for post-education experiences within working and social contexts, by building activities into module that develop digital capabilities. For effective learning experiences to take place, institutions require development of born-digital support material to develop staff confidence and ability to produce effective, accessible online learning objects. As more organizations move to online, hybrid, and flipped learning interventions, high-level university strategy can future-proof learning design by developing the support that staff need to provide the best experiences for their learners.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly altered the zeitgeist of American higher education. Currently, these institutions struggle to find safe and creative ways to reopen in the fall. While the debate is mainly focused on the reopening possibilities, one area of the university experience is profoundly impacted and overlooked: the study abroad programs. The chapter overviews the role and importance of international education for American higher education institutions (HEI) and explains the pandemic’s profound disruption. The chapter will review how institutions reacted, first reactively and then proactively. This chapter will argue for adopting technology not just as a tool to save the immediate study abroad offerings but as a catalyst for change. In the post-pandemic world, universities need to create more robust and agile international experiences for students using alternative formats, facilitating shorter travel experiences, more cultural exposure through technology, and allowing more options for international faculty and students to participate in the life of the college. Universities have an invaluable opportunity to rethink their international offers and approaches, working with the assumption that students will still want to travel (even more than before) and that international travel will eventually resume operations.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in full or partial lockdowns of higher education institutions (HEIs) in most countries worldwide. On the other hand, HEIs around the world were faced with the difficult questions of how to continue to provide training, learning and research activities to students during outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. Online and blended learnings are relatively new modes of teaching and learning activities which enable HEIs to offer either online only or a combination of online and physical-based programs of study respectively. Adoption of such learning practices helped ensure continued HEIs operations during outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. However, there are HEIs which still have no or limited investment in online and blended learning. This chapter outlines the different models of online and blended learning that HEIs can adopt, demystify the benefits, values and challenges posed by these models, necessary infrastructure including information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as required staff and student support services to ensure effective and efficient uptake and usage. It further shows that with a deliberate initial investment in the necessary infrastructure, staff and student support services, the resources of and potential for online and blended programs can be enormous. It also outlines remote learning models that HEIs can adopt, how to support students’ readiness for online and blended learning, the benefits and challenges posed by employing online and blended learning in HEIs and the necessary infrastructure and support services.

Recent decades have shown a great increase in online and blended learning and teaching practices in higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to explore and assess the existing literature on best practices in online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion. Additionally, emerging practices Post-COVID-19 related to online and hybrid teaching as applicable to the field of health education/promotion were also explored.

In order to collect the materials for the study, a Boolean search of CINAHL, MEDLINE, and ERIC, Education Research Complete databases was carried out using the terms and headings such as “online teaching,” “hybrid teaching,” “health education,” “health promotion,” and “public health” for the time period 2010–2020. The criteria for inclusion of the studies were: (1) publication in English language, (2) full-text peer-reviewed publications between 2010 and 2020, and (3) location of studies anywhere in the world Exclusion criteria were publications in languages other than English and studies published prior to 2010. Using the key terms “online teaching” and “public health” yielded 10 results and “online teaching” and “health education” yielded 19 results. This review highlighted the scant published literature (as gauged by studies published in the last decade) on efficacy and application of online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion.

We encourage health education professionals to conduct experimental and quasi-experimental studies for assessing efficacy of online and hybrid teaching and learning particularly using evidence-based frameworks such as Quality Matters (QM) or Online Learning Consortium (OLC) quality scorecard as mentioned earlier.