Blending Pedagogies in Higher Education

This paper presents analysis of evidence on the ways in which the connection between technology and scholarship supported a Community of Practice (CoP) for instructors in a faculty of education in Canada. The goal is to reflect on different types of pedagogical practices of CoP members. We discuss the ways in which both social learning and online technology were harnessed to support professional learning. We based the analysis on notions of collective learning and Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory that inform studies on professional development. The main unit of analysis is the learning community (Wenger, 1998). CoP members jointly analyzed data from aggregated questionnaires, anonymized notes, and audio and textual recordings of selected meetings, resources archived and follow-up reflection by CoP members. The results showed that four pedagogies were most highly ascribed by CoP members: Culturally Responsive Pedagogies (11.63%; e.g., caring pedagogies, Healing, Global Transformative and Reconciliatory pedagogies), Hands-on and Digital Pedagogies (11.63%; e.g., Maker Education and Materiality pedagogies), Story Telling Pedagogies (13.95%; e.g., Deep, Imaginative, Surprise, Participatory, Story Telling and Learners as Curriculum Makers pedagogies), and 21st Century Teaching (16.28%; e.g., Blended, Digital and Online pedagogies). The findings provide evidence that there is potential in harnessing digital technology for social learning environments within the context of faculty responding to changing higher education institutional factors, including those motivated by the neoliberal management culture.

Approaches Using Social Media Platforms for Teaching English Literature Online

In the modern era of globalization, language and literature learning and comparative literary competencies are inextricably intertwined. Online learning and teaching, and telecollaboration are a great benefit to literature students who do not have face-to-face intercultural opportunities with members of diverse languages, literature, and cultures. Even, online teaching and learning make academics borderless and remove walls. The present study explores principles and new strategies for teaching English literature online. This article addresses how to adopt literary lesson plans for different types of learners, set clear expectations with students, and build rapport and community with students in teaching literature online. This research discusses the right EdTech tools and curricula support and investigates the way to use social media platforms e.g. YouTube as supplementary sources in e-teaching and e-learning for literary content. The results show that online pedagogies can develop Literature educators and students' skills and promote their literary knowledge along with converting a Web-primarily based totally environment into a social network with social media platforms crossing teach, learn and lands, inaccessible areas, and those who have limited instructive supports and facilities for creating equal opportunities.

When online learning is a must: a case study of emergency remote teaching in higher education

The health crisis caused by COVID-19 has urged face-to-face universities to adapt to the distance-teaching mode. This research seeks to analyse teaching and learning strategies and experiences during the confinement period in the context of the Faculty of Education of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (N=29 teachers, 227 students). The results reveal that design of the course has reproduced face-to-face practices tending towards content-based learning. Lecturers have experienced difficulties deriving from a lack of digital competence and literacy in online pedagogies and students with reference to the paradigm shift that affect their role and tasks. In conclusion, there are pedagogical and technological changes that are here to stay and that the future of higher education will be hybrid. Teachers are predisposed to continue learning about the use of digital technologies and innovative teaching methods while there is a need to incorporate such competences into educators’ educational programmes.

I Need Help! Physical Educators Transition to Distance Learning During COVID-19

During the spring of 2020, school districts across the United States were required to shift to distance learning modalities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced schools to close their doors to face-to-face instruction and quickly shift to an online format. While online education is prevalent in the United States, it only serves about 2% to 4% of the total K–12 population. Literature related to K–12 online physical education is sparse and there are concerns regarding accountability. This study used a grounded theory approach and collected data through open-ended questions as part of an online survey. Data clearly indicate that physical educators need assistance in the transition to distance learning, especially in developing plans for teaching motor skills and online pedagogies. Many of the teachers in this study expressed frustration with how their school leadership handled the shift to distance learning, partially due to the marginalization of the subject matter. Physical educators need the tools to expand their pedagogical technological knowledge as well as resources to advocate for themselves and their subject during adverse situations in schools. The shift to distance learning has the potential to have positive outcomes, as teachers were forced out of their comfort zones to learn new technology skills that may translate to enhanced learning in the faceto- face environment. Future studies should focus on development of distance learning pedagogies and seek to understand how to support teachers during crisis learning situations.

Teachers’ Training Course Using Synchronous Conferencing Tools for Hospitality and Tourism Education in Vietnam: A Constructivist Approach

Despite its significant damage to the hospitality and tourism industry, the pandemic of COVID-19 indeed has reinforced the needs for not only the hospitality and tourism education, but also the whole educational system of Vietnam, to make use of technological innovations in education, among which synchronous conferencing tools are currently utilized for changing their mode from physical classroom to online learning. This study adopts the constructivist approaches to propose a training course designed to enhance the skills needed for teaching with synchronous conferencing technology for teachers in Vietnam's hospitality and tourism institutions. We based on the current literature to identify the necessary skills to implement classes via synchronous conferencing environments. We also selected and designed learning activities to translate constructivist teaching theory into online pedagogies. Although it needs to be evaluated in further studies, this course design is expected to contribute to the growing literature on methods to improve instructors’ readiness to teach in virtual classrooms.

Teachers’ Voices on the Impact of COVID-19 on School Education: Are Ed-Tech Companies Really the Panacea?

COVID-19 has brought about changes to the education system that impact teachers in multiple ways. The article discusses the views of affected teachers under the three-gap framework: access, usage, and pedagogical skills gap. Between 29 April 2020, and 29 May 2020, an online survey was administered to 550 Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) teachers, of which 288 responded. The data show that the inequalities between private schools and government schools are sharpened by the move to online education. This is compounded by the fact that students from economically weaker sections of society have become hard to reach, and teachers do not know how to support hard-to-reach students who are also severely affected by the pandemic. The data also show that teachers have not been trained in online pedagogies. Ed-Tech companies have been stepping in, presenting themselves as a panacea to the problem with further consequences to teachers’ profession, standing, and livelihoods. However, Ed-Tech solutions are not relevant for hard-to-reach students or teachers in schools that serve hard-to-reach communities. The article first presents the voices of teachers affected by the pandemic and then critically examines the role of Ed-Tech companies, which pertain to fill the online pedagogical gap.

UniCollaboration plenary session: virtual learning goes to camp – online pedagogies in contexts of emergency and crisis

Just by way of introduction, here are some of the far flung criteria we have to consider when we go to an emergency setting when trying to figure out how we can bring the university to a camp. A lot of people are going hungry where we work, and providing meals and transport in refugee camps so people can attend class is very much a part of what we need to think about. Equally important is to figure out how to get women into a classroom. Designing and locating a classroom in a vast refugee camp and close to where people fetch water might seem very strange to any university in our regular setting, but to us it is one of the variables that we consider. Fetching water is a woman’s job and if women have to fetch water for five or six hours a day and your classroom is not near a water hub then they are not going to come. So, what I would like to do today is to help you visualise where we work. It is very difficult to imagine if you have never been out there. That is why it is useful to have some visual impressions. What does it look like, what does it mean to live in a refugee camp? Is it as bad as they say or is it as wonderful as they say?

Comparing Traditional and Online Instructional Delivery

This paper first describes the dilemma of online pedagogies. Then it reviews prior research in business courses about the outcomes of online instruction compared with traditional methods. Prior research suffers from various research methodology issues that are categorized. Subsequently, a pre/poststudy of over 200 undergraduate business statistics students is presented using one-sample and two-population tests to address the learning outcomes of instructional delivery. Overall, based on this sound research design, online instructional delivery resulted in learning outcomes, measured on three dimensions, that were found to be statistically equivalent to those of traditional delivery.

“Face-to-Face Trumps Everything”: An Exploration of Tutor Perceptions, Beliefs and Practice Within Blended Learning Environments

This paper explores the practices of higher education tutors in blended learning contexts. Significantly, the influence of their perceptions on practice was considered by investigating previous teaching and learning experiences, and their views of the affordances blended learning offers adult learners. The analysis was undertaken in relation to these learners’ perceptions of their tutors whilst studying part-time, vocationally relevant degrees, at a distance. A mixed methods approach was adopted to conduct a detailed exploration of eight tutors’ practice. Data analysis suggested that all tutors had negative experiences of online learning as students with these perceptions appearing to influence their practice. They generally avoided online pedagogies and adopted alternative approaches to their practice, namely a focus on face-to-face delivery with enhanced learner support, which was found to align with their described pedagogical beliefs. These tutors considered online teaching and learning as a deficit in this context.