Pandemic Pedagogy: 👩‍🏫 The Impact of the Corona Virus on Modern Day Education 👩‍🏫

 

Pandemic Pedagogy

👩‍🏫 Stop #15: The Impact of the Corona Virus on Modern Day Education 👩‍🏫

Throughout the world, the Corona Virus pandemic has rewritten the syllabus for the 2020-2021 school year causing educators and students to face sweeping and unprecedented educational changes. Although many of these changes may be associated with struggle and hardship, the need for virtual learning has also facilitated a number of technological and personal advancements that I believe will shape the field of education for many years to come. In hopes of investigating this notion, under the guidance of Dr. Ludmila Smirnova, this past winter I set out to perform an academic research project centered on analyzing the impact of these unprecedented times on the field of education. It was my hope to learn from those on the front lines—our educators, scholars, and academics—who have worked hard to continue to provide for students despite what the world has thrown at them. Through teacher testimonials, interviews, and surveys I sought to learn not only from their personal and technological struggles but also from their wonderful success stories. It was my hope that this research could serve as a voice to the unsung heroes of the world: modern-day educators.

Although this research project started with a targeted focus on understanding the role of COVID in science and STEM education, after our survey was sent all around the world, it truly evolved into something much larger and far more spectacular. In order to gauge the true scope of this research, it is important to understand the spectrum of responses that were acquired in just a matter of weeks. Our survey received responses from Albania, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Eswatini (South Africa), Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, the Middle East, Myanmar, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Each educator poured themselves into these responses, outlining the highs and lows of their educational journey, their personal setbacks and accomplishments, and some of the resources that have allowed them to get through these trying times. Some of these stories brought a tear to my eyes such as an individual from Germany who praised the pandemic as it forced her country to finally prioritize education and give teachers the technology that was required to be successful or another that was asked to teach virtually in a remote part of Asia where students did not have access to wifi, or computers. How is that even possible? To say that I was baffled by the resilience of these educators would be an understatement. And the fact that despite all that was going on in their lives they had taken the time to answer my survey....that was just unimaginable! Perhaps what I liked the most was that individuals took the time to ask me questions. They wanted to know what I had learned from my research and if I knew of any technologies that could help to keep students with disabilities or students for whom English was a second language more engaged. Honored that they would even consider my feedback valuable, I got right to work curating a list of resources that I found instrumental to my professional development as a teacher. The image depicted below serves as a small snapshot of this comprehensive list that has taken months to curate and design. Every technology resource logo is linked to a video that teachers can click on to learn more about that platform and how they can work to easily integrate it into their classroom.

If you are interested in viewing my entire comprehensive

list of resources please click on the image above.

Although the development of this resources page was incredibly enriching, perhaps the most inspirational part of this project came from my experience interviewing Sara Mursic, the head of Research and Development at Abbot's Lee Day School in Liverpool, England. Dr. Smirnova and I had the opportunity to meet with Sara this winter and receive her valuable insight regarding the effects of this pandemic on young children with autism and other disabilities. In a time of much global unrest, we learned about the profound impact that this large-scale chaos has on those that struggle to be at peace under typical circumstances. Her insight was invaluable and it was interesting to learn that much of the hardship associated with the COVID-19 pandemic for her school came from external sources. For instance, the education remained strong but with the students at home, the teacher could no longer ensure that her students were in the right headspace to learn. Through no fault of their own, everyone is essentially stuck at home and trying to make the most of an unbearable situation. However, it is important to note that this constant distraction and commotion on the home front only adds to the stress and overstimulation of an autistic child, which can occasionally prevent them from achieving success. At the conclusion of our discussion, we learned that Sara is actually in the process of conducting a similar project for her doctoral research and we should all be incredibly excited to hear what this young, brilliant mind has to share with the world. I have attached a link to our interview here, as there is no way that I could ever do her words justice. If you would like to continue expanding your professional learning community, I highly recommend that you take a few moments of your time to listen to the words of Sara Mursic because if you are anything like me, it will open your eyes to a whole new perspective that you never once thought to explore.

As there is more to this research than I can ever dream of fitting into one brief blog post, I invite you to watch the video linked down below for more information. If you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to ask them on this blog as I always love hearing the perspectives of other brilliant educators. If not, I invite you to take a moment of your time to listen and reflect on the power, strength, and tenacity of today's superheroes: modern-day educators. 

Click here to learn more about this winter's research endeavors!