ABSTRACT
Introduction: The impact of COVID-19 on small-scale fishing communities is of great concern given the importance of aquatic foods in trade, nutrition and livelihoods. Using a case study of Lake Victoria, augmented by published literature, we examine the socioeconomic dynamics and severity of COVID-19 impacts on Kenyan fishing communities. Methods: A household level questionnaire was administered through phone interviews on a monthly basis from June 2020 to May 2021, including a focus group discussion in July 2021. Results: We find that multifold fear of COVID-19 infection and control measures were present and varied across case rates and stringency of control measures. Fishers and traders reported being affected by disease control measures that limited market access and their ability to fish overnight. In spite of these worries, and contrary to what has been reported in the published literature regarding impacts observed in the early months of the pandemic, we see stable participation in fishing and fish trading over time despite the pandemic. Food insecurity was high before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, but did not substantially shift with the pandemic. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that Kenyan fishing and fish trading households adopted diverse strategies to cope and balance generating income to provide for their families and staying safe. Our results underscore the need to understand ways in which acute pandemic impacts evolve over time given that effects are likely heterogeneous across small-scale fishing communities. Copyright © 2023 Okronipa, Bageant, Baez, Onyango, Aura and Fiorella.
ABSTRACT
Study Objectives: COVID-19 dramatically changed weekly academic conferences with virtual presentations replacing in-person didactics. Through group chat functions, modern communication platforms provide the opportunity for synchronous online discussions to occur in parallel with didactic presentations. We sought to qualitatively characterize the content, nature, and educational uses of synchronous online discussions occurring during weekly academic conferences and to assess the attitudes of lecturers and audience members towards these discussions. Methods: Transcripts of synchronous online discussions occurring from 7/1/20 to 12/31/20 were qualitatively analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Initial themes were identified by the primary author. Following a preliminary coding by the study authors, the themes were iteratively refined to arrive at a final coding strategy. Each month’s transcripts were coded by 2 study authors. When there was disagreement between coders, the primary author made a final coding determination. Following the study period, a survey distributed to residents and faculty assessed attitudes towards the synchronous online discussions. Results: The qualitative analysis of the transcripts identified 2352 coded messages. The final coding schema can be seen in Figure 1. Of 1720 identified content codes, the most commonly identified themes were cultural communications (40.8%) and knowledge sharing (39.0%). Within the broader theme of knowledge sharing, participants were most likely to share individual practice experience (366/671 codes). Statements with uncited data/evidence (113 codes) occurred in similar frequency to sharing of academic resources (137 codes). Questions directed towards other members of the audience (48.8% of questions) were only slightly less common than questions directed to the lecturer (51.2% of questions). There were 56 respondents to the survey (30 residents, 25 faculty, 1 fellow). Of the 44 respondents that had presented didactics, 54.5% (24/44) identified that it was challenging to keep up with the synchronous online discussion. From the perspective of the audience, 82.1% (46/56) felt it was easy to keep up with the discussion. Presenters of didactics felt identifying a member of the audience as a surrogate was the easiest means to keep up with the discussion (75%, 33/44 presenters). Audience members agreed that they were much more likely to ask a question in a synchronous online discussion as opposed to speaking out loud (71.4%, 40/56). Conclusions: Weekly academic conferences are a critical component of residency education, enabling not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the social sharing of knowledge/experiences developing of robust communities of practice. Our qualitative analysis found that cultural communication occurred with near equal frequency to knowledge sharing and that sharing of individual practice experiences was more common than sharing of academic resources. These synchronous online discussions may make it more likely for audience members to ask questions of each other or the lecturer but keeping up with the discussion was challenging for lecturers. [Formula presented]
ABSTRACT
Undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups (URG) in institutions of higher education with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers often lack the support, resources, and community necessary to succeed in their desired fields. Through mentoring, webinars, seminars, and various research presentation opportunities, national societies and "locally-based" institutional student chapters provide atmospheres in which URG undergraduates can develop the skills required for academic and professional careers in STEM. In addition, national societies and student chapters contribute to outreach activities aimed towards the public in order to foster interest in STEM, as well as to primary and secondary school students to help them develop competency in skills and areas that lead to successful STEM careers. While many of these societies have operated for decades, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an unexpected roadblock, creating difficulties in terms of maintaining community dynamics and overcoming limits on in-person meetings. Though the conditions were challenging, they allowed for new perspectives on problem-solving in the face of adversity. The pandemic promoted the development of creative ways by which institutions and national societies could continue to educate students virtually. In this review, we discuss the role of national societies and student chapters in providing URG students with resources and skills to succeed in STEM fields while incorporating them into a community of like-minded peers with similar experiences.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Columbia University’s School of Social Work created a webinar series to support faculty who had to quickly transition to online teaching without prior e-learning experience. The award-winning series was freely open to all faculty anywhere, and shared the School’s expertise from running a high quality online master’s degree program and intensive online faculty training institute. This article describes the series’ goals, planning, logistics, sessions, and impact. © 2020 IEEE.