Adopting Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Interrogating New Approaches to Teaching and the Exclusion of Learners in Rural Settings

A variety of instructional strategies were devised to ensure continuity in education during the COVID-19 lockdown. This paper interrogates the exclusion of learners in rural settings of Zimbabwe as a result of the methods of teaching that were adopted by the government during the COVID-19 lockdown. The paper seeks to answer the question;how are the strategies meant to ensure continuity in education during the lockdown excluding learners in rural settings? The strategies that were adopted by the government have been identified to be contributing to the exclusion of learners in rural settings. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews from 20 teachers who teach in rural areas at two of Zimbabwe’s ten provinces. The interviews were done as a follow-up to the approaches of remote teaching adopted during the lockdown. The study argues that the adoption of uniform approaches to teaching and learning throughout the country during COVID-19 lockdown would not suffice as the functionality of each approach depends on the infrastructure and the economic conditions characteristic of each particular geographical location. The strategies adopted during the pandemic in a low-income country like Zimbabwe should not be permanent but should simply be an emergency response. Learners in rural settings are bound to be excluded in education during the pandemic if policymakers enact ‘one size fits all’ approaches meant for abrupt implementation. Strategies that suit the idea of emergency remote teaching during the pandemic are the most favourable. © 2022 Society for Research and Knowledge Management. All rights reserved.

Patient Assessment: Using the Oncology Nurse Navigator Patient Assessment for Rural and Other Resource-Poor Settings.

Oncology nurse navigators (ONNs) rely on assessment tools to identify patient priorities so that care may be expedited along the cancer continuum. Few nonproprietary assessment tools exist for ONNs who work in rural and other resource-poor settings to reliably identify and track patient needs and barriers for seamless and timely oncology care.

Location Matters: Geographic Disparities and Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States has revealed major disparities in the access to testing and messaging about the pandemic based on the geographic location of individuals, particularly in communities of color, rural areas, and areas of low income. This geographic disparity, in addition to deeply rooted structural inequities, have posed additional challenges to adequately diagnose and provide care for individuals of all ages living in these settings. We describe the impact that COVID-19 has had on geographically disparate populations in the United States and share our recommendations on what might be done to ameliorate the current situation.