Communication media as mediators of telework frequency and knowledge sharing in Japan under COVID-19

This paper examines how telework frequency has affected the usage of major communication media, and subsequently knowledge sharing, among a large sample of full-time Japanese employees with no prior telework experience during the country's fourth COVID-19 state of emergency. Results suggest that mandatory telework resulted in lower use of face-to-face meetings and phone calls;in higher use of instant messaging and virtual meetings, and that it had no effect on e-mail use. Moreover, phone call, instant messaging, and virtual meeting frequencies were found to mediate the relationship between telework frequency and knowledge sharing. These findings highlight the importance of both existing and newer communication media in offsetting the loss of face-to-face meeting opportunities. Government-mandated telework may have accelerated the adoption of new communication tools such as instant messaging and virtual meeting, which had not yet gained full acceptance before the pandemic.

The role of secure instant messaging applications in medical education: Evaluating student satisfaction in a case-based learning program using Siilo.

Background: Instant messaging applications for mobile phones have recently grown in popularity among medical personnel, including both physicians and medical students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education was largely transferred to virtual platforms, making such applications an increasingly important tool for medical education. "Siilo" is a secure instant messaging application that was designed for medical professionals, and offers several advantages over other instant messaging services that are vital for its use in medical settings, including information security, data encryption, and a built-in blurring tool to maintain patient privacy. In addition, Siilo allows for the creation of individual folders for each case, enabling users to conduct separate discussions about multiple patients simultaneously. Objective: To evaluate student satisfaction in a case-based learning program using Siilo as a medical education tool in improving student learning outcomes and motivation. Methods: A case-based learning program was conducted with 24 fifth-year medical students using Siilo to evaluate its effectiveness as a medical education tool. The program was evaluated through the use of pre- and post-program questionnaires and focus group discussions to assess student satisfaction. Results: The majority of students (83.3%) were highly satisfied with the Siilo platform and felt that it enhanced their learning experience, and a majority of students (79.1%) reported that the program was highly effective. Students reported that the platform was easy to use and provided a clear and organized way to follow discussions about cases. The focus group discussions further revealed that students appreciated the real-time communication and felt that the use of Siilo helped to improve the quality of communication and collaboration during the learning process. The use of Siilo as a medical education tool was found to contribute to positive relationships between doctors and students and improve student motivation for learning and outcomes. Conclusion: These findings suggest that Siilo can be a valuable resource for medical education, particularly due to its secure and convenient features, which are well-suited for use in medical settings. The use of Siilo in a case-based learning program was found to be effective in improving student satisfaction and learning outcomes and contributed to positive relationships between doctors and students. These results highlight the potential for utilizing mobile instant messaging apps as a tool for enhancing clinical teaching in medical education.

Rhizomatic Learning and Use of Mobile Instant Messaging Platforms: Case of University of Technology in South Africa

Rapid development and adoption of mobile technologies including mobile instant messaging (MIM) platforms have transformed teaching and learning practices over the past decade. This paper presents an analysis of how students used WhatsApp as an example of a MIM platform to organise their learning activities. Drawing on rhizomatic learning theory (RLT), the study showed that WhatsApp supported students to navigate through a complex network of learning where knowledge was generated beyond the confines of the formal learning context. WhatsApp supported learners during the transition to remote learning that was introduced during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, WhatsApp use supported learners to cope well with new learning experiences and practices. The study offers insights into the perspective of learners on the use of technology during challenging and uncertain times. The insights can be useful for lecturers when developing technology strategies and teaching best practices during uncertain times. © 2022 IGI Global. All rights reserved.

CONCEPT PAPER FOR ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF WORKING FROM HOME

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the workplace. It drove a mass social experiment in working from home. To mitigate the spread of the virus and protect employees, many companies shifted to remote work with video calls and instant messaging replacing in-person meetings. Several studies have shown that working from home boosted worker productivity, with the reduction in commuting time being the greatest contributing factor;thus, it will stick in the post-pandemic economy. In addition, studies have also shown that there is an increase in the number of people wanting to work remotely. However, choosing to work remotely can affect people's budgets. For instance, working from home reduces transportation costs but many remote workers have seen an increase in their energy bills. In addition, many remote workers paid for home office setup on their own. This study analyzes the overall benefit and disbenefit of working from home and performs an economic analysis of working from home for an individual. Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2022.

Instant Message App-Based COVID-19 Outbreak Reminder Service Via Climate-Based Prediction

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is serious, in order to maintain the quality of life and safety, it is very important to remind people of the outbreak. Because when the SARS pandemic occurred in the past, it was found that the pandemic situation had a certain relationship with the weather. Therefore, we tried to analyze the relationship between the pandemic situation and the weather by analyzing big data information, and we also tried to conclude the possible pandemic situation and climate-related prediction rules through big data. We hope to use the most popular instant messaging software - LINE in Taiwan to assist in the auxiliary reminders of the pandemic. When people use the weather pandemic robot, they can also find the correlation between the weather and the pandemic, and it also helps to remind the public to pay more attention to their own health. © 2022 IEEE.

Delegitimizing the Legitimate: Dark Social Movements on Telegram

In this study, we empirically examine conspiracies on the end-to-end encrypted instant messaging platform Telegram. Using the theoretical framework of dark social movements, we provide a first look at conspiratorial topics disseminated by right-wing extremists in Canada. This study examines conspiracies related to the Great Reset, Great Awakening, United Nations, technology, China, deep state, COVID-19, Islamophobia, and the New World Order. To conduct our study, we downloaded all 270,806 posts available across 21 Telegram channels selected based on their affiliation and/or association with the far-right in Canada. Using mixed-methods entailing traditional content analysis of sampled data as well as a digital investigation of the overall dataset, our findings illustrate a tendency to delegitimize the legitimate with seven conspiratorial topics and trends related to COVID-19, the interconnected nature of conspiracies, technology (5G Network, QR Codes, etc.), the Great Awakening, the deep state and political polarization, children-saving, and critical race and/or religion. We discuss how dark social movements on Telegram orbit around increasingly mainstream conspiracies that enable the far-right to coordinate activities, share similar ideas, and troll opponents.

Security and Privacy in Unified Communication

The use of unified communication;video conferencing, audio conferencing, and instant messaging has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, security and privacy considerations have often been neglected. This article provides a comprehensive survey of security and privacy in Unified Communication (UC). We systematically analyze security and privacy threats and mitigations in a generic UC scenario. Based on this, we analyze security and privacy features of the major UC market leaders, and we draw conclusions on the overall UC landscape. While confidentiality in communication channels is generally well protected through encryption, other privacy properties are mostly lacking on UC platforms. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Nearby nature in lockdown: Practices and affordances for leisure in urban green spaces

During the Covid-19 pandemic, urban green spaces provided a route to connect with everyday 'nearby natures'. The paper explores the reconfiguration of leisure practices during restrictions, utilising theory on affordances and social practices to explore what people valued in urban green spaces and what can be learnt from a period when relationships with these spaces were in sharp focus. The study participants utilised Mobile Instant Messaging Diaries to present their lived experiences first-hand. Participants developed routines that involved engaging with urban green spaces as part of their daily structure, and this brought practices based around meaningful actions in these spaces to the fore. Urban green spaces became meaningful when they served a purpose, when they built knowledge and skill, and when they supported social needs. During lockdown, a patchwork of urban green spaces became useful. The findings call for more attention to be paid to small pockets of urban green space to afford nature connectivity and to the value of a social practice lens as a tool for providers to explore affordances and exclusions. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in Problematic News Cycles on Social Media and Instant Messaging Services during the Covid-19 Pandemic The Impact of News Use, Political Discussion, and Ideological Extremism

After a period of initial enthusiasm about the greater communication power offered to citizens by the Internet, scholars now share a widespread concern about online participation in problematic news cycles. In particular, social media (SM) have attracted scholars' interest in mis and disinformation processes. Less attention has been paid to semi-private instant messaging services (IMs);moreover, the literature about SM/IMs has principally investigated the process of fake news amplification, neglecting other participatory practices that can challenge democratic processes when driven by cognitive bias, inadequate skills, or digital hate. Against this background, and distinguishing between SM and IMs, this study provides evidence about the impact of citizens' digital news use, online political discussion, and ideological extremism on misinformation amplification, verification, and correction. Relying on a longitudinal survey administered during the Covid-19 emergency to a representative sample of online Italian adults, the study shows a counter-intuitive and paradoxical positive association between the expressive use of SM/IMs and these three forms of participation in problematic information cycles. Moreover, the analyses show that extreme ideological stances asymmetrically affect these participatory practices. These associations encourage further research to understand the extent to which – in other social and media contexts – a politically active and ideologically extreme citizenry may increase online problematic information © 2022, Comunicazione Politica.All Rights Reserved.

Exposure to COVID-19 Misinformation Across Instant Messaging Apps: Moderating Roles of News Media and Interpersonal Communication

Given that instant messaging apps have been identified as a new conduit of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) misinformation, this study pursues two goals. The first is to examine the associations between exposure to COVID-19 misinformation through instant messaging apps on the one hand and knowledge and preventive behavioral intention, on the other. The second is to test whether news media and interpersonal communication moderate these relationships. By analyzing survey data from 1,209 adults from the general population of South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that exposure to COVID-19 misinformation across instant messaging apps was negatively related to COVID-19 knowledge and COVID-19–preventive behavioral intention. However, the negative link between misinformation exposure and preventive behavioral intention differed depending on the level of news media exposure and interpersonal communication. Specifically, the negative association between COVID-19 misinformation exposure and preventive behavioral intention was weaker among individuals who were exposed to more COVID-19 news media and participated in more interpersonal communication about COVID-19. © 2023 (Woohyun Yoo, Sang-Hwa Oh, and Doo-Hun Choi). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.

WhatsApp? Opportunities and Challenges in the Use of a Messaging App as a Qualitative Research Tool

This article evaluates the use of the popular Mobile Messaging App (MMA) WhatsApp as a way to conduct qualitative research with geographically dispersed samples. Through the use of a case study of Latino expat-wives around the globe, we show how traditional methods of qualitative interviewing were adapted and evolved through the use of this application. Findings suggest that WhatsApp is a valuable tool for conducting qualitative research with specific advantages over other MMAs and VoIPs due to its familiarity amongst the target group and its flexible blending of video, audio, and written forms of communication. Particularly its use on smartphones led to interactions that went beyond regular face-to-face interviews, thus allowing us access normally only gained in ethnography studies. While this can be a gain in terms of building rapport and increase the depth of data collection, it also brings new challenges in terms of ensuring data quality, interpreting non-verbal cues and ensuring high ethical standards.

What time and what place? Technologies' diverging role in online schooling across socioeconomical contexts during covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic destabilized the prevailing grammar of schooling and forced schools to rely on digital technologies to create new routines and practices. This offers a unique opportunity to examine the interplay between digital technologies and the temporospatial features of schooling, and how these relations were mediated via contextual features. Based on semi-structured interviews with principals and teachers in Muslim-Palestinian and secular-Jewish schools in Jerusalem, this paper qualitatively analyzes the main technological tools used by educators: instant messaging (WhatsApp), video-conferencing (Zoom) and school-wide platforms (Google Classroom). Our findings stress how technological affordances varied according to socioeconomic status and diverging perceptions of schooling. Specifically, we found that lower-SES Palestinian schools, who faced more acute challenges, utilized digital technologies to restabilize the grammar of schooling in order to monitor and support students' basic needs, whereas average-SES Jewish schools focused on facilitating informal interactions that catered to students' emotional wellbeing. © ISLS.

LINE Chatbot For Covid-19 Wellness Support using Sentence Similarity Measurement

The development of Mobile Applications in Indonesia is proliferating, especially in the development of Information Technology (IT) through social media and Instant Messaging (IM). The chatbot feature in some IMs is used daily to obtain information, one of which is LINE Messenger. Based on a survey conducted by authors to 221 respondents, the average number of respondents was 75.1% who were LINE users. In addition, the Covid-19 outbreak has hit the world. Covid-19 is a pandemic that is happening in many countries around the world. Therefore, many people are worried about the impact, and the authority must be ready to overcome the problem caused by this. Various research and collaborative efforts for Covid-19 wellness support by utilizing IT were conducted. This paper reports the use of LINE Chatbot as a platform to support the Covid-19 wellness program with the Sentence Similarity Measurement method. In addition to the chatbot, we created a website to make it easier for users to access the chatbot and obtain information generated from user queries. The accuracy rate of the SSM method for the Covid-19 chatbot is 85.71% in responding to user natural language questions. © 2022 IEEE.

Digital media as therapeutic stage and intermediary objects in the psychotherapy of traumatized children and adolescents: Use of smartphones and Co. as therapeutic tools with children and adolescents, case vignettes from psychotherapeutic practice

This contribution in the journal Zeitschrift fur Psychodrama und Soziometrie deals with the question of how we can use digital media effectively in Psychodramatherapy with children and adolescents. In times of crisis it is most important for us human beings to keep in contact, support each other and learn from each other. This contribution presents the flexible use of the new technical options, which lead to expansion of Psychodrama psychotherapy and which are useful especially in Traumatherapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (German) Dieser Beitrag der Zeitschrift fur Psychodrama und Soziometrie setzt sich mit der Frage auseinander, wie wir digitale Medien in der Psychodramatherapie mit Kindern und Jugendlichen wirkungsvoll zum Einsatz bringen konnen. In Krisenzeiten ist es fur uns Menschen besonders wichtig, den Kontakt zueinander aufrechterhalten, einander unterstutzen und voneinander lernen zu konnen. In diesem Beitrag wird ein flexibler Umgang mit den neuen technischen Moglichkeiten gezeigt, die zur Erweiterung der Therapiemethode Psychodrama fuhren und besonders in der Traumatherapie hilfreich sind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Factors affecting students’ online behavioral intention in using discussion forum

Purpose>The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting university students’ participation in discussion forum of electronic learning platforms of teacher–student interaction.Design/methodology/approach>One-stage cluster sampling was used and a cross-sectional survey of 113 university students from four courses was done.Findings>A combined model based on United theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and DeLone and McLean models serves as a research framework. Female and male students’ behavioral intentions were affected by different factors. System quality affects male students’ behavioral intention and information quality affects female students’ behavioral intention. Social influence affects female students’ behavioral intention but male students. Men are more focused on the hardware and women are more focused on the content of the message.Research limitations/implications>The research is limited by the nature of university students. User experience and underlying perceived risk are possible moderators. Dyad approach could be considered. One way to enhance students and teachers’ academic discussion is to establish a closed university social media site. The site should be made mobile-friendly with chatbot included.Originality/value>The results support the validity of the proposed new research framework on e-learning platform by the constructs coming from two established models: UTAUT model and DeLone and McLean’s model. Factors affecting intention and use behavior in discussion forum are different for male and female students. System quality affects male students’ behavioral intention, while information quality affects female students’ behavioral intention. Social influence affects female students’ behavioral intention but not male students.

A Case Study on the Evaluation of WhatsApp Groups Established for Managerial Purposes by Academicians

Teknolojik gelişmeler iletişimin geleneksel doǧasının sayısal mesajlaşmaya doǧru evrilmesini saǧlamıştır. Bu gelişmeler COVID-19 sürecinde ivme kazanarak anlık mesajlaşma ve sosyal medya iletişimini ön plana çıkarmıştır. Anlık mesajlaşma uygulamalarından biri olan WhatsApp, biçimsel olmayan iletişimin yanı sıra biçimsel olarak da yönetim amaçlı kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Örgütlerde yöneticilerin sıklıkla tercih etmeye başladıǧı güçlü bir iletişim aracı haline gelen WhatsApp'ın resmi bilgi ve belge paylaşımı platformlarının yerini alarak örgütsel amaca hizmet edecek şekilde kullanımı yaygınlaşmıştır. Yönetici akademisyenlerin konuya ilişkin yaklaşımları uygulamanın etkin kullanımı ve sürdürülebilirliǧi açısından önemlidir. Mesajlaşma uygulamalarının bu şekilde resmi bir niteliǧe büründürülmesinin örgütsel amaca hizmet edip etmediǧinin ve çalışanlar tarafından nasıl algılandıǧının araştırılması çalışmanın temel amacını oluşturmaktadır. Bu araştırma nitel bir araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak açıklayıcı/tanımlayıcı durum çalışması türünde desenlenmiş ve çalışma grubundan toplanan veriler betimsel analiz yapılarak bulgulara ulaşılmıştır. Yapılan analiz sonucunda;grup yapısı ve özellikleri, iletişim, iş birliǧi, psiko-sosyal etki, olumsuz görüşler olarak beş ana tema ve on alt tema belirlenmiştir. Çalışmadan elde edilen sonuçlara göre yönetsel amaçla kurulan WhatsApp gruplarından yapılan paylaşımlarla ilgili olarak çoǧu katılımcı olumlu bazıları ise olumsuz görüş bildirmişlerdir.Alternate :Technological developments have enabled the traditional nature of communication to evolve into group messaging. These developments gained momentum amid the COVID-19 process and brought instant messaging and social media communication to the forefront. WhatsApp, one of the most commonly used instant messaging applications for informal communication, has also started being favored more for formal communication in organizational management. WhatsApp has become a powerful professional communication tool that organizational administrators preferred, has become to serve organizational purposes as an alternative to formal information and document sharing platforms. This study aims to investigate whether WhatsApp messaging effectively serves organizational purposes in higher education, and evaluates how it is perceived and utilized by academicians. This case study is a type of qualitative research where the data collected from the workgroup are analyzed by descriptive analysis to obtain findings. Five main themes are derived from the analysis;namely group structure and characteristics, communication, cooperation, psycho-social impact, negative opinions, and related ten sub-themes were detected. According to the results derived from the study, the participants expressed mostly positive and some negative perceptions regarding the communication made through the WhatsApp groups established for administrative purposes.

Smartphone technology for communications between clinicians - A scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: This scoping review aims to review explore, assess, and map the literature to inform clinical practice regarding communication between clinicians. Specific Apps/channels used were identified and assessed with a focus on data security with key concepts and knowledge gaps identified. DATA: The Joanna Briggs Institute framework is followed, with search results reported as per the PRISMA ScR for scoping reviews guidelines. SOURCES: A systematic search strategy encompassing EBSCO and OneSearch databases was conducted - two identical searches, (June and October 2020) limited to English language articles published 2016-2020. A narrative synthesis was used to integrate and report the findings. STUDY SELECTION: Sixty-six publications were selected. Twelve from EBSCO, thirty-five from OneSearch, nineteen were hand searched. Sixteen of the publications were research studies, nine were literature reviews, twenty-six were editorial, one was a newspaper article and fourteen were grey literature. Instant Messaging (40%, n = 23), image sharing (41%, n = 24), and video conferencing (19%, n = 11) were functions most popular with clinicians. WhatsApp, generic instant messaging, Facebook messenger, ZOOM, and Skype are evidenced as channels for communication between clinicians within the EU. A sizeable proportion of the publications (38%; n = 25) failed to identify or adequately address technical security concerns and requirements around privacy and data protection. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians use smartphones /Apps to communicate clinical information with each other. The security and privacy issues arising from their communication of sensitive data is absent or only superficially acknowledged within the literature. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Clinician's need clearer guidance on the use of smartphone technology for clinical communications.

Students' views about using WhatsApp for learning histology during COVID-19 / Opinión del alumnado sobre el uso de WhatsApp en el aprendizaje de la histología durante COVID-19

RESUMEN: La pandemia de COVID-19 ha provocado importantes retos para el sistema de enseñanza superior. Las medidas adoptadas para prevenir la transmisión comunitaria han desplazado la enseñanza presencial frente a la virtual. Las nuevas prácticas de enseñanza y aprendizaje adoptadas han planteado la necesidad de reforzar la dimensión social del aprendizaje. En este contexto, hemos implementado el uso de WhatsApp para interactuar y compartir contenidos académicos en un pequeño grupo de estudiantes de un curso de Histología. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la percepción de los estudiantes sobre la eficacia de esta red social para facilitar la comunicación y compartir información educativa, su utilidad en el aprendizaje y su capacidad para modificar la dimensión afectiva durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes tenían una actitud positiva hacia el uso de WhatsApp en el entorno de aprendizaje, de modo que facilitó la comunicación y la cohesión del grupo, favoreció el aprendizaje y redujo la ansiedad ante la evaluación. Así, las redes sociales deberían integrarse en el proceso de aprendizaje teniendo en cuenta las características del alumnado.

SUMMARY: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant challenges for the higher education system. The adopted measures to prevent community transmission have shifted face-to-face teaching to virtual education. The new adopted teaching and learning practices have raised the need for reinforcing the social dimension of learning. In this context, we have implemented the use of WhatsApp to interact and sharing academic contents in a small group of students in a Histology course. The aim of this study was to evaluate the students' perceptions about the effectiveness of this social network in facilitating communication and sharing educational information, its usefulness in learning, and its ability to modify the affective dimension during the teaching- learning process. The results showed that students had a positive attitude towards the use of WhatsApp in the learning environment, so that it facilitated communication and group cohesion, favored learning and reduced anxiety in the face of evaluation. Thus, social networks must be integrated in learning process considering students' characteristics.

Associations of Face-to-Face and Instant Messaging Family Communication and Their Contents With Family Wellbeing and Personal Happiness Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Both face-to-face and instant messaging (IM) communication are important for families, but face-to-face communication has reduced amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the use and contents of both communication methods amidst the pandemic, their associations with family wellbeing and personal happiness, and the mediation effects of communication quality in Hong Kong Chinese adults. Methods: This population-based online survey enrolled 4,921 respondents in May 2020, who reported (i) any face-to-face or IM family communication when the pandemic was severe; (ii) communication contents being classified as neutral, positive, supportive, and negative; and (iii) communication quality, family wellbeing and personal happiness (score 0-10). Associations of family wellbeing and personal happiness with communication methods and contents (no communication excluded) were examined using linear regressions (ß), adjusting for each other, sex, age, socioeconomic status, and the number of cohabitants. Mediating effects of communication quality on these associations were examined. Prevalence estimates were weighted by sex, age, and education of the general population. Interactions of methods and contents were examined. Results: Of 4,891 included respondents (female: 52.9%, 45-54 years: 37.7%, ≥65 years: 21.3%), 7.1% reported no communication, 12.7% face-to-face communication only, 26.7% IM only, and 53.4% both methods. More males and those at younger ages, had lower socioeconomic status, or fewer cohabitants showed no family communication or face-to-face only. More respondents reported neutral (83.1-99.3%) than positive (42.1-62.2%), supportive (37.5-54.8%), and negative (10.9-34.5%) contents despite communication methods. Communication quality was higher with both methods than IM only, face-to-face only, and no communication (scores: 6.7 vs. 4.5-6.6, all P ≤ 0.02). Better family wellbeing and personal happiness were associated with using IM only (adjusted ßs: 0.37 and 0.48) and both methods (0.37 and 0.42) than face-to-face only, and positive (0.62 and 0.74) or supportive (0.45 and 0.46) contents (all P ≤ 0.001). Communication quality mediated 35.2-93.5% of these associations. Stronger associations between positive contents and family wellbeing showed in both methods and face-to-face only than IM only (P for interaction = 0.006). Conclusions: We have first shown that, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, family IM communication and positive and supportive contents may promote family wellbeing and personal happiness. People with no family communication may need assistance.

Participatory parity through teaching with Telegram

The COVID19 pandemic thrust emergency remote teaching (ERT) into the global spotlight and thereby undeniably changed aspects of the higher education (HE) landscape. For a developing country such as South Africa (SA), the use of the mobile instant messaging (MIM) application (app) called Telegram represents a practicable solution to overcome historical socio-economic challenges faced by certain demographic groups of limited or restricted access to devices and data. Against this backdrop, a Telegram teaching intervention was developed by two lecturers in the Engineering Faculty at a University of Technology (UoT) in SA to deliver curriculum content and engage with students in a low-tech, low-cost/low-data usage manner, and consequently to widen access to education, promote inclusivity and thereby facilitate student access, retention and success. This study explored student perceptions of the MIM app being used as a primary vehicle to deliver succinct instructional materials and facilitate class activities to offset the lack of face-to-face classes in a multimodal and flexible curriculum delivery approach. Following the completion of the Telegram teaching intervention, a mixed method approach was used that included two online surveys measuring different aspects of the same project (n=34 and n=32) and a focus group interview (n=6). Three research lenses suggested by Fraser (2008) were used to evaluate student perceptions of the usefulness and (dis)advantages of Telegram. These lenses were: (1) redistribution (of resources), (2) recognition (related to social status) and (3) representation (who can act/say/challenge in an academic environment). Ethical clearance was obtained from Cape Peninsula University of Technology's Ethics committee. Initial results indicate that using the Telegram app for teaching and learning was successful. Significantly, the app allows for the emergence of a socially just online classroom environment and an inclusive and enabling learning experience for the students during a very disruptive and fearful time in the world's history.