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Adapting to the culture of ‘new normal’: an emerging response to COVID-19

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Jeff Clyde G Corpuz, Adapting to the culture of ‘new normal’: an emerging response to COVID-19, Journal of Public Health , Volume 43, Issue 2, June 2021, Pages e344–e345, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab057

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A year after COVID-19 pandemic has emerged, we have suddenly been forced to adapt to the ‘new normal’: work-from-home setting, parents home-schooling their children in a new blended learning setting, lockdown and quarantine, and the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shields in public. For many, 2020 has already been earmarked as ‘the worst’ year in the 21st century. Ripples from the current situation have spread into the personal, social, economic and spiritual spheres. Is this new normal really new or is it a reiteration of the old? A recent correspondence published in this journal rightly pointed out the involvement of a ‘supportive’ government, ‘creative’ church and an ‘adaptive’ public in the so-called culture. However, I argue that adapting to the ‘new normal’ can greatly affect the future. I would carefully suggest that we examine the context and the location of culture in which adaptations are needed.

To live in the world is to adapt constantly. A year after COVID-19 pandemic has emerged, we have suddenly been forced to adapt to the ‘new normal’: work-from-home setting, parents home-schooling their children in a new blended learning setting, lockdown and quarantine, and the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shields in public. For many, 2020 has already been earmarked as ‘the worst’ year in the 21st century. 1 Ripples from the current situation have spread into the personal, social, economic and spiritual spheres. Is this new normal really new or is it a reiteration of the old? A recent correspondence published in this journal rightly pointed out the involvement of a ‘supportive’ government, ‘creative’ church and an ‘adaptive’ public in the so-called culture. 2 However, I argue that adapting to the ‘new normal’ can greatly affect the future. I would carefully suggest that we examine the context and the location of culture in which adaptations are needed.

The term ‘new normal’ first appeared during the 2008 financial crisis to refer to the dramatic economic, cultural and social transformations that caused precariousness and social unrest, impacting collective perceptions and individual lifestyles. 3 This term has been used again during the COVID-19 pandemic to point out how it has transformed essential aspects of human life. Cultural theorists argue that there is an interplay between culture and both personal feelings (powerlessness) and information consumption (conspiracy theories) during times of crisis. 4 Nonetheless, it is up to us to adapt to the challenges of current pandemic and similar crises, and whether we respond positively or negatively can greatly affect our personal and social lives. Indeed, there are many lessons we can learn from this crisis that can be used in building a better society. How we open to change will depend our capacity to adapt, to manage resilience in the face of adversity, flexibility and creativity without forcing us to make changes. As long as the world has not found a safe and effective vaccine, we may have to adjust to a new normal as people get back to work, school and a more normal life. As such, ‘we have reached the end of the beginning. New conventions, rituals, images and narratives will no doubt emerge, so there will be more work for cultural sociology before we get to the beginning of the end’. 5

Now, a year after COVID-19, we are starting to see a way to restore health, economies and societies together despite the new coronavirus strain. In the face of global crisis, we need to improvise, adapt and overcome. The new normal is still emerging, so I think that our immediate focus should be to tackle the complex problems that have emerged from the pandemic by highlighting resilience, recovery and restructuring (the new three Rs). The World Health Organization states that ‘recognizing that the virus will be with us for a long time, governments should also use this opportunity to invest in health systems, which can benefit all populations beyond COVID-19, as well as prepare for future public health emergencies’. 6 There may be little to gain from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is important that the public should keep in mind that no one is being left behind. When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the best of our new normal will survive to enrich our lives and our work in the future.

No funding was received for this paper.

UNESCO . A year after coronavirus: an inclusive ‘new normal’. https://en.unesco.org/news/year-after-coronavirus-inclusive-new-normal . (12 February 2021, date last accessed) .

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World Health Organization . From the “new normal” to a “new future”: A sustainable response to COVID-19. 13 October 2020 . https: // www.who.int/westernpacific/news/commentaries/detail-hq/from-the-new-normal-to-a-new-future-a-sustainable-response-to-covid-19 . (12 February 2021, date last accessed) .

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Designing the New Normal: Enable, Engage, Elevate, and Extend Student Learning

The pandemic has provided educators with unprecedented opportunities to explore blended learning and identify the practices and approaches that provide real and lasting value for students.

Students and instructors have returned to classrooms on campuses across the country, with a strong desire to rediscover some normalcy following more than a year filled with Zoom meetings and learning apart. At the same time, instructors and students have changed during the pandemic and are coming back to the classroom with new skills and different perspectives. As a result, rather than resuming business as usual, instructors should take inventory of what went well during emergency remote teaching, as well as what they missed most about in-person teaching when they were apart from their students, and begin to blend the two to design the new normal. To help instructors through this process, we have developed a framework to draw their attention to important advantages of blended learning that they should consider as they evaluate what is possible moving forward. Specifically, we have built on previous research and frameworks—such as David Merrill's e 3 approach and Liz Kolb's Triple E Framework Footnote 1 —to develop the 4Es framework (see figure 1) that asks instructors whether their blended learning strategies:

• ENABLE new types of learning activities;
• ENGAGE students in meaningful interactions with others and the course content;
• ELEVATE the learning activities by including real-world skills that benefit students beyond the classroom; and
• EXTEND the time, place, and ways that students can master learning objectives.

Do Your Blended Learning Strategies ENABLE New Types of Learning Activities?

Royce Kimmons, Charles Graham, and Richard West used the RAT framework to explain that blended learning strategies can use technology in ways that replace, amplify, or transform learning activities (see figure 2). Footnote 2

Instructors have a long history of using technology to simply replace or digitize learning activities that were previously done without technology. For example:

• In-person lectures are replaced with Zoom lectures.
• Writing an essay by hand is replaced by typing an essay.
• Writing on a chalkboard is replaced by writing on a digital whiteboard.
• Chalk on a board is replaced by pixels on a screen.
• Reading a textbook is replaced by reading an e-book.

These replacements can be a fine use of technology. Digitizing learning activities can reduce costs and improve access. Additionally, replacing a learning activity by using technology can make some learning activities more efficient than they would be without technology. For instance, an essay typed in a word processor can be revised more easily and quickly than a handwritten essay. However, simply replacing an activity will not improve learning outcomes. In a best-case scenario, students will achieve the same learning outcomes, only more quickly and/or cheaply.

To enable new types of learning that improve learning outcomes, instructors need to use blended learning strategies that move beyond replacing in-person activities with online activities to using strategies that amplify or transform learning activities from what could be accomplished without technology.

Amplifying a learning activity requires instructors to introduce technology in ways that enable incremental improvements, even as the core of the activity remains largely unchanged. For instance, when they read students' essays, instructors may find that many of their students have met the target learning outcomes. As a result, the instructors may choose to amplify the essay-writing process by having students work in a shared document that enables better collaborative opportunities, peer reviews, instructor feedback, and editing. Students can also include multimedia elements to enhance what is written in the essay. Or instructors might use technology to allow students to publish and share their essays in authentic ways. Instructors might also use technology to improve pre-writing activities by engaging students in an online discussion activity to brainstorm and formulate ideas for their essays. What's important to recognize is that although the core activity—writing an essay—remains the same, technology enables incremental improvements, some of which could impact learning outcomes.

Transforming a learning activity is different from amplifying because the goal isn't to improve the activity but to use blended learning strategies in ways that introduce a new learning activity that wouldn't be possible without technology. For instance, rather than making improvements to the essay, instructors could choose to transform the learning activity by tasking students with writing a script, editing a video, and "premiering" their videos to those in the course and others who are invited to participate.

Do Your Blended Learning Strategies ENGAGE Students in Meaningful Interactions with Others and the Course Content?

"Engagement" is a term that is used frequently to mean a lot of different things. A 2020 review of research identified three dimensions of engagement: Footnote 3

• Behavioral: the physical behaviors required to complete the learning activity
• Emotional: the positive emotional energy associated with the learning activity
• Cognitive: the mental energy that a student exerts toward the completion of the learning activity

Instructors often refer to these three dimensions of engagement when they talk about engaging students' hands, hearts, and heads (see figure 3).

Of the three dimensions of engagement, behavioral engagement is the easiest to observe and categorize. Specifically, Kimmons, Graham, and West used the PIC framework to identify three types of behavioral engagement: passive, interactive, and creative (see figure 4). Footnote 4

Passive learning examples include students watching a video, listening to a podcast, and attending a lecture. In some ways, these passive learning tasks represent a lack of engagement because they don't require or even allow students to make meaningful contributions to the learning activity.

Interactive activities are dynamic and require students to actively participate. Interactive activities include tasks in which students interact with online content and tools. Interactive activities can also include opportunities for students to communicate with others such as the instructor, other students, and those outside the classroom (see figure 5).

Creative activities go beyond participation to actually creating something original such as a blog post, edited video, or website. Table 1 identifies some additional examples of online passive, interactive, and creative activities.

Table 1. Examples of Passive, Interactive, and Creative Activities

It's important to note that each type of behavioral engagement is important at different stages of the learning process. For instance, students may passively listen to a short lecture or watch a video before interacting with their peers regarding their thoughts about what they learned during the passive activity. Similarly, if students are tasked with creating a video essay, they will likely start with passive activities to develop a background understanding of the topic or to learn how to use the video-editing program. Students could then interact with their peers to collaboratively create the video. Instructors can also consider when and where passive learning activities occur. For example, sometimes a flipped classroom requires having a passive video-watching experience online to make time and space for an interactive/creative learning experience in person.

An important part of evaluating your blended teaching is to see the value of passive learning activities while also understanding that these types of activities are limited in terms of deepening students' learning. Passive activities such as watching a video or reading an article alone do not require students to demonstrate their comprehension of content or encourage higher levels of cognitive engagement, such as applying, evaluating, or creating. Because too much time spent in passive learning activities will limit students' engagement, instructors should be sure to leave ample time for interactive and creative activities.

Kimmons, Graham, and West combined the PIC and RAT frameworks to form the PICRAT framework and matrix, which allow instructors to chart how technology is being used in their blended learning strategies. Footnote 5 Figure 6 is an adaptation of Kimmons, Graham, and West's original matrix. The matrix is a helpful tool for instructors to consider what the technology adds to the activity and how students are interacting with that technology. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the technology being used to increase student engagement by making learning activities more interactive and/or creative?
• Is the technology being used simply to replace activities or to amplify and transform them?

When planning new blended or online activities, we recommend starting by focusing on the learning objective(s) and then pulling out a piece of paper or pulling up a word processing document and filling out the PICRAT matrix (see figure 7) with various ways that technology could be used to teach the learning objective(s).

Moving up and across the matrix will likely improve the learning activity by leveraging technology to make the experience more interactive or engaging and introducing new ways of learning, but note that the PICRAT matrix doesn't actually measure the quality of the learning activity. Instructors could transform a learning activity by having students create something that wouldn't be possible without technology, but that change might not actually improve students' learning or experience. In fact, students' learning can be transformed for the worse. For instance, using the example shared above, an instructor could transform an essay writing activity so that students create an edited video instead. Although this change may be positive for many students, some students might detest making an edited video and refuse to participate. Similarly, an instructor might transform a passive learning activity into a creative learning activity that isn't as aligned to the learning outcomes. As a result, when amplifying or transforming a learning activity to increase students' behavioral engagement, consider the other two dimensions of engagement—emotional engagement and cognitive engagement. Students will perceive the activity as "busy work" if instructors only engage their hands but fail to also engage their hearts and minds (see figure 8).

Do Your Blended Learning Strategies ELEVATE the Learning Activities to Include Real-World Skills That Benefit Students Beyond the Classroom?

In addition to creating learning activities aligned with the course learning objectives, blended learning strategies can elevate students' learning to also include real-world skills that benefit students beyond the classroom. For example, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning stresses the need for students to develop the 4Cs—communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity skills. Footnote 6 While widely referenced and important, the 4Cs model takes a somewhat narrow view of the skills that students need to succeed beyond the classroom. For Ontario's education agenda, Michael Fullan expanded on the 4Cs to include character education and citizenship. Footnote 7 Social-emotional learning is also critical for human development. These skills are best developed in a social learning environment. Of course, students are unable to develop communication, collaboration, and citizenship skills in isolation. Even critical thinking and creativity skills are best developed when working with others. This reality provides more support for balancing passive activities with interactive and creative activities while urging instructors to elevate their instruction.

Learning activities are also best elevated when they are situated in authentic tasks and projects. Three levels of authenticity should be considered when choosing the problems students will be working on and the stakeholders that students will be working with (see figure 9):

• Unrealistic: These scenarios and problems can be out of this world—literally! Stakeholders and problems can be science fiction and include anything from time traveling to establishing a colony on Mars. They are intended to make the unit more exciting and emotionally engaging while still requiring students to demonstrate important knowledge and real-world skills.
• Realistic: These are scenarios and problems that feel like they are real but aren't. Real people can even serve as stakeholders, but they are just acting. For example, students might simulate creating a new business by coming up with a new product and working in groups to come up with the name of the product, a business plan, and a marketing plan. It is completely realistic, but they won't be really starting a new business.
• Real: This is the gold standard because you have real people who are genuinely interested in students' work and will benefit from it. These stakeholders can be of any age and in or out of the institution. For example, pre-service instructors in a course on teaching with technology may collaborate to develop a workshop on blended teaching for a local school district. Art students could also curate an actual art gallery showcasing works from local artists.

Authentic assessments are often renewable rather than disposable. As David Wiley explained, "A 'renewable assessment' differs in that the student's work won't be discarded at the end of the process, but will instead add value to the world in some way." Footnote 8 Consider the target audience of most assessments—for whom are students completing assessments? Themselves? Their community? The instructor? Often assessments are completed for an audience of one, the instructor. The instructor then evaluates the assessment, provides the student with some feedback, returns the assessment to the student, and hopes that the feedback enriches the student's learning before the assessment is thrown in the physical or digital trash can. David Wiley referred to these assessments as disposable assessments . They are meant to be used and then discarded without retaining any real-world value.

A movement toward assessments that can exist in a world larger than the four walls of a singular classroom can make learning more authentic and elevate what students learn and do beyond the content-based curriculum and contexts. For example, a community college instructor who worked with one of the authors found that having her students write an openly licensed textbook that would be shared with other students instead of traditional essays prompted them to submit higher quality work than they previously had. Students want to know that their work matters and is destined for more than the nearest trash can (see table 2 and the sidebar "Additional Resources about Assessments").

Table 2. Examples of Renewable and Disposable Assessments

Additional Resources about Assessments

Christina Hendricks, "Renewable Assignments: Student Work Adding Value to the World," Flexible Learning , University of British Columbia, October 29, 2015.

Christina Hendricks, "Non-Disposable Assignments in Intro to Philosophy," You're the Teacher , University of British Columbia, August 18, 2015.

"From Consumer to Creator: Students as Producers of Content," Flexible Learning , University of British Columbia, February 18, 2015.

David Wiley, "What Is Open Pedagogy," Improving Learning , October 21, 2013.

Do Your Blended Learning Strategies EXTEND the Time, Place, and Ways That Students Can Master Learning Objectives?

Another way that blended learning strategies can improve learning activities is by extending the time, location, and ways that students can complete them. Attempting to extend students' learning time and location is nothing new. For instance, students have long had flexibility in the time and location that they completed assignments. However, too often students are tasked with completing assignments outside class without adequate support, resulting in frustration and stress.

Using technology, instructors can not only provide students with more sensory-rich learning materials, but, within a learning management system (LMS), they can also provide digital scaffolding and direction to successfully complete learning activities using those materials. For instance, it is relatively easy for instructors to create short instructional videos that can help students learn new concepts or complete learning tasks. Kareem Farah explained that creating instructional videos allowed him to "clone" himself so students could receive his help the moment they needed it, not when he was presently available to help them. Footnote 9 Once instructors feel comfortable making quick videos, they can use them to provide targeted support anytime students find something confusing or difficult. This allows instructors to tailor lessons to specific students or course sections.

Instructors can also extend the ways in which students complete learning activities. For instance, instructors might provide multiple learning paths for students to choose from. Creating multiple activities that all lead toward mastery of learning objectives allows students choice in the learning path—hopefully with choices that will motivate them and inspire them to do their best work. Once learning has been extended, instructors can also provide students with opportunities to form their own learning path and/or set their own learning goals. The taxonomy of learner agency presents a scaffold for moving students from a "one size fits all" learning approach to an instructional approach that provides learners with guided choices for their own learning. Footnote 10 These choices could include setting performance or learning behavior goals related to learning objectives, choosing how to demonstrate learning and understanding, or choosing specific resources to use or topics to study within a given learning objective. At the highest levels of extending learner autonomy, learners may even create their own learning outcomes, assessments, and activities related to the goals of a course.

Combining in-person and online instruction doesn't mean that the blended learning will be high quality—or even good. As you begin to blend your students' learning, you will likely find that some lessons or even entire instructional units don't work as well as expected. The opposite will also be true, however, and you will find that some blended lessons and modules go incredibly well. It's important to carefully evaluate what works and what needs to be improved or even replaced. A J-curve should be expected anytime instructors try something new. Footnote 11 The 4Es framework can help you recognize quality blended teaching and learning. Specifically, as you plan new blended instructional units or evaluate previous blended instruction, ask if your instructional unit would or did:

• ENABLE new types of learning activities?
• ENGAGE students in meaningful interactions with others and the course content?
• ELEVATE the learning activities by including real-world skills that benefit students beyond the classroom?
• EXTEND the time, place, and ways that students can master learning objectives?
• M. David Merrill, "Finding e³ (effective, efficient, and engaging) Instruction," Educational Technology 49, no. 3 (May–June 2009): 15–26; Liz Kolb, Triple E Framework . Jump back to footnote 1 in the text. ↩
• Royce Kimmons, Charles R. Graham, and Richard E. West, "The PICRAT Model for Technology Integration in Teacher Preparation," Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education 20, no. 1 (2020). Jump back to footnote 2 in the text. ↩
• Jered Borup, Charles R. Graham, Richard E. West, Leanna Archambault, and Kristian J. Spring, "Academic Communities of Engagement: An Expansive Lens for Examining Support Structures in Blended and Online Learning," Educational Technology Research and Development 68 (February 14, 2020): 807–32. Jump back to footnote 3 in the text. ↩
• Kimmons, Graham, and West, "The PICRAT Model." Jump back to footnote 4 in the text. ↩
• Ibid. Jump back to footnote 5 in the text. ↩
• See "P21 Framework Definitions." Jump back to footnote 6 in the text. ↩
• Michael Fullan, Great to Excellent: Launching the Next Stage of Ontario's Education Agenda , Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013. Jump back to footnote 7 in the text. ↩
• David Wiley, "Toward Renewable Assessments," Improving Learning , July 7, 2016. Jump back to footnote 8 in the text. ↩
• Kareem Farah, "Blended Learning Built on Teacher Expertise," Edutopia , May 9, 2019. Jump back to footnote 9 in the text. ↩
• Charles R. Graham , Jered Borup, Michelle A. Jensen, Karen T. Arnesen, and Cecil R. Short, "K–12 Blended Teaching Competencies," (Provo, UT: EdTechBooks.org, 2021). Jump back to footnote 10 in the text. ↩
• Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Cecil R. Short, and Leanna Archambault, K–12 Blended Teaching: A Guide to Personalized Learning and Online Integration (Provo, UT: EdTechBooks.org, 2019). See, specifically, section 6.5 of "Blended Design in Practice." Jump back to footnote 11 in the text. ↩

Jered Borup is an Associate Professor in the Division of Learning Technologies at George Mason University.

Charles R. Graham is a Professor in the Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University.

Cecil Short is an Assistant Professor of Practice of Blended and Personalized Learning in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University.

Joan Kang Shin is an Associate Professor in the Division of Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education at George Mason University.

© 2022 Jered Borup, Charles R. Graham, Cecil Short, and Joan Kang Shin. The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International License.

Teaching and Learning in the New Normal: Responding to Students’ and Academics’ Multifaceted Needs

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• Andriani Piki   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0376-1713 9 &
• Magdalena Brzezinska   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4213-8636 10  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14026))

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Alongside the prolonged social and economic instability and the escalating demands for upskilling, Covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on students’ and academics’ mental health and wellbeing. Social isolation and the emergency transition to remote education caused high levels of psychological distress, hindering students’ self-efficacy and academic performance. The pandemic also induced sudden changes affecting academics’ personal and professional lives, leading to mental disorders and risk of burnout. While recent research focuses on addressing the effects of the pandemic on either students or academics, this paper presents a collective analysis. The key themes that emerged by examining the experiences of both students and academics in higher education are framed in a multi-layered support system embracing qualities such as: self-efficacy, wellbeing, equality, diversity, and inclusion, social interactions, human-centred technologies, and authentic pedagogical methods. The findings are discussed with the aim to extract informed recommendations for enhancing teaching and learning experiences in the post-pandemic era.

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Piki, A., Brzezinska, M. (2023). Teaching and Learning in the New Normal: Responding to Students’ and Academics’ Multifaceted Needs. In: Coman, A., Vasilache, S. (eds) Social Computing and Social Media. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14026. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35927-9_9

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An educator’s reflections on “a new normal” for schools.

August 21, 2020 by Justin Birckbichler

In this post, educator and instructional technology coach, Justin Birckbichler, shares his thoughts on the “new normal” that schools across the country are facing. 

In Virginia, where I work as an instructional technology coach, all schools completely shut down for in-person instruction in March due to the pandemic. While the state gave an option to reopen schools in the fall, my district chose to begin this school year in an all-virtual manner. Given that the current situation has only gotten worse since spring, this was clearly the safest choice. Despite knowing this was the best option from a seemingly impossible decision, I’m still left with a hard to describe feeling.

While I don’t have my own classroom anymore, I do have the pleasure of connecting with over 650 kids each and every day. Although the vast majority of them don’t quite grasp my job – I’m either the science, computer, TV, or maintenance guy, depending who you ask, none of which are my official job title – I like to think they know that I’m there for them. I already miss seeing every single kid from the beginning of the day to the end, but it’s not about me.

For many of these kids, school is a safe, special, and important place for them… even if they don’t always show it in the “best” ways. The ones who will fight you hardest are the ones who secretly love being there most. Through the shutdown, throughout the summer, and beginning this year, my thoughts have been with these students – my current Lions, as well as my former Cardinals, Bobcats, and Bears. Wow, I really need to learn to stay in one school for a while.

However, we have a unique opportunity here to make a commitment to being there for the kids. Undoubtedly, it sucks that they’ve missed out on face-to-face instruction for over six months and counting now, but realistically they will be fine in the long run. When was the last time you added fractions with unlike denominators, or had to know the French nobleman who aided the Continental Army? We’ll work out the logistics of distance/e-learning in time, but we can start on the far more important mission immediately.

We can’t change the decision to be virtual or this scale of virus (although wearing a mask will help). But what we can change is how we use this time to impact our students’ lives on a far greater scale.

What we must do (and now is a good time to say that this is solely my views and are not necessarily reflective of the opinions of my school, district, or state) is use this time to connect with the kids on a daily basis. When I missed three months of school as I underwent chemo in 2017 , I wrote back and forth on Google Classroom with each of my kids every single day. I learned more about those kids through that three months of writing than I did in an entire year of some previous classes. I made video calls and phone calls to keep up with them. These were moments that the students and I truly treasured, even when one student exclaimed, “Wow Mr. B you’re really fat now and have no hair!” Yes, Neil, that’s what chemo does.

Though I wasn’t physically present with them, I never felt like I was missing out on anything because I was there in the only way I could – and we worked together to make it count.

The point of this post is to focus on what matters. It’s not how we feel about it. Yes, we’re upset and sad. It’s not about the teaching and curriculum that’s being missed. Yes, these skills are important and it’s literally our job to provide them with the required knowledge. But what truly matters is growing strong connections and creating safe spaces for our students.

Ten years from now, they’re not going to remember how they did on their end of year tests or what they learned in class… unless it’s that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell – that’s important and they will remember that forever.

They will remember how we rallied around them to make them feel loved and supported even when we couldn’t physically be there.

So I will wrap up this “teacher as a martyr post that Justin usually hates” and get off my soapbox by saying I know educators are all upset about the decisions of their respective districts. There’s really no right answer and not everyone will be pleased with whatever choice is made. 

But we must – and I repeat, must – do everything in our power to make sure that our students know just because school will look drastically different than in any previous year, our love, support, and care for them will never change.

Be sure to check our blog for new posts from our amazing community every week!

Kids Discover

Justin Birckbichler Justin Birckbichler is an Instructional Technology Coach in Spotsylvania, VA and a Google for Education Certified Innovator. In his work, he is very passionate about forming strong relationships with students, purposeful technology integration, and thinking outside the box. Connect with him on Twitter at @MrBITRT and read his blog at blog.justinbirckbichler.com. Outside of the education world, he’s is a testicular cancer survivor and spreads awareness at www.aballsysenseoftumor.com.

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Online distance learning: the new normal in education.

Readiness: The Key To ODL In The Time Of Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our lives and bringing a lot of challenges to our era. Aside from being a health crisis, it also caused economic meltdowns across the globe. Companies closed, many people were laid off and unexpectedly became unemployed. The World Health Organization also mentioned that food shortages became a problem during this global lockdown as closures between borders and trade restrictions limited the movement of food supplies from rural to urban areas. COVID-19 is producing profound devastating conditions in our daily lives including in the individual, cultural, public health, and economic dimensions (Ferreira and Serpa, 2021).

Along with all these, schools in most countries were closed to stem the transmission of the virus. Onyema, Eucheria, Obafemi, Sen, Atonye, Sharma, and Alyased (2020) concluded that the pandemic has adverse effects on educational systems including research, academic programs, staff professional development and jobs in the academic sector, etc. These changes were felt not just by schools but also by teachers, students, and even parents. As lockdowns were implemented everywhere, schools were also closed. Educational institutions abandoned face-to-face classes and on-campus activities were halted for the safety of the population (Filho et al., 2021).

To respond to the challenges posed by COVID cases worldwide, schools offered distance learning (DL) as the available learning method in this time of the pandemic. According to Justin Simon (2021), pre-pandemic there were only 6.6 million students enrolled in distance learning but this figure skyrocketed to 400 million due to the spread of COVID-19. Because schools were closed and not allowed to accommodate students in their classrooms, distance learning was offered. DL has now become the new normal in education.

Distance Learning

Distance learning is any kind of remote learning in which the student is not physically present in the classroom. The student may be anywhere while learning takes place. Distance learning is educating students online. Over the years, DL has become an alternative mode of teaching and learning (Alsoliman, 2015). It has become another venue for education and instruction.

Though opposed by many, the Philippines’ Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) adopted and implemented a flexible model of blended learning. According to CHED (2020), flexible learning is learning interventions and delivery of programs with the consideration of the learner’s unique needs, that may or may not involve the use of technology. In the Philippines, DL is being offered in two forms: online distance learning (ODL) and modular distance learning (MDL). But most parents and students would prefer ODL, considering and hoping that the interaction between students and the teacher can ensure learning.

DL has become the new normal in education in the country. DepEd (2020), without sacrificing the quality of education, came up with the Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) for the school year 2020–2021. This provides learning interventions that teachers can utilize during the pandemic. This was the jumping board for schools as they offered DL to their stakeholders. However, for this article, we are going to focus only on online distance learning.

This kind of DL can either be synchronous or asynchronous learning. Juliana Scheiderer of Ohio State University simply differentiated the two as follows: synchronous learning is learning from a distance by attending a class virtually on a regular schedule, while asynchronous learning is learning at one’s pace and schedule but within a certain timeframe.

Synchronous learners are advised to attend an online class as if having it face-to-face. They are gathered in a virtual classroom where everybody can interact with their fellow students and their teachers/instructors. Asynchronous learning is different from synchronous learning. Students are given access to a portal where they can retrieve their lessons or instructional materials at any given time of the day. This learning method does not include live video discussion, though recorded videos may be viewed by the learners. However, real-time interaction is not possible.

Though DL has been used for many years already in the education system, its implementation in the time of pandemics may be different and challenging. With the emergence of advanced technology, it is acceptable to say that DL is very promising. However, to fully maximize the potential of this modality, it would be best to identify the experiences of the students, teachers, and stakeholders in this setup, the advantages and disadvantages of this modality in the time of the pandemic, and recommendations to improve the DL offerings of schools. Identifying the experiences of those involved in this modality would allow us to gather the pros and cons of DL. This would allow us to modify our recommendations.

Advantages Of Distance Learning

DL offers a lot of advantages as a mode of teaching and learning. Bijeesh (2021) enumerated some practical advantages of DL such as saving money and time. Most often, the fee for online classes is much lower than for the usual on-campus classes. As students save money because of reduced financial obligations, schools also save money because of less expense in maintaining their facilities. Students can also save time because of shorter travel times. There’s no need to be on the road to beat the traffic just to be inside the classrooms. Study materials are available and just need to be downloaded.

Along with the advantages mentioned above, Oxford Learning College (2015) adds flexibility, comfort, and instant updates to the list. Because DL can be student-centered, the learner can control the schedule within the timeframe given by the teachers. Also, one can learn anywhere and at any time. Online learning can be done in any place, at home wearing comfortable clothes, or somewhere in the rural province, as long as there's an internet connection. And because of technology, the updating of materials and other online resources can be instantaneous. Support is available by online means to answer queries from the learners.

Disadvantages Of Distance Learning

On the other hand, Bijeesh (2021) also mentioned the disadvantages of DL. He first mentioned the tendency for high distraction. Because students are not in the classroom and are in the comfort of their homes, distractions can’t be avoided. They may be torn between classes and the desire to listen to music, sleep, or do something else. This can result in poor performance of the students. This challenges teachers to make their lessons engaging, to motivate their students to focus on the lesson. He also mentioned hidden costs and complicated technology. Yes, online classes may save money because of less transportation and materials expenses, but it can't be denied that there might be hidden costs, like buying software and other computer applications to support the online classes. The technology used may also be complicated. Navigating through the applications used in online classes may also be demanding and time-consuming, especially for younger students and their learning coaches.

In her article on eLearning, Gautam (2020) also mentioned the following as the disadvantages of online learning: technology issues, sense of isolation, teacher training, and managing screen time. When she mentioned technology issues, she meant more than just computer or gadget complexity; she also meant poor internet connection. With the pandemic and DL imposed on all students, the quality of internet connections was tested. Sadly, not all students have access to a strong internet connection. Intermittent connectivity may also lead to poor quality of online learning. This may be detrimental to the teaching and learning process.

Gautam continued by mentioning the sense of isolation. Because of DL, interactions are very minimal. We regard human beings as social beings. Teachers are then challenged to open every possible means of communication with their students to preserve the connection and ensure communication. Teacher training is also on the list of disadvantages mentioned by Gautam. The lockdowns were imposed suddenly and classes migrated online abruptly, but teachers may need additional training to teach online so as to be able to guide their students properly. So to ensure quality education, schools must always offer their teachers technological educational advancement through training and online courses.

Lastly, Gautam mentioned managing screen time as one of the disadvantages. Because students are required to attend their classes online and finish their requirements through their computers or other devices, parents are afraid of this hazard for their children. Thus, teachers must also remind the students to be responsible and mindful of the time they spend in front of their screens and to take breaks. Also, because of the synchronous classes and asynchronous tasks, parents, and teachers as well, are challenged to remind their students to consider physical activities in between, to maintain their health and wellness.

The advantages and disadvantages mentioned above were all based on the experiences of both teachers and students. They were satisfied and at the same time frustrated with DL. But with the data and information gathered, there are many opportunities available to improve this modality taking into consideration that technology is flexible and capable of accommodating changes and improvements. We should also mention the eagerness of teachers to develop their skills because of their untiring dedication to their profession.

Bijeesh, Oxford Learning College, and Gautam were able to mention experiences that are significant as we discuss DL as the new normal in education. They were able to list the advantages and disadvantages of DL being experienced at the time of this pandemic.

To address these issues in online distance learning, what is needed is summed up by the word "readiness." Readiness, in terms of eLearning or learning through technology, may be vague or broad because of its never-ending and fast-paced evolution. In 2015, after analyzing a number of models, Demir and Yurdugül proposed three models of readiness for students, teachers, and institutions.

The Readiness Models

The readiness model for students consists of six components: competency of technology usage, self-directed learning, access to technology, confidence in prerequisite skills and in themselves, motivation, and time management. The model implies that the student must have computer and technology skills prior to eLearning, must have good study habits and independent learning skills, and must be motivated in attending online classes.

Demir and Yurdugül’s readiness model for teachers includes eight components: acceptance, access to technology, motivation, time management, institution and policy, content, pedagogical competency, and competency in technology usage. Basically, teachers must first absorb the nature of their setup, that the learning and teaching process will occur online or in a technology-driven environment. They must also be aware of the content of their lessons, as well as the methods and strategies they may be able to utilize as they teach in DL. Having knowledge about the institution and its policies is also helpful in being prepared. This may include rules regarding the school’s online instruction.

With regard to the institution’s readiness, there are seven components: finance, ICT infrastructure, human resources, management and leadership, content, culture, and lastly, competency in technology usage. The capacity of the institution to invest in the right and appropriate technology is the institution’s primary concern when it comes to learning and teaching with technology, as they need to invest in their ICT infrastructures. The institution must also be concerned with its human resources, management, and leadership for training and updating.

With Demir and Yurdugül’s models, we can justify how readiness can help address the seven disadvantages mentioned above: distractions, costly technology and apps, demanding online classes, isolation, lacking teacher training, managing screen time, and poor internet connection. Distraction may be avoided if students with the right motivation are focused on learning. This can also be avoided if teachers are competent pedagogically and technologically. Teachers' well-prepared lessons with enticing activities will decrease students’ boredom in online distance learning. This also proves that teachers are well-trained and prepared to teach online. With all these considerations, the teachers can now help their students manage their screen time and develop study habits. Eventually, students will not find online classes as demanding if they have developed time management skills. More so, access to technology also means access to communication, thus students will not feel isolated if they have open communication with their teachers and classmates. Lastly, students, teachers, and the institution must invest in proper technology. For DL to be successful and fruitful, technology should not be neglected. This will help avoid problems with a poor internet connection, failing devices, and inappropriate learning apps and tools.

To stem the transmission of the Coronavirus or COVID-19, establishments were closed, including schools. Thus, the education system adapted distance learning. Distance learning or DL is a modality wherein the teaching and learning processes are happening remotely. Despite the positive experiences of teachers and stakeholders regarding this setup, we cannot deny its drawbacks. Studies found that in DL students may encounter

• Distractions
• Costly technology and apps
• Demanding online classes
• Teachers who lack training
• Problems managing screen time
• Poor internet connection compromising the quality of education

In conclusion, to be able to avoid these issues in DL, readiness must be ensured. The students, the teachers, and the administration or the institution must be prepared. The closure of schools may have happened abruptly; however, as the schools continue to offer DL they must prepare. Some components in the models presented by Demir and Yurdugül may help address the issues or disadvantages of the online learning setup.

With this conclusion, distance learning can continue as the new normal in education, especially during a pandemic or if a lockdown must be imposed. In spite of the issues mentioned, there were suggested components that can be done differently to avoid such problems. Education can still continue in spite of the fact that it is done remotely.

Recommendations

In our conclusion, we analyzed the seven advantages that were mentioned and we can justify that readiness is the key to all these. And this readiness is the preparation of the students, the teachers, and the institution (the school administration). Thus, orientation for students, training for teachers, and a needs assessment for the institution is recommended, to prepare those who will be involved in distance learning.

First, orientation for the students is an activity that would give the students an idea of how distance learning would happen. They would be aware of the things that they need to prepare for their DL to be successful and fruitful. The institution, through its teachers, would inform the students of the software, applications, and technology tools they would need. Also, this can serve as an opportunity for students to ask questions or for any clarifications about class schedules and the Learning Management System (LMS) that they will use in their online classes.

Second, training for teachers is necessary. The pandemic happened in the middle of the school year. Most teachers were not ready. However, as the pandemic continues and online classes are still utilized, the institution must provide, and ensure that teachers will undergo, training. In-service training seminars were provided even before the pandemic, thus it is not new to teachers. But with the demand for online learning, teachers must be given updated training especially on conducting online classes. These training sessions may include familiarity with hardware and software. This also guarantees that the teachers are capable of assisting their students during the school year.

Lastly, the institution must undertake a needs assessment. Needs assessment is a business tool that allows the organization to determine the gap between their desired output and their current state. This allows the organization to identify what should be prioritized or improved. For schools, this will allow the administration to name certain aspects in the school system that need to be given attention as they offer online classes. The school will then be able to properly orient their students and also train their teachers with the appropriate programs or tools.

References:

• Advantages & Disadvantages Of Distance Learning
• ADOPTION OF THE BASIC EDUCATION LEARNING CONTINUITY PLAN FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021 IN LIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
• A strategic approach to the implementation of quality distance learning in Saudi Arabia: an embedded case study
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning
• Demir, Ö., and H. Yurdugül. 2015. The Exploration of models regarding e-learning readiness: Reference model suggestions. International Journal of Progressive Education , 11 (1).
• COVID-19 and Social Sciences
• Advantages And Disadvantages Of Online Learning
• Needs Assessment: Definition, Overview and Examples
• COVID-19: the impact of a global crisis on sustainable development teaching
• Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic on Education
• What's the Difference Between Asynchronous and Synchronous Learning?
• What is Distance Learning? The Complete Guide (2021)
• Impact of COVID-19 on people's livelihoods, their health and our food systems
• The Differences Between eLearning Αnd Distance Learning
• Distance Learning: The Secret Of Powerful Company Development
• Lifelong Learning And Distance Learning: Synergies And Challenges
• Distance Learning Software To The Rescue: How Can Teachers Use It Effectively?

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Teachers' Critical Reflections on the New Normal Philippine Education Issues: Inputs on Curriculum and Instruction Development

2021, Vol. 1 No. 3

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine educational landscape is greatly affected. This education issue concerns the country's curriculum and instruction (CIN), covering students' learning, delivery modalities, competencies, teachers' characteristics, and community involvement. Nonetheless, the CIN must be developed, considering the students, teachers, community, and the pressing challenges in the teaching-learning process, promoting quality education while considering the pandemic, by looking into teachers' perspectives. This qualitative research used content analysis to derive insights from the critical reflections of sixteen (16) teacher participants. It aims to present the participants' reflections on the New Normal education issues, leading to curriculum and instruction development inputs. Furthermore, the emerging themes are (a) essentiality and feasibility in choosing learning competencies; (b) good quality, flexibility, sustainability, and safety in choosing learning modalities; (c) learning materials' alignment, sufficiency, and proper distribution; (d) devotion, adaptability, and helpfulness of teachers; (e) reaching out students and task individualization; and (f) leadership and involvement needed to achieve success in education. Moreover, the findings suggest that the New Normal classroom requires a curriculum and instruction, teacher, leadership, and involvement adaptive and flexible of the changing and multifaceted educational landscape brought by the persisting disease.

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COVID-19 devastated teacher morale − and it hasn’t recovered

Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

Independent writer and editor, University of Michigan

Disclosure statement

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Kansas faces the worst teacher shortfall in its history. The 4,000 teaching vacancies Florida faces as the new school year approaches “is more than the population of teachers in 19 of Florida’s smallest counties combined,” the state’s teachers union says. In Vermont, there are days when whole grades of students are sent home because there’s no teacher or sub available .

The teaching profession faces a morale – and staffing – crisis. A National Education Association survey of members found that, as of late 2022, a staggering 55% of educators were thinking of calling it quits .

This is a legacy of COVID-19. Teachers were already unhappy before the pandemic, but the public’s reaction to the education their kids got during that crisis continues to haunt the profession. A Brown University study found teachers’ job satisfaction in 2022 hovered near its lowest level since the 1970s .

As a researcher focused on education policy , along with my colleague Sara Dahill-Brown , we spent the pandemic researching how teachers felt as events unfolded. Between 2020 and 2022, we conducted 164 interviews with a total of 53 leaders of teachers unions and associations from 45 school districts in 14 states. They represented urban, suburban and rural districts and an array of partisan leanings.

The results, published in our new study in Teaching and Teacher Education , show how damaging the pandemic was for K-12 teachers. Thousands subsequently left the profession .

COVID-19 response erodes teachers’ sense of safety

Many teachers were already worried about security because of school shootings. With COVID-19, those fears were compounded by the public’s demand for a fast return to in-person class before public health officials deemed it safe and before money flowed to put best practices in place.

In the summer of 2020, most teacher leaders told us they were “terrified” and “scared to death” because there was “no established criteria or expectations. … It was just jump into the deep and do your best.”

Vaccines and other scientific developments eased that particular anxiety, but as recently as April 2023, nearly 4 in 10 teachers told researchers they were considering looking for another job because they didn’t feel safe at work.

An intense and unrelenting workload

Throughout the 2020-21 school year, parents balanced jobs with children sitting – or running and yelling – alongside them for “Zoom school .” Teachers found themselves with two jobs, thanks to hybrid models in which they taught in person for some students and via videoconference for others.

According to one respondent, they were “expected to teach students in person, but also deliver a meaningful education experience to those same students when they were at home.” Another shared that “teachers were working many, many, many more hours than they had ever put into a face-to-face environment,” clocking “12 to 16 hours a day and weekends” and providing feedback “until 10 o’clock at night.”

The result was exhaustion that one leader described as “June-tired in October.” And that was merely an unusual bump in their already intense workloads; teachers in nonpandemic times typically work 53 hours per week on average . That’s seven more hours than the average working adult.

Lackluster leadership and changing expectations

The pandemic also exacerbated festering dissatisfaction with school and district leadership. Teachers felt misled, ill-informed and unconsidered. They were rarely asked for input and forced to make radical changes to education, respondents told us.

Teachers wanted “consistency,” “straight answers” and to stop “switching on a dime,” they told us. Plans changed so frequently that one said “an email written on Monday” was “stale by Wednesday.” Another said administrators would say “the right things in public” to signal “compassion and care for teachers. But the actions are different. And it’s really taking a toll on teachers.”

One union leader told us: “You see parents’ comments on social media, there are a lot more of ‘You just need to shut up and get back to the classroom. You’re lazy. You’re not doing your job.’”

Another echoed this: “Historically educators have been an under-respected profession. But it’s much, much worse now. It’s not just that they’re disrespected, they’re villainized.”

Jobs and budget cuts raise new fears

The majority (68%) of study respondents were concerned from early in the pandemic about budgets or job security. Forty percent feared enrollment losses related to COVID-19 would make those worries worse. And many worried that “schools don’t have the budget to do all of the safety procedures that science tells us is necessary.”

All of this persisted even as Congress, in April 2020, set aside more than US$13 billion for K-12 emergency relief. By the end of 2020, then-President Donald Trump pledged $50 billion more to help schools reopen .

These funds did hold off catastrophic cuts, but researchers and policymakers both warned of a fiscal cliff facing districts if they didn’t prepare for the point at which that spigot would run dry. And, indeed, examples now abound of just that reality, as seen by mass job cuts in St. Paul, Minnesota , Houston and Ann Arbor, Michigan , among others.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, resources are being reduced despite ongoing needs. This recipe – burned-out teachers quitting and some who chose to stay being fired – has the entire profession reeling .

Avenues for boosting morale

There are several ways to boost morale, but most require more investment, not less.

Teachers say they need better pay – to the tune of a minimum starting salary of $60,000 a year – along with stability in health and retirement benefits. The National Education Association says the average starting salary now is $44,530 . The NEA is also advocating for better conditions for the paraprofessionals who assist them in the classrooms. And teachers want more say in what they teach .

Short of these changes, we don’t see school systems being able to stop the exodus of educators from the profession – and they will continue to lose their best and brightest as a result.

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Teachers’ paradigm shift in the new normal

It’s no secret that education systems here and abroad took a heavy beating from the COVID-19 pandemic. And while we often hear of students’ and parents’ struggles with online learning, teachers have their fair share of challenges as well.

From preparation of lesson plans to conducting the classes and the handing out of assignments, teachers have to make sure that the quality of learning remains even with the absence of face-to-face interactions.

A different preparation

One of these teachers is former TV reporter and anchor Julius Segovia, who teaches various communications subjects, specifically TV Production, Journalism Principles, Visual Journalism, Multimedia Performance, and News Production in four different universities.

Before the pandemic, he prepared his lessons a few days or weeks before they are actually delivered to his students. This time around, his lead time had to be longer.

“You need to prepare and finish all the modules for the entire semester before the classes get started,” said Julius.

Another journalism teacher, Melanie Moreno, agrees that she had to pass hurdles upon hurdles to be able to conduct her classes, not only to keep things in order, but also to ensure learning among her students.

“Preparing lessons during this pandemic is way more challenging than before since the concern is not just limited to making sure that the learning will be transferred to the learners, but also to making sure that this is actually delivered to them,” says Melanie, who teaches in a public high school in Cavite.

Meanwhile, R-Jay Cayton, a teacher in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) mode of education, finds pre-work more complicated than before.

“The planning part is complex now since classes are online. My audio-visual materials, camera, and microphone need to be tested at least two days before my actual class. Before, it was a day before because I just needed to prepare my visual aids,” R-Jay, who teaches basic education-level English to mostly adult learners.

Challenging conduct of classes

As a TV reporter and online show host, Julius is used to talking in front of the camera. And while he doesn’t expect the camera to talk back to him, he knows that his messages get across because people react to what he says on those platforms. That’s not necessarily the case for online classes.

“Students are not required to open their camera because it consumes bigger bandwidth. With this, I am not sure if I am really talking to my students or I am just doing my monologue during class discussions,” he explains. “(Students) will be given modules in lieu of virtual meetings. Meaning, you have students with different learning modalities. Medyo nakakalito 'yun sa part ng teacher.”

Classes for public schools are set to begin on Oct. 5 which coincides with World Teachers’ Day. But even before this, Melanie already conducted a dry-run of her online class, particularly for her Grade 10 students in order to identify issues that have to be addressed.

Like probably many teachers, Melanie describes this “impersonal” method of learning as quite challenging

Internet issue

The teachers themselves are saying that having good Internet connectivity is a major issue in the delivery of their lessons.

“Not all families can actually afford the expenses (of securing a stable Internet connection). The Internet stability in our country is (also) really challenging, aside from the fact that the teacher's presence in the process of learning is actually compromised. (Limited) teacher presence affects the learning of the students according to studies,” Melanie says.

Aside from fluctuating internet connection, R-Jay is also bothered by the unnecessary background noises he hears, as these are distractions to both him and his students.

Shift in evaluating students’ learning

It’s common for teachers to give out seat works and quizzes inside the classroom. Since there’s practically no classroom to speak of this school year, teachers had to make adjustments on how to ensure that their students have indeed learned or would learn their lessons.

“I am lenient in terms of deadlines. I give ample time for the students to finish the required output, but we strictly follow protocols on late submissions. They get deductions if they submit late,” Julius says.

Melanie’s early preparations have had its gains so far.

“Even before the opening of classes, my learners and I have been engaging in different online projects. We struggled at first. As time went by, we were able to establish an organized system, though, only using FB and Messenger, which are accessible even without Internet data compared to other educational applications available nowadays which require Internet access,” she shares.

Managing virtual classroom behavior

Keeping an entire class attentive has always been a challenge for teachers, especially on the basic education levels, but the “new normal” gave it a whole new dimension.

Like Julius’s students, not all of Melanie’s turn on their cameras; still, teachers find ways to manage their class’ behavior.

“I engage them in discussions. Sometimes, I do request them to open (their cameras), usually at the end of the meeting just to make sure that they are paying attention. Aside from that, their outputs reflect whether they have learned something or not,” Melanie says.

R-Jay, meanwhile, keeps his students in check by staying silent when they are talkative.

Hopes for the “new normal” of education

In the end, the teachers hope that all things with online classes and blended learning turn out to be beneficial to students.

“I hope students would realize that they should work hand in hand with their teachers for the pursuit of online classes. Ika nga, kailangang magtulungan para maisakatuparan ang lahat ng ito. Hindi biro ang blended learning approach sa mga bata. (In the) same way, challenge din ito para sa mga guro, especially sa mga hindi techie,” Julius says.

“With careful planning, honest, and realistic feedback for processing, I believe that education will still push through effectively. It just takes adaptability and synergy, as life should not end with the virus. It should rather open broader and more positive possibilities without compromising the precious lives of our teachers, students, and other stakeholders,” Melanie shares.

R-Jay’s students may be of age, but he still hopes that the pandemic and the sudden change in the conduct classes won’t hamper adults from continued learning.

“(I hope my students would) value themselves more, so they can dream bigger for themselves (because education promotes equity).”

Salute and commitment

Clearly, teachers have been finding ways to continue students’ learning process, refusing to give up on their calling even amid the pandemic. BDO Unibank is one with them in steadily serving the community through these tough times.

As its commitment to continued education amid the pandemic, its rural banking arm – BDO Network Bank – supported the health and safety campaign of the Department of Education for teachers and learners alike, donating P1-million worth of rubbing alcohol and washable face masks that will benefit 1,105 public schools, under the ‘’Brigada Eskwela’’ program.

On the other hand, under the Balik Eskwela campaign, BDO Network Bank employees were encouraged to donate school items (school shoes, bags, and school supplies) for DepEd teachers and students. In addition, as part of this program, P420,000 worth of ICT equipment (laptops, desktops, and scanners) were turned over to DepEd through the rural bank’s partnership with BDO Foundation and SM Foundation.

Like the country’s dedicated teachers, BDO looks forward to getting through the pandemic, so that learning experiences may eventually safely resume beyond people’s homes and inside real classrooms.

Travails of College Teachers Handling Language Research Courses in the New Normal Setting: A Phenomenology

Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies Volume 7, Issue 2, Page 291-312, 2024; Article no.AJL2C.117070

22 Pages Posted: 25 Jul 2024

Jonel Siarot

St. Mary’s College of Tagum

Socorro Neri

Date Written: June 15, 2022

This qualitative-phenomenological study explored and understand the travails of college teachers in handling language research courses in the new normal setting. The study was seen through the lens Social Career Cognitive Theory, Competence Motivational Theory, and Theory of Work Adjustment. There were (17) participants who participated in this research. Ten (10) were subjected to the in-depth interview and seven (7) participated in the focus group discussion. They were selected through purposive sampling method. A thematic analysis was utilized to extract findings from the data collected. The results uncovered the participants' lived experiences from it (5) themes emerged: problems in communication and interaction, problems of technical readiness and connectivity, concerns on assessment of group members' participation, avenues for selfimprovement and sense of practicality. The teachers also shared their coping mechanisms in dealing with the challenges they encountered, from which four (4) themes emerged: possessing positive traits, willingness to adapt, accepting responsibility and bearing sense of accomplishment.

Keywords: College teachers, travails, language research, new normal setting, qualitativephenomenological study, thematic analysis

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Jonel Siarot (Contact Author)

St. mary’s college of tagum ( email ), do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on ssrn, paper statistics, related ejournals, teacher education ejournal.

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07-24-2024 WORK LIFE

Teachers nationwide are still reeling from the legacy of COVID-19

A National Education Association survey of members found that as of late 2022 a staggering 55% of educators were thinking of calling it quits.

[Photo: Anna Shvets /Pexels]

BY  The Conversation 4 minute read

Kansas faces the worst teacher shortfall in its history. The 4,000 teaching vacancies Florida faces as the new school year approaches “is more than the population of teachers in 19 of Florida’s smallest counties combined,” the state’s teachers union says. In Vermont, there are days when whole grades of students are sent home because there’s no teacher or sub available .

The teaching profession faces a morale—and staffing—crisis. A National Education Association survey of members found that, as of late 2022, a staggering 55% of educators were thinking of calling it quits .

This is a legacy of COVID-19. Teachers were already unhappy before the pandemic, but the public’s reaction to the education their kids got during that crisis continues to haunt the profession. A Brown University study found teachers’ job satisfaction in 2022 hovered near its lowest level since the 1970s .

As a researcher focused on education policy , along with my colleague Sara Dahill-Brown , we spent the pandemic researching how teachers felt as events unfolded. Between 2020 and 2022, we interviewed 164 leaders of teachers unions and associations from 14 states and 45 schools. They represented urban, suburban, and rural districts and an array of partisan leanings.

The results, published in our new study in Teaching and Teacher Education , show how damaging the pandemic was for K-12 teachers. Thousands subsequently left the profession .

COVID-19 response erodes teachers’ sense of safety

Many teachers were already worried about security because of school shootings. With COVID-19, those fears were compounded by the public’s demand for a fast return to in-person class before public health officials deemed it safe and before money flowed to put best practices in place.

In the summer of 2020, most teacher leaders told us they were “terrified” and “scared to death” because there was “no established criteria or expectations. . . . It was just jump into the deep and do your best.”

Vaccines and other scientific developments eased that particular anxiety, but as recently as April 2023, nearly 4 in 10 teachers told researchers they were considering looking for another job because they didn’t feel safe at work.

An intense and unrelenting workload

Throughout the 2020-21 school year, parents balanced jobs with children sitting—or running and yelling— alongside them for “Zoom school .” Teachers found themselves with two jobs, thanks to hybrid models in which they taught in person for some students and via videoconference for others.

According to one respondent, they were “expected to teach students in person, but also deliver a meaningful education experience to those same students when they were at home.” Another shared that “teachers were working many, many, many more hours than they had ever put into a face-to-face environment,” clocking “12 to 16 hours a day and weekends,” and providing feedback “until 10 o’clock at night.”

The result was exhaustion that one leader described as “June-tired in October.” And that was merely an unusual bump in their already intense workloads; teachers in nonpandemic times typically work 53 hours per week on average . That’s seven more hours than the average working adult.

Lackluster leadership and changing expectations

The pandemic also exacerbated festering dissatisfaction with school and district leadership. Teachers felt misled, ill-informed, and unconsidered. They were rarely asked for input and forced to make radical changes to education, respondents told us.

Teachers wanted “consistency,” “straight answers,” and to stop “switching on a dime,” they told us. Plans changed so frequently that one said “an email written on Monday” was “stale by Wednesday.” Another said administrators would say “the right things in public” to signal “compassion and care for teachers. But the actions are different. And it’s really taking a toll on teachers.”

One union leader told us: “You see parents’ comments on social media, there are a lot more of ‘You just need to shut up and get back to the classroom. You’re lazy. You’re not doing your job.’”

Another echoed this: “Historically educators have been an under-respected profession. But it’s much, much worse now. It’s not just that they’re disrespected, they’re villainized.”

Jobs and budget cuts raise new fears

The majority (68%) of study respondents were concerned from early in the pandemic about budgets or job security. Forty percent feared enrollment losses related to COVID-19 would make those worries worse. And many worried that “schools don’t have the budget to do all of the safety procedures that science tells us is necessary.”

All of this persisted even as Congress, in April 2020, set aside more than $13 billion for K-12 emergency relief. By the end of 2020, then-President Donald Trump pledged $50 billion more to help schools reopen .

These funds did hold off catastrophic cuts, but researchers and policymakers both warned of a fiscal cliff facing districts if they didn’t prepare for the point at which that spigot would run dry. And, indeed, examples now abound of just that reality, as seen by mass job cuts in St. Paul, Minnesota ; Houston ; and Ann Arbor, Michigan , among others.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, resources are being reduced despite ongoing needs. This recipe—burned-out teachers quitting and some who chose to stay being fired— has the entire profession reeling .

Avenues for boosting morale

There are several ways to boost morale, but most require more investment, not less.

Teachers say they need better pay— to the tune of a minimum starting salary of $60,000 a year —along with stability in health and retirement benefits. The National Education Association says the average starting salary now is $44,530 . The NEA is also advocating for better conditions for the paraprofessionals who assist them in the classrooms. And teachers want more say in what they teach .

Short of these changes, we don’t see school systems being able to stop the exodus of educators from the profession—and they will continue to lose their best and brightest as a result.

Lesley Lavery is a professor of political science at Macalester College .

Steve Friess is an independent writer and editor at the University of Michigan .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

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Researchers: COVID-19 devastated teacher morale—and it hasn't recovered

by Lesley Lavery and Steve Friess, The Conversation

Kansas faces the worst teacher shortfall in its history. The 4,000 teaching vacancies Florida faces as the new school year approaches "is more than the population of teachers in 19 of Florida's smallest counties combined," the state's teachers union says. In Vermont, there are days when whole grades of students are sent home because there's no teacher or sub available .

The teaching profession faces a morale—and staffing—crisis. A National Education Association survey of members found that, as of late 2022, a staggering 55% of educators were thinking of calling it quits .

This is a legacy of COVID-19. Teachers were already unhappy before the pandemic, but the public's reaction to the education their kids got during that crisis continues to haunt the profession. A Brown University study found teachers' job satisfaction in 2022 hovered near its lowest level since the 1970s .

As a researcher focused on education policy , along with my colleague Sara Dahill-Brown , we spent the pandemic researching how teachers felt as events unfolded. Between 2020 and 2022, we interviewed 164 leaders of teachers unions and associations from 14 states and 45 schools. They represented urban, suburban and rural districts and an array of partisan leanings.

The results, published in our new study in Teaching and Teacher Education , show how damaging the pandemic was for K-12 teachers. Thousands subsequently left the profession .

COVID-19 response erodes teachers' sense of safety

Many teachers were already worried about security because of school shootings. With COVID-19, those fears were compounded by the public's demand for a fast return to in-person class before public health officials deemed it safe and before money flowed to put best practices in place.

In the summer of 2020, most teacher leaders told us they were "terrified" and "scared to death" because there was "no established criteria or expectations. … It was just jump into the deep and do your best."

Vaccines and other scientific developments eased that particular anxiety, but as recently as April 2023, nearly 4 in 10 teachers told researchers they were considering looking for another job because they didn't feel safe at work.

An intense and unrelenting workload

Throughout the 2020–21 school year, parents balanced jobs with children sitting—or running and yelling— alongside them for "Zoom school ." Teachers found themselves with two jobs, thanks to hybrid models in which they taught in person for some students and via videoconference for others.

According to one respondent, they were "expected to teach students in person, but also deliver a meaningful education experience to those same students when they were at home." Another shared that "teachers were working many, many, many more hours than they had ever put into a face-to-face environment," clocking "12 to 16 hours a day and weekends" and providing feedback "until 10 o'clock at night."

The result was exhaustion that one leader described as "June-tired in October." And that was merely an unusual bump in their already intense workloads; teachers in nonpandemic times typically work 53 hours per week on average . That's seven more hours than the average working adult.

Lackluster leadership and changing expectations

The pandemic also exacerbated festering dissatisfaction with school and district leadership. Teachers felt misled, ill-informed and unconsidered. They were rarely asked for input and forced to make radical changes to education, respondents told us.

Teachers wanted "consistency," "straight answers" and to stop "switching on a dime," they told us. Plans changed so frequently that one said "an email written on Monday" was "stale by Wednesday." Another said administrators would say "the right things in public" to signal "compassion and care for teachers. But the actions are different. And it's really taking a toll on teachers."

One union leader told us: "You see parents' comments on social media , there are a lot more of "You just need to shut up and get back to the classroom. You're lazy. You're not doing your job.'"

Another echoed this: "Historically educators have been an under-respected profession. But it's much, much worse now. It's not just that they're disrespected, they're villainized."

Jobs and budget cuts raise new fears

The majority (68%) of study respondents were concerned from early in the pandemic about budgets or job security. Forty percent feared enrollment losses related to COVID-19 would make those worries worse. And many worried that "schools don't have the budget to do all of the safety procedures that science tells us is necessary."

All of this persisted even as Congress, in April 2020, set aside more than US$13 billion for K-12 emergency relief. By the end of 2020, then-President Donald Trump pledged $50 billion more to help schools reopen .

These funds did hold off catastrophic cuts, but researchers and policymakers both warned of a fiscal cliff facing districts if they didn't prepare for the point at which that spigot would run dry. And, indeed, examples now abound of just that reality, as seen by mass job cuts in St. Paul, Minnesota , Houston and Ann Arbor, Michigan , among others.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, resources are being reduced despite ongoing needs. This recipe—burned-out teachers quitting and some who chose to stay being fired— has the entire profession reeling .

Avenues for boosting morale

There are several ways to boost morale, but most require more investment, not less.

Teachers say they need better pay— to the tune of a minimum starting salary of $60,000 a year —along with stability in health and retirement benefits. The National Education Association says the average starting salary now is $44,530 . The NEA is also advocating for better conditions for the paraprofessionals who assist them in the classrooms. And teachers want more say in what they teach .

Short of these changes, we don't see school systems being able to stop the exodus of educators from the profession—and they will continue to lose their best and brightest as a result.

Provided by The Conversation

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New Teacher Advice: 5 Tips To Avoid Common Teaching Mistakes

1. Don’t have too many activities and worksheets

• Tip: Prepare some quick and easy warm-up activities that can be used anytime, can be repurposed for different topics and need little preparation. This way, you can fill in extra time without rushing through important parts of your lesson.
• One example might be a quick vocabulary game like Back to the Board, where you divide the class into two groups and have a student from each sit at the front with their backs to the board. Write a word and have the class give definitions or clues to the words for their representative to guess. You can find some more useful examples of warm-up activities here. 

2. Don’t worry about not knowing everything

• Tip: Create a learning environment where students can teach each other and also teach you. This helps them become more independent learners and shows that learning never stops.
• One example might be to have students give a short presentation on a topic they’re passionate about or something they know about which might be surprising to the rest of the class.

3. Don’t rely on too many tech tools

• Tip: Start with a few reliable tools and see how they work in your class. Using the same tools regularly helps you feel much more relaxed and comfortable going into your lessons. Remember, you don’t always need high-tech tools to have fun and engaging classes. You can read more about this topic here. 

4. Think about classroom management

• Tip: Set clear rules and routines from the start. Use techniques to get students’ attention and smoothly change activities. Try different strategies to meet the needs of all your students.
• You could try tapping the board and having students stand up. The last student to stand up answers an English question. You could also have a traffic light system, where green means to do the activity and red means to stop. Read more about classroom management here.

5. Take time to reflect and relax

• Tip: Make sure to take time for yourself; reflect on your teaching and relax. Taking care of yourself helps you stay motivated, inspired and ready to handle challenges in the classroom without sacrificing your wellbeing.

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The big debate: ai and inclusivity, make teacher development a priority this year with smart goals, futures thinking for language educators: the future is plural | part 2.

Thankyou so much. It is quite informative. Please if you don’t mind, could you provide some of the link related to flash cards for young english learners.

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What We Know About the Global Microsoft Outage

Airlines to banks to retailers were affected in many countries. Businesses are struggling to recover.

• Share full article

By Eshe Nelson and Danielle Kaye

Eshe Nelson reported from London and Danielle Kaye from New York.

Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.

In many countries, flights were grounded, workers could not get access to their systems and, in some cases, customers could not make card payments in stores. While some of the problems were resolved within hours, many businesses, websites and airlines continued to struggle to recover.

What happened?

A series of outages rippled across the globe as information displays, login systems and broadcasting networks went dark.

The problem affecting the majority of services was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike , an American cybersecurity firm, whose systems are intended to protect users from hackers. Microsoft said on Friday that it was aware of an issue affecting machines running “CrowdStrike Falcon.”

But Microsoft had also said there was an earlier outage affecting U.S. users of Azure, its cloud service system. Some users may have been affected by both. Even as CrowdStrike sent out a fix, some systems were still affected by midday in the United States as businesses needed to make manual updates to their systems to resolve the issue.

George Kurtz, the president and chief executive of CrowdStrike, said on Friday morning that it could take some time for some systems to recover.

How a Software Update Crashed Computers Around the World

Here’s a visual explanation for how a faulty software update crippled machines.

How the airline cancellations rippled around the world (and across time zones)

Share of canceled flights at 25 airports on Friday

50% of flights

Ai r po r t

Bengalu r u K empeg o wda

Dhaka Shahjalal

Minneapolis-Saint P aul

Stuttga r t

Melbou r ne

Be r lin B r anden b urg

London City

Amsterdam Schiphol

Chicago O'Hare

Raleigh−Durham

B r adl e y

Cha r lotte

Reagan National

Philadelphia

1:20 a.m. ET

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