Adjustments to Pandemic Enforced Constraints: Insights from Postgraduate Students’ and Educators’ Transitions

Abstract

Much of higher education (HE) experienced a forced global pilot test of online education with the added dimension of a rapid adoption for both educators and students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We used Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transition (MMT) and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) perspectives within a two-time interval research design of postgraduate Master students' and educators' lived experience operationalised during the first three months of the pandemic in Ireland. This article describes the transition journey from shock and loss, to new and unfamiliar, enforced and confined learning environments, to eventual acceptance albeit with major challenges. The findings illustrate a complex narrative for both students and educators as they adjust to a new educational experience. The main finding was that both students and educators transitioned rapidly, but there is a lack of evidence that this "forced" transition repositioned the student and educator roles in a new educational ecosystem. As technological adoption continues with HE, research findings of this nature situated during the early stages of the pandemic can inform and guide the next iteration of educational and technological developments.

Map of Thematic Learning at Elementary School in the Pandemic Period (Study at Jakarta, Depok, dan Tangerang Areas)

“…(Fauzi & Asri, 2021) There are obstacles that come from within the teacher and students themselves, there are also those from their environment. The findings of this research are in line with (Nolan et al, 2022) that the pandemic has forced students and educators to transition quickly, so this "forced" transition changes the position of students and the role of educators in the new educational ecosystem. Barriers to implementation include space and time constraints, inadequate training, student behavior problems and low self-efficacy (Martyn et al, 2022).…”