Norms, appropriation, and social affordances in studying in emergency remote teaching: a meta-analysis of student experiences

In March 2020, all Swedish university education went online practically overnight due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focuses on how university students experienced emergency remote teaching in the autumn of 2020. This article provides a thematic meta-analysis of 53 student group reports based on a total of 247 interviews with third-year university students. The findings suggest three themes of particular interest regarding what areas the students themselves find important or challenging: awareness of what it means to be a student, technology reframing communication, and the need for explicit guidance. The findings are discussed in relation to norms, appropriation, and social affordances, as important factors to consider in emergency remote teaching. [or as] blended or hybrid courses and that will return to that format once the crisis or emergency has abated” (Hodges et al., 2020, p. 7). The primary objective "is not to re-create a robust educational ecosystem, but rather to provide temporary access to instruction and instructional support in a manner that is quick to set up and is reliably available during an emergency or crisis” (Hodges et al., 2020, p. 7). One important characteristic of ERT is that it is a short-term solution, with the ambition of going back to the format used before ERT. Therefore, ERT's "intent is to create temporary access to instruction and instructional support that is easily implemented and available during [a] crisis” (Rivera et al, 2021, p. 213). Although ERT is a short-term solution without any explicit pedagogical or didactical ambitions, ERT may include qualities that the unique students appre-ciate. In this article, we use ERT as a descriptive framing of the educational situation in the autumn of 2020. Scope and research question Although there is a growing body of primarily quantitative studies on ERT, there is still a limited number of qualitative studies on students' experiences of ERT during the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-depth understanding of students' experiences is essential in order to provide a nuanced picture of the qualities and challenges associated with ERT. The research question for this study is thus: How do university students experience emergency remote teaching (ERT)? The scope of this study is a qualitative analysis of Swedish university students' responses to interview questions regarding their experiences of ERT. The empirical data give a unique insight into how 247 third-year university students experienced ERT during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 Patrik Hernwall, Annika Käck & Johan Stymne.

Ecosystem degradation and the spread of Covid-19.

The linkages between the emergence of zoonotic diseases and ecosystem degradation have been widely acknowledged by the scientific community and policy makers. In this paper we investigate the relationship between human overexploitation of natural resources, represented by the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production Index (HANPP) and the spread of Covid-19 cases during the first pandemic wave in 730 regions of 63 countries worldwide. Using a Bayesian estimation technique, we highlight the significant role of HANPP as a driver of Covid-19 diffusion, besides confirming the well-known impact of population size and the effects of other socio-economic variables. We believe that these findings could be relevant for policy makers in their effort towards a more sustainable intensive agriculture and responsible urbanisation.

Capital, Capitalism and Health

The Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to increased scholarly attention to an important ‘human need': good health. This article is about the relation between workers' health and capitalist production, as Marx examines it in his magnum opus. While Marx's main focus in Capital Volume 1 is on the production of surplus value by workers and its appropriation by capitalists, he does provide insights into how capitalism ruins the health of workers themselves, although these insights are scattered. In this article, I systematically re-articulate and analyse Marx's thoughts about workers' health in relation to some of the key-categories of his political economy: the value of labour power relative to wages;employment precarity;long working day;hidden abode of production;capitalists' despotic control over workers;and the capitalist transformation of nature. I briefly relate Marx's ideas about workers' health from Capital Volume 1 to some contemporary research on the social dimensions of health. I also show that Marx's explicit ideas about workers' health, which are my main focus, point to a broader approach to the topic that is only implicit in his thinking. I draw out some practical implications of this approach.

Enhancing the Digital Literacy Experience of Teachers to Bolster Learning in the 21st Century

The interconnected constructs of education in the 21st century cannot be divorced from teacher training. This article reports on the digital literacy experience of teachers amidst the worldwide recommendations of using distance learning and open educational applications to address education during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Altogether, 840 participants were purposively selected from urban, semi-urban, and rural areas in South Africa;217 completed an online qualitative survey, while 23 took part in three virtual focus-group discussions. Van Dijk’s Resources and Appropriation Theory guided the study. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings revealed the gaps between what is expected of teachers and their own realities, besides teachers’ eagerness to be involved in digital literacy. Recommendations include the need to continually align the teacher education curriculum with the country’s skills need and to provide teachers with the required support. Associated directions for further research are suggested. © 2022, Commonwealth of Learning. All rights reserved.

Ruling Abstractions and Unruly Spaces

Olga Tokarczuk, The Book of Jacob A character in Olga Tokarczuk's magnificent novel The Book of Jacob refers to the time that is "not yet" historical;a time that is, in some ways, frozen, and as such excluded from the developmentalist and civilizationist historical narratives. Since its inception, the world-systems perspective has been concerned with the problem of historical time. In world-systems analysis, time and space are seen as substantive properties of social relations, and the network of relations that comprises the capitalist world economy produces its own temporal spatial and temporal configurations. [...]Çaǧrı Ídiman in the second part of his essay on Tributary World-Ecologies, brings into sharper historical relief the distinctive element of capitalist worldecology, distinguished from other world-ecologies by simultaneous transformation of productive relation and mode of appropriation of labor and nature.

BARCELONA’S GREENING PARADOX AS AN EMERGING GLOBAL CITY AND TOURISM DESTINATION

Following an ambitious urban renewal program that began in the late 1980s, Barcelona has become a major tourism destination in the Mediterranean. As an emerging global city, planners in Barcelona today are greening the city through park improvements, street re-designs and street traffic-calming initiatives. While striving to provide locals with green amenities, these beautification projects have also produced unexpected consequences, as they bring in more visitors and accelerate gentrification. Currently, few city greening projects can avoid discussions of gentrification, and neighborhood groups have begun to organize in opposition to the touristification that has made their neighborhoods unaffordable and/or exclusive. While the current COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced the number of visitors to Barcelona-producing a new experience for local residents-the impacts on local street life, public space, housing and gentrification trends remain uncertain. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Isabelle Anguelovski and James J. T. Connolly.

‘I feel like Sophie Scholl’: the (mis)appropriation of icons of anti-Nazi resistance in contemporary Germany

Germany’s Covid-19 protesters and members of the far right have tried to appropriate two key historical figures associated with the German anti-Nazi resistance, Sophie Scholl (1921–1943), who distributed anti-government leaflets, and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907–1944), the mastermind of the failed coup of 20 July 1944. Neumann places these attempts in the context of the afterlives of Scholl, Stauffenberg and aspiring Hitler assassin Georg Elser (1903–1945). First, he argues that the far right’s attempt to claim Stauffenberg should not be read as a move to deny the Holocaust, nor to reject Germany’s responsibility for it, but rather to distance itself from Holocaust deniers and shift public discourses about German identity and history. Second, he argues that Covid-19 protesters have identified with Scholl because she has been considered the quintessential ‘good German’, she cannot be located on a left–right political spectrum and she represents German resistance as well as victimhood. Finally, he suggests that the success of these attempts to appropriate historical figures points to a lack of knowledge not about Nazi Germany’s victims, or about Scholl and Stauffenberg themselves, but rather about the nature of the Nazi regime.

ICT Relevance at Food Short Channels

In recent decades there has been a growth in healthier forms of production (agroecological products) and more direct forms of linkage between producer and consumer (short channels). In turn, the spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) fosters direct contact between producers and consumers. This paper analyzes the trajectory of social appropriation of ICT in agroecological food marketing short circuits based on the case study Tu Raíz, an entrepreneurship in the southeast of the province of Buenos Aires. In addition, it is proposed to reflect on their actions in the face of the Social, Preventive and Mandatory Isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Concepts from the Theory of Communication and the Sociology of Innovation are used, understanding ICT as communication technologies that are socially constructed. Following qualitative methodology, interviews are conducted, physical spaces are observed and digital spaces are analyzed. Based on the trajectory of the case study, an attempt is made to reflect on the importance of ICT in this type of entrepreneurship, while at the same time allowing us to visualize how their expansion is favored during the pandemic in those cases that have already been working with ICT © Revista Iberoamericana de Viticultura Agroindustria y Ruralidad.All rights reserved.

Toward Coordinated use of Digital and Institutional Social Networks in Higher Education During the Health Crisis

The unexpected situation of the COVID-19 pandemic forced all parties involved, starting from March 16, 2020, to switch to distance education training courses immediately in order to ensure pedagogical continuity in French universities. Everyone concerned had to face this abrupt and radical upheaval in teaching and learning conditions. With the aim of ensuring coordinated use of the digital tools of the EAD in this period of health crisis, we show, based on research carried out in one of the components of Unistra, what could be the determinants of a success in the coordinated of digital and institutional social networks.

The new normalcy and its signic renewal in the architectural space

After the sARs-CoV-2 pandemic, the new normalcy is real and little by little we are assimilating it, so it is necessary to try to clarify the inhabitation of the architectural space together with the pragmatic inquiry of its user. These elements provide an image of the space in which it is possible to appreciate the architectural coexistence as a whole covered under the semiotic theory of signs. There are different ways of understanding architecture, and its design is considered as a formal and functional activity, which due to the cognitive distancing of rationalist architecture, generated a crisis that led to an application of the scientific method with the purpose of freeing itself from all formal concepts, where there is no representation of the space but a configuration linked to the functional value of these (the spaces) and as a consequence the design process advances from the interior to the exterior.

Exploring women's initiatives for family business resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose Family businesses have contributed significantly to economic growth in various countries, including Indonesia. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic reduced the world economy and caused economic shocks in various business sectors. Women successors face significant challenges in overcoming family business problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of resilience, which is seen as the organization's prominent ability for sustainability in a turbulent environment. Thus, this study aims to explore women's initiatives and propose a framework for family business resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach to explore women's initiatives in family business resilience during the COVID-19 period. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with five women's successors of family businesses in Indonesia. Triangulation was used to test data validity. Meanwhile, data analysis uses the Miles-Huberman technique: data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing/verification. Findings This study found that women have the initiative to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and implement resilience in the family business. This study proposes a framework for factors that enhance family business resilience, including strategic decision-making (adaptive capacity, strategy renewal and appropriation capacity), strategic factors (successor motivation, successor competence and family support) and successor incremental program. Women have a long-term orientation toward the sustainability of their family businesses and can overcome various conflicts. The stereotypical view of women's leadership in family businesses has experienced a shift in which capability and competence are the main factors in recognizing women's leadership. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding women's roles in the resilience of family businesses under extreme stress during the pandemic. This study proposes a framework for family business resilience. In addition, this study adds new insights into the specific context of managing family business systems during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the resource-based view (RBV) and strategic management approach.

Care Workers Making Use of Robots: Results of a Three-Month Study on Human-Robot Interaction within a Care Home

Research on social robots in care has often focused on either the care recipients or the technology itself, neglecting the care workers who, in and through their collaborative and coordinative practices, will need to work with the robots. To better understand these interactions with a social robot (Pepper), we undertook a 3 month long-term study within a care home to gain empirical insights into the way the robot was used. We observed how care workers learned to use the device, applied it to their daily work life, and encountered obstacles. Our findings show that the care workers used the robot regularly (1:07 hours/day) mostly in one-to-one interactions with residents. While the robot had a limited effect on reducing the workload of care workers, it had other positive effects, demonstrating the potential to enhance the quality of care. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Laylayan Theology: Listening to the Voices from the Margins

This paper aims to introduce and argue the need for laylayan theology. It theologizes a Filipino cultural concept that has been appropriated that privileges and brings to the fore the voices of the people from the margins. In this study, the invaluable contributions of indigenous Christian youths, the basic ecclesial communities, and bai (Filipina Christian leaders) to the Christian faith and mission are articulated. Laylayan theology hopes to promote further reflections and discourse towards prophetic dialogue between Christians from the margins and other members of society.

Tracing Contacts With Mobile Phones to Curb the Pandemic: Topics and Stances in People's Online Comments About the Official German Contact-Tracing App

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a health crisis with 90 million infections and two million deaths by the end of January 2021. To prevent an overload of medical capacities, quickly identifying potentially infected persons is vital to stop the spread of the virus. Mobile apps for tracing people's contacts seem efective, but raise public concerns, e. g., about privacy. Hence, they are contested in public discourse. We report a large-scale NLP-supported analysis of people's comments about the German contact-tracing app on news websites, social media and app stores. We identifed prevalent topics, stances, and how commenting developed over time. We found privacy to be among the most debated topics discussed from various perspectives. Commenting peaked at one point in time, when public discourse centered on the potential tracing protocols and their privacy protection. We encourage further research on the link between the public discussions and actual adoption rates of the app.

Waiting for "Good Care". Biomedicine and the Elderly in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Older persons in North Sulawesi (Indonesia) shared a long experience with biomedical health interventions during Soeharto's New Order administration. These vertically and top-down structured development activities in health no longer fit current demographic, epidemiological, and social transformations in Indonesia. The rapidly aging communities, the sharp increase in non-communicable diseases, and aging impairments along with rapidly changing household assemblages call for a biomedical public health that ideally covers cure and care in equal shares. This understanding and vision of "good care' leads to a dynamic appropriation of biomedical services initiated by older persons. Here the monthly local health post sessions for elderly people occupy center stage of this appropriative process: a highly formalized and ritualized medical check-up based on the administration of drug which covers basic curative needs. In addition, the local cadres for aged persons play a significant role as intermediary and broker between an elderly patient, his/her caregiver(s), and the health professionals. Yet. except for the cadres' home visits, the existing biomedical health system is not very concerned with eldercare (or social care) at household level-for ill older persons fully dependent on kin care truly a "missing link." Biomedicine in turn increasingly attempts to appropriate elder health as its new market commodity. Thereby, the four fields of pharmaceuticalization, national health insurance scheme, biomedicalization as control and exercise of power in care, and commercialization of elder health support biomedicine in its pursuit of the hegemonic appropriation of older persons' health and illness. However, dislocations and disjunctures due to the Covid-19 pandemic clearly reveal the structural vulnerability of this biomedical health system: Its sudden unreliability and unsustainability leads not only to a loss of trust in it, but also to a higher degree of vulnerability on the side of older persons in need of cure and care.