Emergency Teaching–Learning Methods (ETLM) during COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka’s education system was suddenly shifted from classroom-based free education to online-based distance learning as an emergency teaching and learning method (ETLM) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This study examines how various stakeholders used online-based distant learning as an ETLM, and highlights the lessons learned from such a transition in Sri Lanka through a case study of the Kandy education zone (KEZ), in response to the country’s COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We obtained the data through a questionnaire survey from 19 schools in KEZ, selecting the teachers, students, and parents as a survey sample. The findings revealed that nearly 64.7% of teachers used social media for the teaching–learning process (TLP), 27.9% used standard online teaching platforms, and only 7.4% used traditional teaching methods during the pandemic lockdown. Additionally, 36.5% of teachers and 41.2% of students favored the WhatsApp mobile application for the TLP, while others preferred other applications. However, during the COVID-19 lockdown, most of the less privileged schools in the peripheral areas of the KEZ adopted traditional teaching methods (TTM). The extent of the gap in ETLM adaptation and the driving factors that led to observable discrepancies between privileged and non-privileged schools, even in the urban settings of the KEZ, are also discussed in this study. These findings are significant in terms of educational policy making and management. Overall, this research contributes to understanding the ETLM adaptation of the KEZ by proposing policy directions that policymakers and other higher education authorities in the country should consider in an emergency.

Experiences and Challenges in Adopting Emergency Remote Teaching among Accounting Educators

“…The fourth emergent sub-theme arising from the challenges is students' engagement and level of understanding. The result is in line with the works of Dhawan (2020); Gangahagedara et al (2021); Sangster et al (2020); Valsaraj et al (2021) where it is the utmost challenge faced by most educators in this study. During online classes, educators need to deal with a large number of students; thus, it is difficult to ensure all students' engagement during class session.…”

“…Most universities are not physically and technologically prepared for fully online teaching. Many educators are minimally trained, and few have fully embraced the online learning mode (Gangahagedara et al, 2021;Nasu, 2020;Sangster et al, 2020). Therefore, many faculties pursue training for the online delivery of lectures because most of their educators are using the online learning platforms as the delivery tool during the pandemic (Colpitts et al, 2020;Valsaraj et al, 2021).…”

“…Principally, teaching and learning schedules can be carried out through online gateways by adopting variations of virtual tools offered; for instance, digital video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Cisco WebEx Meeting, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams (Amin & Sundari, 2020;Dignan, 2020;Singh & Awasthi, 2020). Besides, the use of low-data consumption messenger applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram (Amin & Sundari, 2020;Gangahagedara et al, 2021;Quispe et al, 2021), are considered popular platforms to deliver low bandwidth content to everyone, especially to those who have a poor internet connection (Karim, 2020). These varieties of teaching and learning avenues can be practically used to boost the academic readiness and preparation for educators and learners to adapt to the new norms of educational era.…”

Uso de modelos didácticos en España en el contexto del COVID-19: estudio comparativo entre cuerpos docentes

“…Estos resultados, coincidentes con algunos estudios (Jiménez-Hernández et al, 2020;Pérez-López et al, 2021;Totlis et al, 2021), ponen de manifiesto que, a pesar de la apuesta de organismos nacionales por la renovación pedagógica y la adaptación de la docencia al contexto COVID-19, el modelo de aprendizaje dirigido todavía continúa siendo el más prevalente. Contrariamente, diversas investigaciones derivadas del COVID-19 han concluido que, el uso metodológico, se ha transformado significativamente como consecuencia del paso de un modelo de enseñanza presencial a otro virtual o semipresencial (Barlovits et al, 2021;Collado-Valero et al, 2021;Gangahagedara et al, 2021;Latorre-Cosculluela et al, 2021;Vizcaya-Moreno & Pérez-Cañaveras, 2020).…”

Developing New Teaching Materials to Enhance Students Learning and Engagement at University

“…Weerathunga et al [8] has reported an increase in the acceptance ratio of E-Learning among the university students and teachers as a reliable way to continue education during the extreme situation as the COVID-19 pandemic. Several universities have reported an apparent motivational factor from including these e-learning techniques in the educational pedagogical strategies pool [9,10]. This effect is a significant positive, and fights against the depression and mental disorder cases increased related to COVID-19 isolation or family loss [11].…”