Adjusting to Technology-Mediated Instruction in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana: Exploring the Experiences of Senior High School Teachers and Students of Social Studies

Ensuring Future Resilience beyond ICT and Online Teaching and Learning of Social Studies in Ghanaian Senior High Schools: Lessons from COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Having realized some challenges such as lack of online teaching infrastructure, as teacher inexperience, barriers at home and an information gap, among others (Murgatrotd, 2020), predominantly in developing countries like Ghana, it is momentous to take resilient measures now to safeguard that education, principally Social Studies education, is not truncated and that learners are imbued with the necessary knowledge through Social Studies education, to help solve the myriad challenges that plague us. Though there have been copious studies on online means of ensuring the continuity of education in the face of the pandemic (Zengulaaru et al, 2022;Adarkwah, 2021;Bariham et al, 2021), they are mainly concentrated on technology-mediated methods of teaching as well as online teaching and learning with little attention given to resilient measures to deal with online teaching and learning, particularly Social Studies learning. Hence, there is an urgent need to divulge resilient strategies against any possible emergency like COVID-19 which can torment the delivery of Social Studies.…”

“…Moreover, students' lack of technological competence and data cost requirements (Henaku, 2020), as well as teachers' deficiency of technical support (Aboagye, 2021), are some of the many challenges associated with ICT integration into Social Studies education, particularly during the peak of COVID-19, which resulted in school closures. Lack of Internet access, ICT policy, equipment such as computers, and improper materials all contribute to inadequate ICT integration into school curricula (Gyampoh et al, 2020;Zengulaaru et al, 2022). Notwithstanding these discrepancies, Social Studies teachers must change their face-to-face classroom activities to ICT and online teaching and learning environment in order to be more resilient to future pandemics.…”

“…Its emergence has resulted in a disastrous truncation of education, including the teaching and learning of social studies (Mensah & Frimpong, 2020;Lilian et al, 2019;Di Biase, 2019). In light of the challenges created by this disastrous pandemic, the adoption of online teaching and learning became a necessity in all educational settings, including the teaching and learning of social studies (see Ali, 2018;Henaku, 2020;Bariham et al, 2021;Adarkwah, 2021;Zengulaaru et al, 2022).…”