Unplugging for Student Success: Examining the Benefits of Disconnecting from Technology during COVID-19 Education for Emergency Planning

The COVID-19 outbreak revealed the fragility not only of our species but also of society, which has demonstrated its ability to adapt to challenging conditions and to learn from disasters. One of the most pressing issues during the pandemic was the delivery of education during lockdowns. Education in emergency was established using various communication media, hastening the digitalization of education. However, this also highlighted the impact on the mental health of students, who were already experiencing overuse of the internet and electronic devices prior to the pandemic. In response, Tecnologico de Monterrey, a private Mexican university that also offers high school programs, launched the "Unplugged Day” initiative, which encouraged students to disconnect from electronic devices and participate in physical, cultural, creative, or reflective activities. This study applied a voluntary survey to 1850 students from March to May 2021 on a weekly basis, with the aim of analyzing symptoms of insomnia, emotions, perceptions of online education, sources of stress, and the need for professional support to manage their emotions in relation to their participation in Unplugged Day activities. Our results, obtained through a quantitative methodology, confirmed the impact of the emergency, lockdown, and forced remote education on the mental health of students. Furthermore, the results revealed that the Unplugged Day initiative is a strategy that promoted students' well-being during online education. The respondents also suggested strategies for promoting mental health and well-being of learners, whether in an emergency or not. These findings provide valuable information for governments and educational institutions to implement policies and strategies for planning education in emergency situations and for addressing the ongoing global problems of stress and mental health, which are related to the increasing use of electronic devices and the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of global society. It is our responsibility to improve education so that it can play its role in preserving cultural heritage, overcoming adversity, rebuilding after catastrophes, and shaping a better future for generations to come. © 2023 by the authors.

Higher education in the crisis period: A comparative analysis of the Ukrainian experience of online or blended tefl during the pandemic and the war

The article is dedicated to the problem of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in higher education during the crisis period by an example of a Ukrainian experience of teaching during the pandemic and the war. In the beginning, the research focused only on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the TEFL at tertiary schools in Ukraine. However, after the outbreak of the war on the territory of Ukraine on 24th February 2022, it became clear that the experience could be extrapolated to the conditions of other crises, in particular, to the conditions of armed aggression. This article uses mixed quantitative and qualitative comparative methods to analyze the survey results of educators' attitudes toward online and blended learning. The blind questionnaire was held in May 2021 and then repeated in February 2023. The participants (n=70, n = 69) were representatives of about 50 higher education institutions (HEI) from all over Ukraine. The research is a case study with context-dependent knowledge;however, it may be with some reservations relevant to other countries under similar conditions. The instrument included 10 questions related to the participant's previous experience of online teaching, reflections on the most difficult elements of online teaching, advantages and disadvantages of online teaching, and types of learning activities that can easily be adapted and transferred into online mode of learning. The questionnaire also covers the role of a teacher in online learning, the overall assessment of the experience of online learning and preferences of the mode of teaching which the teachers would like to preserve. The structure of the questionnaire included 4 multiple-choice single-answer questions and 6 multiple-choice multiple-answer questions. Answers from the two polls of respondents were then compared using Fisher's correlation coefficient to prove the statistical significance of the received data. The results of the questionnaire have shown that the majority of participants (61%;42%) think that implementation of blended learning is the best option to use in the universities, thus presenting a need to the higher education system of Ukraine to develop and introduce blended learning curricula. © 2023, Slovenska Vzdelavacia Obstaravacia. All rights reserved.

Teaching in a lockdown: The impact of COVID-19 on teachers' capacity to teach across different school types in Nigeria.

Using the Capability Approach as a theoretical lens, this study employed mixed methods to examine teachers' capacity to deliver teaching across school types during closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The data analysed for this study was collected using an online survey and semi-structured interviews via phone with 1901 respondents, including teachers. This study investigated the support and resources available to teachers to contribute to quality teaching remotely using online learning platforms. Our findings showed that even with the expectation for teachers to continue teaching in a pandemic, many teachers in Nigeria lacked the pedagogical competencies and resources to deliver teaching remotely or virtually. We, therefore, recommend an urgent need for ministries of education to prioritise addressing challenges confronting teachers and equip them with the required pedagogical competencies and resources to deliver online learning even during a humanitarian emergency.

The Gender Gap in Engineering Education during the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Study Case

—Higher education in Spain, especially in Madrid, was suddenly and unexpectedly shut down on March 9th 2020 because of the beginning of the COVID-19 first wave emergency. In engineering education, where practical laboratories are a relevant part of the educational process, professors followed different approaches (sometimes concurrently), designed after only three or five days of discussions. Although, globally, the obtained results are acceptable considering the situation, after informally analyzing the data and observing the post-lockdown students’ profile, some collectives seem to have suffered a higher impact than other. Three research questions are analyzed. The objective of this work is to analyze if the performance of women in engineering courses, specifically in computer engineering, is different from male students. The study case is carried out at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, particularly, in the computer engineering degree. Furthermore, if a statistically relevant difference is discovered (based on Mann-Whitney U test), the final causes of this worrying situation will be studied. Official academic results and other similar indicators were analyzed. Besides, more than one hundred surveys among students were developed. Percentage of women (participants) is above 30%. Results clearly show a deterioration in all indicators for all collectives and students, comparing the performance during the lockdown and the performance of previous years. However, this impact is not homogenous, and results also show a gender gap placing women in engineering education during the lockdown (an after) in a disadvantaged situation. © 2021 Kassel University Press GmbH. All rights reserved.

Education response to COVID 19 pandemic, a special issue proposed by UNICEF: Editorial review.

This editorial paper presents 11 papers related to the special issue proposed by UNICEF on the Education Response to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic provoked an education emergency of unprecedented scale. At its onset in February 2020, school closures were announced in the worst-hit countries. At the peak of the crisis, 90 per cent of learners worldwide had had their education disrupted. Some learners, especially those from the most marginalised population groups, were put at risk of permanent dropout, provoking long-term and significant negative effects on children's life-long wellbeing and the socio-economic development of their communities and countries. This special issue, which received contributions from UNICEF staff and various researchers, focuses on the impact of school closures, the effectiveness of remote learning solutions, equity implications, the mitigation of learning loss and notions around re-opening better. Different research perspectives and evidence is gathered to help strengthen policy considerations and future planning. The conclusion emphasizes building on the innovative solutions generated by the response to the crisis to make education systems more resilient, whilst also reinforcing the focus on equity and inclusion so that pre-existing disparities are not exacerbated in the future.