Online University Teaching During COVID-19: The Malaysian Experience

Malaysia, like the rest of the world, was hard hit by SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19. After the first COVID-19 case was detected in Malaysia (on January 25, 2020) and traced back to three Chinese nationals, the country was put under Movement Control Order (MCO), a partial lockdown, initially for two weeks, on 18th March. Among MCO consequences: close major economic sectors and educational institutions. Public universities, which began a new semester under a Ministry of Higher Education ruling, switched to online teaching and learning. This chapter chronicles public university experiences with online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 period. A brief background captures the measures taken by the government;how these steps affected university education is appraised next;and finally, the steps taken by the universities to activate online teaching and learning. What challenges cropped up and how to deal with them are acknowledged before drawing conclusions from the online teaching and learning experiences of Malaysian universities. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

Italian Hospital Teachers' Perceptions of Technological and Methodological Innovations after the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant long-term impact on education worldwide. In many countries, schools and universities experienced a rapid switch to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL), which affected many education systems in the 2020–21 school year. This was true for the Italian educational context as a whole, including School in Hospital (SiHo) services. This study explored how the SiHo functioned in Italy during the 2020–2021 school year. The aim was to explore what, if any, changes the emergency brought about in educational practices and in the adoption of technologies in this specific context, with a particular focus on any differences between school levels. The study was conducted with 252 SiHo teachers using a questionnaire format. The results showed that after the forced adoption of distance modes during the spring 2020, face-to-face teaching returned to be the prevalent mode in the 2020–2021 school year, with some exceptions for upper-secondary school students (covered by ministerial provisions). The teaching approach that SiHO teachers prefer, both for face-to-face and distance lessons, remains frontal instruction, probably given the particular needs of their students. Younger students probably experienced the most significant changes due to the limits imposed on interpersonal contact in hospitals, which prevented group work and play, previously commonly adopted by kindergarten and primary school teachers. In terms of technology integration in educational practice, teachers stated that they had acquired greater competence in the use of a variety of technological resources. © 2023 The Author(s).

Using social connection to drive engagement in emergency remote teaching and learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities worldwide to deliver emergency remote online teaching and learning. This study analyses teaching practices at a globally ranked Australian university. These practices were adopted to develop connection with students in the absence of face-to-face learning. Complex adaptive system theory is applied, and a mixed research method adopted to examine the evolution of the remote classroom and to understand behaviour as a process of self-organisation. We find that social connection is the underlying mechanism by which the classroom evolved to meet the learning outcomes within the remote online teaching and learning environment. In response to initial transition and institutional pressures, educators attempted to replicate online their work in a face-to-face environment, creating surrogate social connectedness. Our study findings not only extend the literature on the continuing impact of the pandemic on higher education but also highlight the need for pedagogy to drive change and the importance of social connectedness.

Remote Chinese Teaching and Learning at Japanese Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Universities in Japan have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter summarizes Emergent Remote Teaching (ERT) during 2020, based on the results of several large-scale questionnaire surveys of teachers and the students at higher education institutions offering Chinese language education. The findings demonstrated that satisfaction and the desire to continue online education was generally high among students, while teachers were overall less satisfied. This chapter also investigated technology-mediated Chinese language teaching in Japanese universities prior to COVID-19, which paved the way for the ERT. These comprehensive summaries provide insights into key concepts for the sustainable development of Chinese teaching and learning in Japan. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Educators by proxy: Emergency remote teaching and learning in the voice of parents

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led educational systems worldwide to transpose activities planned for face-to-face education to mediated contexts - through what is known as Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL). This posed unprecedented challenges to schools, teachers, families, and students. In this context, it was relevant to describe and understand how parents perceived this process, including what challenges to themselves and their children they faced and what advantages they acknowledged in the process. The present study focuses on Portuguese parents' views on this process. Methods: Data were gathered in April and May 2020 through an online questionnaire answered by 184 parents of preschool, basic, and secondary education students (ages 3–18). The present paper presents data from open questions analyzed by deductive and inductive content analysis using MaxQDA. Results and discussion: Results evidence three overarching themes: equity, parental labor, and the meaning of school. Parents reveal substantial difficulties juggling the role of proxy educator and parent and point to inequalities - including those concerning very young children, children with disabilities or learning difficulties, students enrolled in professional education, families with insufficient access to technologies, and parents working from home. The school is portrayed as a crucial environment for development, a designated space for learning and caretaking, but also a relational and emotional context. Despite this scenario, parents acknowledge ERTL as having positive aspects and as the possible outlet to keep education going even in extreme situations. Copyright © 2023 Seabra, Abelha, Aires and Teixeira.

Drawing on students' lived experiences in emergency remote teaching (ERT): reflections from a critical pedagogy inspired writing class

This study focuses on one particular attribute of critical pedagogy, which is engaging with the lived experiences of students. The aim was to examine how students experienced writing about their immediate realities under emergency remote teaching and learning conditions. Students were asked to write about what they had learnt as a result of being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, they were invited to post these stories on an online platform. Four themes emerged from students' reflections on writing about this experience. First, they felt that writing was purposeful and that they were writing for a larger audience. Second, because time and space for critical reflection was provided, some level of renewed dispositions towards the self and others was experienced. Third, writing became an emotionally charged process. Finally, numerous students reflected that writing about something so personal and being encouraged to share their experiences on a public online platform brought about a sense of discomfort. Hence, teachers who want to engage with critical pedagogy under "emergency” conditions may need to recontextualise their practice to suit the present needs and realities of students.

Humanising pedagogy in times of the COVID-19 emergency: Student and academic voices in South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled higher education institutions (HEIs) to rethink, redesign, and respond in real time. The dramatic closure of education institutions in South Africa, and in other countries worldwide, raised several questions in terms of the adaptability and readiness of the HEI sector to adapt and respond to the changes. The changes called into question issues such as in-person teaching and learning practices, digital resources, academic staff and student readiness for learning in digital environments, and connectivity and access to internet services and facilities. As a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, the roles of academics and students have changed drastically. This has prompted worldwide scrutiny of teaching and learning in a way never experienced. The implementation of sustainable pedagogical approaches requires broad consultation particularly with key stakeholders such as academics and students. Lack of academic and student engagement can gravely affect the sustainability of any new pedagogical models that are rolled out. The aim of this chapter is to appraise the voices of students and academics working in teacher education during the rapid, unplanned, move to digital teaching and learning. Using an interpretative paradigm and case study design that involved online class observations and personal interviews with professors, lecturers and students, the chapter reports on the distress, discomfort, and frustration that students and staff in emergency remote teaching and learning suffered. The experience resulted from, inter alia, uneven access to digital literacy, mental health support, power generation supply, and digital learning and information communication technologies. Framed within notions of humanising pedagogy, the chapter provides critical reflections on lessons learnt from these voices. © 2022 by Leila Kajee.

Minority Education during the Pandemic: The Case of the Slovene Minority in Italy

Much research has been done on the first quarantine period in 2020, however little is known for what it concerns remote emergency teaching and learning in Italian schools with Slovene as language of instruction. No extensive research explored teachers' and students' perceptions of this remote learning period, nor analyzed their opinion about positive and negative aspects of online learning, especially those related to the teaching material in Slovene language, which should address the Italian program. The present article presents the analysis of online semi-structured interviews that involved 15 high school teachers and 15 students who teach or attend Italian high schools with Slovene as teaching language, and it aims to answer these questions. We found that teachers and students preferred face-to-face classes, since they faced several issues connected with remote learning, such as a lack of interaction during remote learning, technology and connection problem, health issues and psychological distress. High school teachers and students faced less problems than those reported by primary schools' pupils and teachers, since they are older and more independent than primary school pupils. High school students also communicated through several social applications and peers might have helped them to overcome the language obstacles.

MINORITY EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF THE SLOVENE MINORITY IN ITALY

Much research has been done on the first quarantine period in 2020, however little is known for what it concerns remote emergency teaching and learning in Italian schools with Slovene as language of instruction. No extensive research explored teachers' and students' perceptions of this remote learning period, nor analyzed their opinion about positive and negative aspects of online learning, especially those related to the teaching material in Slovene language, which should address the Italian program. The present article presents the analysis of online semi-structured interviews that involved 15 high school teachers and 15 students who teach or attend Italian high schools with Slovene as teaching language, and it aims to answer these questions. We found that teachers and students preferred face-to-face classes, since they faced several issues connected with remote learning, such as a lack of interaction during remote learning, technology and connection problem, health issues and psychological distress. High school teachers and students faced less problems than those reported by primary schools' pupils and teachers, since they are older and more independent than primary school pupils. High school students also communicated through several social applications and peers might have helped them to overcome the language obstacles. © 2023,Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education.All Rights Reserved.

An Analysis of Application the Kahoot! Tool in a Gamified Approach to Face-to-face and Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning of Software Engineering

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents that the use of gamified approaches in education has become increasingly common in classrooms. Aspects related to the motivation and engagement of students with a focus on learning are a constant challenge for professors, who use methodologies and tools to make the classroom a space for fun and learning. In addition, the use of tools and techniques to motivate and present more attractiveness in teaching is a constant challenge for professors. In an increasingly connected society, not using technology in the classroom is not an option. Allied to this approach through the use of gamification, the tools that support this process are highlighted, especially Kahoot!, a tool to encourage learning, is one of the main tools used by professors and students to support the teaching-learning process. The market for this application already has 24 million users. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, declared in Brazil in March 2020, and the need to continue teaching activities, the main alternative for Educational Institutions to maintain their academic activities was the change to a remote emergency teaching format. Given this scenario, this work aims to present a comparative study on the use of Kahoot! in two subjects of the Information Systems course at Federal University of the South and Southeast of Pará, in Brazil, in both classroom and remote teaching modalities. The motivation for carrying out the study was due to the need to understand and evaluate the use of the tool in the remote context, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to compare it with the face-to-face format. As a result, the acceptance of 83.3% in face-to-face teaching and 58.8% in remote teaching was obtained for the use of the tool, in addition to the best performance in the Kahoot! in face-to-face teaching in relation to remote teaching, with the general average of correct answers of 62.81% and 47.56% for classroom teaching and remote teaching, respectively. So, this paper presents: (i) the theoretical foundation of this work, (ii) some works related to the research object, (iii) the research methodology for the development of the work, (iv) the structuring of Kahoot!'s application in classes, (v) the results of applying Kahoot! in classes and the discussion of the main results of this work. © 2022 IEEE.

Burnout among Clinical and Non-clinical Academics during the Implementation of Remote Teaching and Learning due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The extent of burnout among clinical and non-clinical academics during the COVID-19 pandemic is not well gauged and necessitates further attention. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of burnout among academics in the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan campus, and the associated sociodemographic and occupational-related factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study between March and May 2021 using questionnaires adapted from Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and General Stressor Questionnaire at the IIUM, Kuantan campus. Results: 57 clinical and 93 non-clinical academics responded to the survey. The prevalence of significant burnout was 49%. Compared to non-clinical academics, clinical academics had a significantly higher proportion of burnout with a p-value of <0.001, particularly in work-related, student-related, and superior-related burnout domains, with a p-value of 0.004, <0.001, and 0.006, respectively. Factors significantly associated with burnout among our cohort were clinical work, chronic illness, and gender, each with an odds ratio of 2.72 (95% CI = 1.01,7.34), 2.81 (95% CI = 1.14, 6.92), and 4.86 (95% CI = 2.15, 10.9). Conclusion: Burnout was highly prevalent among academics in the IIUM Kuantan campus, particularly among clinical academics during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of remote teaching and learning policy. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.

Speech–language therapy educator reflections on the planning and implementation of education and training during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Universities across the world experienced lockdown and closure of all learning institutions around March 2020 because of the advent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This lockdown and closure presented challenges to the traditional pedagogical approaches in the health sciences, which typically include both campus-based and clinical site-focused activities involving face-to-face interactions and work integrated learning. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT) and learning. Objectives: This study aimed to explore speech–language pathology (SLP) educators’ experiences of the planning and implementation of ERT and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A qualitative, descriptive narrative design was adopted to meet the objectives of the study. Seven SLP educators from a single university in South Africa participated in this study by constructing narratives on their experiences. The narratives were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Five themes emerged from the data analysis, and these included (1) uncertainty, (2) educator feelings, (3) capacity development, (4) influence of circumstances on teaching, learning and assessment and (5) troubleshooting. Current findings provide insight into the challenges encountered and strategies utilised by educators in planning and implementing ERT and learning. Conclusion: Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, most educators believe that a hybrid model would address some concerns identified, such as that of missing face-to-face contact, but that it would still allow for the full exploitation of online activities for teaching, learning and assessment required during clinical training. © 2022. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS.

Teaching and learning during one year of the pandemic at Tecnico Lisboa

The way Higher Education Institutions replied to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving their activities to digital platforms accelerated the large-scale implementation of remote learning methods, using alternative forms of teaching and academic assessment. Tecnico reacted promptly and in the 2nd semester of 2019/2020 adopted emergency distance learning, providing students and teachers with the necessary tools to continue their teaching and learning activities. This new reality led to the implementation of new measures to monitor teaching and learning at Tecnico, along with the existing integrated system for quality assurance of course units. The monitoring process continued into the 1st semester of 2020/2021 as well as the teaching adaptations arising from the pandemic situation. Fortunately, the flexibility, adaptability and resilience of all the community, teachers and students, allowed to carry out successfully both semesters marked by a big change. The surveys discussed here show that the perception of the students is that remote teaching enhanced the pedagogical performance of the teachers and improved the organization of the courses. On the other hand, students signaled the effects of lacking communication to the teachers and also between the students themselves.

Emergency remote English language teaching and learning: Voices of primary school students and teachers in Kazakhstan

This qualitative study documents the experiences of 38 Grade 5 students and their six female teachers from four state‐maintained schools in Kazakhstan teaching/learning English during emergency remote teaching and learning (ERT&L). It was guided by Kearney et al.’s (2012) framework that provides three dimensions that influence individuals’ teaching and learning experience when using technological devices: personalisation, collaboration and authenticity. The data collected through online individual interviews and students’ drawings suggest that the participants asserted their agentive reflexivity and critical awareness of the advantages and drawbacks of their ERT&L experiences. Several teachers indicated that although ERT&L helped them make financial and professional gains, they had difficulty assessing their students’ progress online, and work overload had negative impacts on their well‐being and quality of life. Many students criticised some English teaching practices during COVID‐19, including the allocation of more homework, and lack of co‐operative activities and individual attention. The study has pedagogical implications and provides further evidence of the need for stakeholders to take the well‐being of teachers into account, promote collaboration between different social actors and provide teachers with proper training in the use of online platforms. It also stresses the importance of using participatory research methods involving children to capture their thoughts and interpretation of their emergency remote learning experiences.

Remote Teaching and Learning in Early Primary Contexts: A Qualitative Study of Teachers and Parents During the COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in temporary school closures across the world, increasing pressure on educators to rapidly cultivate new skills. This novel research examines the implementation and impact of remote teaching and learning in early primary contexts in Canada from the perspectives of key stakeholders. There is a particular need to investigate the impacts of the pandemic in early primary contexts, as teaching in the early years is primarily play- and inquiry-based and comes with its own unique challenges. Data collection took place in April–June 2020 and included 45-min semi-structured interviews with educators (n = 25) and parents (n = 11). Data analysis included an emergent thematic approach and resulted in five themes: parent involvement, role of educators and administration, curriculum and pedagogy, focus on formative assessment, and recommendations for improvement. Findings of this research can be used by policy makers and Ministries of Education as they work to address the global education crisis and mitigate educational challenges for those who matter most: the students, parents, and educators. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

COVID-19 Special Section: Introduction Emerging from the pandemic: Can the future be resilient, proactive, and sustainable?

This introduction to the Special Section on COVID-19 experiences, impact, and implications for higher education emphasises the importance of recognising the opportunities and challenges posed by the pandemic experience, especially through emergency remote teaching and learning arrangements, and outlines various studies conducted to pinpoint recommendations for future action within higher education. The conclusions reached reinforce the notion that solutions are context-dependant and culture-specific;still, a high degree of transferability is exhibited across the four continents represented in the Special Section.

Emergency remote teaching and learning during COVID-19 pandemic: Efficacy of a four-stage model

The COVID-19 pandemic created the need for a global change in tertiary education. Universities that traditionally relied on contact with students in physical classrooms were forced to consider modes of remote teaching to mitigate the risks of infection due to physical proximity. This study evaluates the emergency remote teaching implemented within the Department of Information Technology at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. An emergency remote teaching model with four stages consisting of: preparation, synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning, e-assessments and reflections are described, analysed and evaluated with reference to both lecturers and students. The evaluation is performed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative analysis was performed on 29 sources using content analysis. 229 initial codes were identified and first categorized into 13 subcategories and finally to the four categories synonymous with the adopted four-stage emergency remote teaching model: preparation (135 references), asynchronous and synchronous teaching and learning (67 references), e-assessments (25 references) and reflections (8 references). Quantitative data on the use of the learning management system from 2019 to 2020 evaluated the results of the applied changes in practice. From the results, it was evident that students and lecturers invested much time in the learning management system with 13 tools being adopted by the 49 analysed subjects. The learning management system was used extensively for communication, assessment and dissemination of subject content. The comparative results of the data from the 2019 and 2020 academic years showed that the majority of the 2020 subjects' final results were statistically higher than the 2019 results. Results of analysis revealed the success of the implementation of the four-stage emergency remote teaching model.

Perceptions of undergraduate pharmacy students towards online assessments used during the COVID-19 pandemic in a public university in Malaysia

Objective: To evaluate the perceptions of undergraduate pharmacy students towards online assessments used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered, validated and pre-tested online questionnaire. The data were collected from December 2020 to January 2021 and analysed using descriptive and inferential tests. Results: Of the 233 respondents (response rate: 72%), approximately 45% strongly disagree or disagree that online assessment is better than the conventional method of assessment. Only 23.6% were very satisfied or satisfied with online assessment, while 28.8% were very dissatisfied or dissatisfied. About 80% experienced problems with online assessment including failure of portal/online server (63.5%), slow or failure of internet connection (45.5%) and a problem with laptop/gadget (40.8%). Females, final year students, and those who have access to very fast internet speed had significantly better perceptions towards online assessment. Conclusion: Undergraduate pharmacy students have negative perceptions towards online assessment used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the students experienced difficulties with online assessment and this may affect their performances. The challenges identified should be addressed in order to improve the use of online assessment in the future.

Mathematics Learners’ Perceptions of Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Disadvantaged Context

The COVID-19 global pandemic’s impact on education will take years to resolve. At this point, it is sensible to ponder the big questions of mathematics teaching and learning in disadvantaged contexts. This descriptive mixed-methods study is focused on the learners’ perceptions of the Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown. The study was conducted with 137 learners at public secondary schools in a disadvantaged context in South Africa. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. The data was collected through a Google-generated semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data from the open-response items. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings were that most learners in resource-constrained contexts neither enjoyed nor benefitted from the ERTL of mathematics and preferred face-to-face classroom interactions with the teachers. Many learners stated that they were used to seeing the teachers’ gestures, body language, and facial expressions. Most learners indicated that it was challenging not to work in groups when solving mathematics problems and that they could not learn mathematics productively at home. Further findings were that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted learners in disadvantaged contexts since they did not have adequate digital resources and internet connectivity to learn mathematics remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic will end one day. Studying the learners’ perceptions of the ERTL assists in the creation of programmes that can enhance digital mathematics teaching and learning in disadvantaged contexts. © Authors

“IT’S A HEAVY LIFT”: HOW UNIVERSITY FACULTY AND STUDENTS EXPERIENCED EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING DURING COVID-19

This mixed method, sequential explanatory study seeks to explore how faculty and students at a comprehensive university in a Mid-Atlantic American city were impacted by the shift to emergency remote teaching and learning during the spring of 2020. Data were collected through surveys, follow-up focus groups, and individual interviews. We tracked which technologies and teaching and learning supports faculty and students used when moving to emergency remote teaching and learning. Faculty and students reported overall positive experiences despite the challenges associated with the transition. Participants favored technologies that attempted to mirror the face-to-face experience and encouraged social presence. Quantitative and qualitative findings collectively indicated that participants were focused on variables that impacted student learning and fostered adaptions and accommodations in response to the needs of the university community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons learned from this study offer universities evidence-based ways to engage and support teaching and learning processes even after the pandemic is over. © 2022, Grand Canyon University. All rights reserved.