Sociality, resilience and agency: how did young Australians experience online learning during Covid-19?

Abstract

In 2020 when schooling was abruptly reconfigured by the pandemic, young people were required to demonstrate new capabilities to manage their learning and their wellbeing. This paper reports on the feelings, thoughts and experiences of eight Year 9 and 10 students in NSW and Victoria about the initial period of online learning in Australian schools that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic. Beyond dominant narratives of vulnerability and losses in learning, our participants offered counternarratives that stressed their capacities to rise and meet the times. We trace three central themes on how they: found moments of agency that increased their confidence, reconfigured resilience as a socially responsible set of practices, deployed sociality as a resource for the benefit of themselves and others. The pandemic opened up conversations with young people about where and how learning takes place and how schools might adapt and respond to young people’s growing sense of urgency about the future of schooling.

Students’ Isolation Challenges in Blended EFL Learning During COVID-19: How Can Social Presence and Interaction Help Develop Sense of Community?

“…The expectation was rooted in the assumption that students and teachers may not be prepared enough during the pandemic on the one hand, and the shorter time of co-presence physically in the offline classroom would lessen social presence that is related to the sense of community, 34 which might not be true in this case, as investigated by. 25 , 45 In fact, teachers have become more experienced with technology-mediated teaching and students have been more resilient in online or blended learning in 2021 with the emergency experiences in 2020. 45 …”

“… 25 , 45 In fact, teachers have become more experienced with technology-mediated teaching and students have been more resilient in online or blended learning in 2021 with the emergency experiences in 2020. 45 …”

“…In the COVID-19 period, the boundary of class extends to both virtual and physical spaces. As mentioned above, the presence challenges in online or blended language learning and the isolation problems in the post-pandemic period 45 bring a sense of community into the research focus. According to the social exchange theory, sense of cohesion (community) can be viewed as mutual connectedness resulting from student commitment and contribution to the community, which is interaction-oriented and essentially social.…”

Teaching presence predicts cognitive presence in blended learning during COVID-19: The chain mediating role of social presence and sense of community

“…Despite the varying definitions of presence in online or blended learning environments, a tacit consensus was reached that the presence of both instructors and learners contributed to the shaping of a learning community, especially toward the establishment of shared learning goals (Jiang and Koo, 2020 ; Wang and Liu, 2020 ; Kim et al, 2021 ; Roque-Hernández et al, 2021 ). Without the virtual TP and SP, home-bound students might be bored or feel isolated (Qiu et al, 2020 ; Abouhashem et al, 2021 ; Naidoo et al, 2022 ) due to the lockdown and lack of a conducive learning environment. Due to many uncertainties of instructor competence during the COVID-19 period and learner socio-emotional characteristics (Kast et al, 2021 ), it is essential to evaluate TP from the angle of learners.…”

The Barcelona Conference on Education 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…In tertiary education, face-to-face classes were replaced by online teaching, while most of the hands-on classes and practicums were suspended. The transition was challenging and the learning efficiency was affected in the beginning, yet students, teaching staff and universities showed quick response and tremendous resilience gradually (Naidoo et al, 2021;Thakur, 2020;Schwartzman, 2020). Both students and teachers have been well 'trained' and they start to get used to the new T&L approach.…”