Learning Through Change: What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Living Well in a World Worth Living In

Abstract

The experiences of academics during the pandemic influenced their actions in relation to the changes they were experiencing and also influenced their understanding of what is important going forward. For many academics, the COVID-19 pandemic involved working from home, changed ways of interacting with students and colleagues, and changed relationships with students, colleagues, family, and community. This chapter asks the questions: how can we make the most of the changes that occurred because of the pandemic, and what other changes might we create going forward? Based on interviews with, and journal entries by, 30 academics (16 Norway; 14 Australia), this chapter identifies key global, community, and personal aspects to participants’ understanding of living well in a world worth living in. Informed by the theory of practice architectures, we also discuss the practice architectures that might support the changes (and in some cases the sustaining and further development of transformations already taking place) that these academics envisaged, with a focus on changed technology use, work flexibility, stable employment with good working conditions, and social justice.