scholarly journals Online Learning and Emergency Remote Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges in Emergency Situations

Societies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Fernando Ferri ◽  
Patrizia Grifoni ◽  
Tiziana Guzzo
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Online Discussion Forum ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Internet Connections ◽  
International Experts ◽  
Physical Spaces

The aim of the study is to analyse the opportunities and challenges of emergency remote teaching based on experiences of the COVID-19 emergency. A qualitative research method was undertaken in two steps. In the first step, a thematic analysis of an online discussion forum with international experts from different sectors and countries was carried out. In the second step (an Italian case study), both the data and the statements of opinion leaders from secondary online sources, including web articles, statistical data and legislation, were analysed. The results reveal several technological, pedagogical and social challenges. The technological challenges are mainly related to the unreliability of Internet connections and many students’ lack of necessary electronic devices. The pedagogical challenges are principally associated with teachers’ and learners’ lack of digital skills, the lack of structured content versus the abundance of online resources, learners’ lack of interactivity and motivation and teachers’ lack of social and cognitive presence (the ability to construct meaning through sustained communication within a community of inquiry). The social challenges are mainly related to the lack of human interaction between teachers and students as well as among the latter, the lack of physical spaces at home to receive lessons and the lack of support of parents who are frequently working remotely in the same spaces. Based on the lessons learned from this worldwide emergency, challenges and proposals for action to face these same challenges, which should be and sometimes have been implemented, are provided.

scholarly journals Remote teaching & digital platform during pandemic Teacher education and teacher competence effects among teachers & principles in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 457-472
Author(s):  
SHANTI RAMANLINGAM
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Teacher Competence ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
State Education ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Internet Connections ◽  
Physical Spaces

The purpose of this research is analyzing the opportunities and challenges of emergency remote teaching based on experiences of the COVID-19 emergency among teachers and principals of Malaysian schools.  This study explores the perceptions of school teachers of online learning in a program developed in Malaysian school called School from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A qualitative research method was undertaken in two steps.   In the first step, a thematic analysis a qualitative method was used based on a two-step process. The first step consisted a Qualitative study which involved 4 school principals from Grade A and Grade B schools which is selected from four state which is Selangor, Johor, Kedah and Kelantan. In the second step (a Malaysian case study), The results from the interview discussion represented the basis for the second step, in which starting from the main issues that emerged from the online discussion among researches, professors and also Higher Education Offices from Ministry of Education and State Education Officers. The analysis reveals several technological, pedagogical and social challenges. The technological challenges are mainly related to the unreliability of Internet connections and many students’ lack of necessary electronic devices. (Chandler. D, 2017)   The pedagogical challenges are principally associated with teachers’ and learners’ lack of digital skills, the lack of structured content versus the abundance of online resources, learners’ lack of interactivity and motivation and teachers’ lack of social and cognitive presence (the ability to construct meaning through sustained communication within a community of inquiry) (Gordon, 2020) The social challenges are mainly related to the lack of human interaction between teachers and students as well as among the latter, the lack of physical spaces at home to receive lessons and the lack of support of parents who are frequently working remotely in the same spaces. Based on the lessons learned from this worldwide emergency, challenges and proposals for action to face these same challenges, which should be and sometimes have been implemented, are provided.  

Didactic, Technological, and Social Challenges in Portuguese Higher Education During the Pandemic Confinement

2021 ◽  
pp. 92-113
Author(s):  
Cecília Vieira Guerra ◽  
Maria José Loureiro ◽  
Susana Senos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Education ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Internet Connections ◽  
Portuguese Higher Education ◽  
Physical Spaces

This chapter presents testimonials of 12 national experts in the field of educational technology concerning the main didactic, technological, and social challenges they faced throughout the “emergency remote teaching” that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement. All experts are professors in Portuguese universities or polytechnic institutions, and they are acquainted with the “distance education” modality. An online questionnaire was applied to these 12 professors in order to collect their opinions about the main challenges during this period. Based on a content analysis technique, the results revealed several technological (e.g., unpredictability of internet connections), didactic (e.g., the teachers' lack of technological pedagogical content knowledge), and social challenges (e.g., the lack of proper physical spaces at home). Based on the lessons learned from this worldwide pandemic emergency, and critically reflecting about it, recommendations are suggested for future action to “distance education” in higher education.

Online ethnography: a study of software developers and software development

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Rodrigo Cordoba-Pachon ◽  
Cecilia Loureiro-Koechlin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Ethnography ◽  
Area Of Interest

Purpose – Qualitative research has made important contributions to social science by enabling researchers to engage with people and get an in-depth understanding of their views, beliefs and perceptions about social phenomena. With new and electronically mediated forms of human interaction (e.g. the online world), there are new opportunities for researchers to gather data and participate with or observe people in online groups. The purpose of this paper is to present features, challenges and possibilities for online ethnography as an innovative form of qualitative research. Design/methodology/approach – Ethnography is about telling a story about what happens in a particular setting or settings. In order to do this online, it is important to revisit, adopt and adapt some ideas about traditional (offline) ethnography. The paper distinguishes online ethnography from other types of research. It draws some generic features of online ethnography and identifies challenges for it. With these ideas in mind the paper presents and provides a reflection of an online ethnography of software developers. Findings – Online ethnography can provide valuable insights about social phenomena. The paper identifies generic features of this approach and a number of challenges related to its practice. These challenges have to do with to the choice of settings, use of online data for research, representation of people and generation of valuable and useful knowledge. The paper also highlights issues for future consideration in research and practice. Practical implications – The ethnography helped the researcher to identify and address a number of methodological challenges in practice and position herself in relation to relevant audiences she wanted to speak to. The paper also suggests different orientations to online ethnography. Lessons learned highlight potential contributions as well as further possibilities for qualitative research in the online world. Originality/value – Online ethnography offers possibilities to engage with a global audience of research subjects. For academics and practitioners the paper opens up possibilities to use online tools for research and it shows that the use of these tools can help overcome difficulties in access and interaction with people and to study a diversity of research topics, not only those that exist online. The paper offers guidance for researchers about where to start and how to proceed if they want to conduct online ethnography and generate useful and valuable knowledge in their area of interest.

scholarly journals Hobbit: Providing Fall Detection and Prevention for the Elderly in the Real World

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Bajones ◽  
David Fischinger ◽  
Astrid Weiss ◽  
Daniel Wolf ◽  
Markus Vincze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Fall Detection ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Service Robot ◽  
Emergency Situations

We present the robot developed within the Hobbit project, a socially assistive service robot aiming at the challenge of enabling prolonged independent living of elderly people in their own homes. We present the second prototype (Hobbit PT2) in terms of hardware and functionality improvements following first user studies. Our main contribution lies within the description of all components developed within the Hobbit project, leading to autonomous operation of 371 days during field trials in Austria, Greece, and Sweden. In these field trials, we studied how 18 elderly users (aged 75 years and older) lived with the autonomously interacting service robot over multiple weeks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a multifunctional, low-cost service robot equipped with a manipulator was studied and evaluated for several weeks under real-world conditions. We show that Hobbit’s adaptive approach towards the user increasingly eased the interaction between the users and Hobbit. We provide lessons learned regarding the need for adaptive behavior coordination, support during emergency situations, and clear communication of robotic actions and their consequences for fellow researchers who are developing an autonomous, low-cost service robot designed to interact with their users in domestic contexts. Our trials show the necessity to move out into actual user homes, as only there can we encounter issues such as misinterpretation of actions during unscripted human-robot interaction.

scholarly journals Adaptive Manufacturing for Healthcare During the COVID-19 Emergency and Beyond

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Vallatos ◽  
James M. Maguire ◽  
Nikolas Pilavakis ◽  
Gabrielis Cerniauskas ◽  
Alexander Sturtivant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Product Lifecycle Management ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Distributed Manufacturing ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Reverse Engineer ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Lifecycle Management ◽  
Cottage Industries

During the COVID-19 pandemic, global health services have faced unprecedented demands. Many key workers in health and social care have experienced crippling shortages of personal protective equipment, and clinical engineers in hospitals have been severely stretched due to insufficient supplies of medical devices and equipment. Many engineers who normally work in other sectors have been redeployed to address the crisis, and they have rapidly improvised solutions to some of the challenges that emerged, using a combination of low-tech and cutting-edge methods. Much publicity has been given to efforts to design new ventilator systems and the production of 3D-printed face shields, but many other devices and systems have been developed or explored. This paper presents a description of efforts to reverse engineer or redesign critical parts, specifically a manifold for an anaesthesia station, a leak port, plasticware for COVID-19 testing, and a syringe pump lock box. The insights obtained from these projects were used to develop a product lifecycle management system based on Aras Innovator, which could with further work be deployed to facilitate future rapid response manufacturing of bespoke hardware for healthcare. The lessons learned could inform plans to exploit distributed manufacturing to secure back-up supply chains for future emergency situations. If applied generally, the concept of distributed manufacturing could give rise to “21st century cottage industries” or “nanofactories,” where high-tech goods are produced locally in small batches.

Internal Communication in EU Project Management in Bucharest University of Economic Studies

2013 ◽  
pp. 204-244
Author(s):  
Andra Florina Irinca
Keyword(s):  
Internal Communication ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Large Institution ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Institutional Communication ◽  
Eu Project ◽  
Economic Studies

The present research underlines the importance of communication within an organization among its main stakeholders and its influence on the external market. It passes through explaining the communication in all fields and domains, creating an overview of the institutional communication, and why it is considered difficult to effectively propagate within a large institution. In addition, the internal communication and information and research so far conducted is analyzed with respect to the findings and lessons learned. In addition, it is important to know and understand how the internal communication evolved during years and which were the main approaches identified throughout the organizations. The case study aims to evaluate the level of information and the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal communication process within Bucharest University of Economic Studies with respect to its projects developed and financed through European funds in the last six years. The study is mainly run through the help of the questionnaire that was addressed to teachers and students within the faculty and has also the purpose to help improve the related communication in the foreseeable future based on the relevant findings.

Don't Forget About Us

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-140
Author(s):  
Rayshawn L. Eastman ◽  
April Eddie ◽  
Kelli Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Low Income ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Education Professionals ◽  
Racial Minority Students ◽  
Diverse Student ◽  
Higher Education Professionals

Through narratives, this chapter explores the perspectives of three higher education professionals who served diverse student bodies during a pandemic. Detailing their experiences, the authors address efforts made to support underrepresented students during a pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 were vast and even more impactful for underrepresented students. The challenges of taking classes during a pandemic, combined with the known social challenges of 2020, made for an unforgettable period of time. This chapter addresses lessons learned, best practices, and suggestions for supporting students during a pandemic. The authors define underrepresented students as first-generation, LGBT+, low-income, and ethnic/racial minority students.

scholarly journals Theory to practice: How the City of Utrecht develops a Health and Equity in all Policies approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Weber ◽  
M Droomers
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Economically Deprived ◽  
Professional Assistance ◽  
One Year

Abstract Introduction We witness an increase in Health in All Policies approaches worldwide. In Utrecht this inter-sectoral and multi-level governance approach is strong since several years. Utrecht has made progress in linking spatial challenges with social challenges, aiming for healthy urban living for all. An example is social renovation, in which social housing corporations combine physical renovation with social programs in Overvecht, the most socio-economically deprived neighbourhood in Utrecht. The project addresses social determinants of health, such as income, education and employment, and subsequently improvement of health of the residents. Methods In April 2020, social renovation of an apartment building of around 180 households will start. During the exploration phase, community workers carry out door-to-door visits. This forms the basis for community development activities and provides the possibility to refer residents directly to professional assistance. After one year, the actual renovation starts. Following, new residents are purposely selected and assigned to the newly renovated flats that have been vacated during the process. Results Impact of the social renovation process on health and health determinants will be evaluated. The door-to-door visits are used to interview the residents about their wellbeing, stress, mental and physical health condition, sense of mastery, financial problems, perceived safety, and social and physical living environment. Interviews will be repeated during the community development phase (after six months), and just before the start of the physical renovation (after one year). Discussion Social renovation aims to contribute to and preferably improve residents' personal living conditions and social living environment, instead of just improving their housing conditions. Lessons learned from this process will inspire replication and upscaling in other neighbourhoods.

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