ArticlePDF Available

Remote Learning Post-Pandemic: Lessons and Innovations

Authors:

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed an unprecedented global shift to remote learning, fundamentally altering the landscape of education. This paper explores the evolution of remote learning during the pandemic, emphasizing the lessons learned and the innovations that emerged from this large-scale transition. By examining specific geographic contexts, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, the paper delves into the challenges faced by educators and learners, including technological, social, and pedagogical obstacles. It also highlights the technological advancements and innovative pedagogical strategies that have reshaped educational practices. Finally, the paper envisions the future of higher education, proposing a framework for integrating these lessons and innovations into a more equitable, resilient, and effective educational system by 2030.
https://www.eejournals.org/ Open Access
Page | 31
Remote Learning Post-Pandemic: Lessons and
Innovations
Kawesi Joshua I.
Faculty of Education, Kampala International University, Uganda
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed an unprecedented global shift to remote learning, fundamentally
altering the landscape of education. This paper explores the evolution of remote learning during the
pandemic, emphasizing the lessons learned and the innovations that emerged from this large-scale
transition. By examining specific geographic contexts, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,
the paper delves into the challenges faced by educators and learners, including technological, social, and
pedagogical obstacles. It also highlights the technological advancements and innovative pedagogical
strategies that have reshaped educational practices. Finally, the paper envisions the future of higher
education, proposing a framework for integrating these lessons and innovations into a more equitable,
resilient, and effective educational system by 2030.
Keywords: Remote Learning, COVID-19 Pandemic, Educational Innovation, Technology in Education,
Pedagogical Strategies.
INTRODUCTION
In the post-COVID era, remote learning is at the forefront of educational discussions. Not only has there
been a massive disruption in classrooms for two entire school years, but what was once viewed as a
novelty has also become a necessity and, in some cases, the only form of education. Although the
emergency remote teaching (ERT) model has been successful in providing instructional continuity in this
health crisis, numerous concerns for the quality of educational engagement still linger. By focusing on
specific geographic contexts throughout the globe, including low- and middle-income countries that may
not have had similar prior access to technology, a deeper understanding of the innovative opportunities
for educational quality paradigm shifts is emerging. Technology offers previously unavailable avenues to
approach equity of access and resources, delivery mode accountability, and evaluation and assessment
integrity in higher education [1, 2] As schools shut down their buildings to prevent the spread of
COVID-19, remote learning seemed to be the best solution for the continuance of learning. Yet most
educators found themselves unprepared. This analysis frames remote learning as the first widespread,
large-scale, international, and very low-resource implementation of a learning delivery method not
involving teachers and students sharing the same classroom at the same time. Using student perspectives
in six countries, it finds that remote learning does not equal ‘good’ learning, and that there was a strong
divergence in quality of remote learning offered across schools [3, 4]. Topics subsequently explored
include the following main questions: What educational, social, and emotional lessons regarding ERT
emerged? What innovations and practices currently in place reflect these lessons? What are the visions
for higher education by 2030 in the context of educational quality, technology integration, and
institutional and regulatory strategy? What cases of best practice and regional success exist to learn
from? [5, 6].
EVOLUTION OF REMOTE LEARNING DURING THE PANDEMIC
In February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly diverted educational institutions worldwide from in-
person to remote form, forcing a transition from a traditionally analog, established education practice to a
newly devised approach that many instructors and students had not been exposed to before.
Transitioning to remote learning was challenging for both instructors and students. Difficulties that
EURASIAN EXPERIMENT JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND
SOCIAL SCIENCES (EEJHSS) ISSN: 2992-4111
©EEJHSS Publications Volume 5 Issue 2 2024
https://www.eejournals.org/ Open Access
Page | 32
arose included a lack of teaching experience and expertise with remote learning tools and technology,
problems associated with inequitable internet access and availability of electricity, a heavy reliance on
screen time, combating student apathy toward learning, and dealing with time zone differences 7. This
entire pandemic experience emerged as a collective and profound turning point for many people including
instructors and students, large educational systems and institutions, and education as a whole. Some
creative and innovative ideas emerged that brought new and better possibilities for educational practices
and policies. A few of these possibilities simultaneously emerged across very different contexts, cultures,
countries, and educational systems. A brief overview is provided on these transformations in remote
learning, along with contextualization for each idea, documentation of their essential emergence,
discussion of new possibilities for a future of education, and identification of questions that remain to be
tackled [8, 9]. Within the very diverse range of responses to the pandemic, there were also unexplained
and brilliant responses that took place quite independently of the responses of others or of the larger
educational systems and institutions. For example, there were art education students who learned new
ways of extemporaneous living-room drawing remotely together with an online artist from Taiwan, a
group of students who raised money to buy art supplies for children in orphanages, a scholar who created
sensual learning experiences, and a young woman who aspired to become the world’s first astronaut in
her dream visible on YouTube. In some historic ways, education can be understood as the ability to
respond to adversity and to creatively either evolve or emerge altogether anew [10, 11].
CHALLENGES FACED IN REMOTE LEARNING
Despite some branched fruit of benefits with emerging technologies, like advanced communication via
online and mobile classes, and abundant educational content available on the Internet, there are still
major challenges related to remote learning faced by educators and learners, especially during the time of
the pandemic 7. It’s crucial to reveal and recognize these challenges if the objective is to deeply
understand the experiences and lessons learned after the pandemic. It is also very crucial to know the
expectations of the educators and learners about how successful remote learning can actually transform
education, and how to properly implement that transformation [12]. To facilitate the analysis of
challenges encountered during the period of remote learning, three sides of challenges are considered:
Social Challenge, Technological Challenge and Pedagogical Challenge. 4 Types of Learning Experiences
are also classified as major educative experience encountered by educators and learners: Positive
Experience, Heterogeneous Experience, Technological Experience and Psychological Experience [13].
During the Pen-Ed conference in January 2022, most challenges confronted by each group (20 educators,
16 tertiary learners in Hong Kong) were recognized. 7 From the Social, Technological and Pedagogical
sides, and overall, 18 challenges are recognized. These challenges are taken as the benchmark to analyze
the similar kinds of challenges that past research papers discussed [14].
INNOVATIONS IN REMOTE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES
Focusing on technological advancements, this section investigates the innovations that emerged in
remote learning technologies. It discusses the diverse tools and platforms that were developed or
repurposed to facilitate effective virtual learning experiences. The section also highlights the impact of
these innovations on education and the potential long-term implications for remote learning post-
pandemic [15]. The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for the rapid advancement of remote learning
technologies in higher education. Universities and colleges embraced novel platforms, tools, and
strategies to maintain effective teaching and learning practices as a protective measure to limit the spread
of the virus. They innovated diverse methods to engage and connect with students. Innovative techniques
included changing existing learning platforms or integrating other technologies into them. Furthermore,
educators collaborated with students to discover solutions to resolve unforeseen challenges in remote
instruction and learning [9]. As educators grappled with unexpected challenges, they demonstrated
immense creativity, adaptability, and resilience under pressure. The extraordinary circumstance of the
COVID-19 pandemic pushed the boundaries of technology in education to expedite urgently needed and
long-overdue reforms in education. Remote learning innovations introduced during the pandemic have
been heralded as a revolutionary advancement in education as it transformed the teaching and learning
landscape. They have fostered convenient access to education via new platforms, tools, and strategies.
The emergence of educational technologies onto the world stage has involved building both the
institutions’ capacity to effectively manage education technology and the educators’ competency to
employ these technologies to promote better learning. With the technology now in place, education
reforms have the potential to improve education: curriculum, pedagogy, learning outcomes, student
experiences, and equity [16, 17].
https://www.eejournals.org/ Open Access
Page | 33
PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE REMOTE TEACHING
The pandemic has forced most teachers to become Remote Learning Practitioners (RLPs) instead of
traditional Direct Learning Practitioners (DLPs), displaying skills and abilities that were previously
outside normal practice. Teachers learned to try different modes of knowledge acquisition, educational
activities that brought people together and even new evaluation methods. Remote practices were
accompanied by the development of new expectations. The adaptive challenging of an unexplored
territory was as extreme, unprecedented and radical as possible, that would require both skillfulness and
luck. This section gathers thoughts and experiences of remote teaching-practice from a diverse yet
comprehensive group of teachers in different contexts, thus, allowing for a better understanding of how
the changes have been responded. A review of pedagogical principles and practices that have been taught
overseas (Danish Schools) in the past six years as well as other ventures directed towards a deeper
understanding of remote education and hence, the practice and learning process are shared in these
reflections [18, 19]. Three overarching pedagogical principles have driven the course design and
teaching practices in the past six years. These intrinsic principles have been in focus in the examination of
how they hold in the remote teaching context. Furthermore, they set the grounds for scalability, as they
were illustrated by course examples from different disciplines. The principles in focus of both courses
offered inquiry-based learning, embracing disruption and collaboration are also pedagogical practices
that have been taught to teachers in several development workshops deployed in various institutions
around the globe. Educational courses are mostly taught in the Danish language; thus, millennial go-
getters are employed to facilitate the translation of course material into English in case a non-Danish
speaking audience attends. Nonetheless, an English-speaking audience benefits from this translation as
well [20].
CONCLUSION
The rapid shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant challenges but
also revealed profound opportunities for educational innovation. While the transition was fraught with
difficulties, including technological barriers, social inequities, and pedagogical challenges, it also spurred
the development of new tools, practices, and strategies that have the potential to transform education.
The lessons learned from this period provide a roadmap for future educational reforms, emphasizing the
need for flexibility, resilience, and a commitment to equity. As we move forward, integrating these
innovations into a more inclusive and effective educational system will be crucial in shaping the future of
learning in the post-pandemic world.
REFERENCES
1. Brauweiler H, Yerimpasheva A. Moving to blended learning in the post-pandemic era. J.
Dyczkowska, The impact of COVID-19 on accounting, business practice and education (1st ed.,
pp. 104-120). Publishing House of Wroclaw University of Economics and Business. 2021 Nov.
researchgate.net
2. Bork-Hüffer T, Kulcar V, Brielmair F, Markl A, Immer DM, Juen B, Walter MH, Kaufmann K.
University students’ perception, evaluation, and spaces of distance learning during the COVID-
19 pandemic in Austria: what can we learn for post-pandemic educational futures? Sustainability.
2021 Jul 7;13(14):7595. mdpi.com
3. Ali W. Online and remote learning in higher education institutes: A necessity in light of COVID-
19 pandemic. Higher education studies. 2020. ed.gov
4. Salakhova VB, Shukshina LV, Belyakova NV, Kidinov AV, Morozova NS, Osipova NV. The
problems of the COVID-19 pandemic in higher education. InFrontiers in education 2022 May 16
(Vol. 7, p. 803700). Frontiers Media SA. frontiersin.org
5. Hill C, Rosehart P, St. Helene J, Sadhra S. What kind of educator does the world need today?
Reimagining teacher education in post-pandemic Canada. Journal of Education for Teaching.
2020 Aug 7;46(4):565-75. researchgate.net
6. Franco D, Fonseca M, Luz F. Covid-19 and remote teaching: Challenges for post-pandemic
teaching? EDULEARN21 Proceedings. 2021. [HTML]
7. Salehi S, J. Ballen C, Bolander Laksov K, Ismayilova K et al. Global perspectives of the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic on learning science in higher education. 2023. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
8. Tsai CH, Rodriguez GR, Li N, Robert J, Serpi A, Carroll JM. Experiencing the transition to
remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interaction Design &
Architechture (s). 2020; 46:70. unomaha.edu
9. Turnbull D, Chugh R, Luck J. Transitioning to E-Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic:
How have Higher Education Institutions responded to the challenge? Education and
Information Technologies. 2021. springer.com
https://www.eejournals.org/ Open Access
Page | 34
10. Rodwell E. Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan. 2024.
[HTML]
11. Kelton GJ. Echoing Memories and Synchronicities of an Adoptive Family: A Memoir. 2022.
bowdoin.edu
12. Castañeda-Trujillo JE, Jaime-Osorio MF. Pedagogical strategies used by English teacher
educators to overcome the challenges posed by emergency remote teaching during the COVID-
19 pandemic. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura. 2021 Dec;26(3):697-713. scielo.org.co
13. Singh J, Evans E, Reed A, Karch L, Qualey K, Singh L, Wiersma H. Online, hybrid, and face-to-
face learning through the eyes of faculty, students, administrators, and instructional designers:
Lessons learned and directions for the post-vaccine and post-pandemic/COVID-19 world.
Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 2022 Mar;50(3):301-26. sagepub.com
14. Tilatti A. Between La Salette and Lourdes: Teresa Dus of Porzûs and Our Lady. 2022. [HTML]
15. Gomez E, Azadi J, Magid D. Innovation born in isolation: rapid transformation of an in-person
medical student radiology elective to a remote learning experience during the COVID-19
pandemic. Academic radiology. 2020. nih.gov
16. Dede C, Lidwell W. Developing a next-generation model for massive digital learning. Education
Sciences. 2023. mdpi.com
17. Abbas SM. Role of information literacy in higher education during recent global pandemic: An
overview. Library Herald. 2021. [HTML]
18. Carrillo C, Flores MA. COVID-19 and teacher education: a literature review of online teaching
and learning practices. European journal of teacher education. 2020. [HTML]
19. Hollweck T, Doucet A. Pracademics in the pandemic: pedagogies and professionalism. Journal of
Professional Capital and Community. 2020 Nov 25;5(3/4):295-305. academia.edu
20. Hennessy S, Kershner R, Calcagni E, Ahmed F. Supporting practitionerled inquiry into
classroom dialogue with a researchinformed professional learning resource: A designbased
approach. Review of Education. 2021 Oct;9(3): e3269. wiley.com
CITE AS: Kawesi Joshua I. (2024). Remote Learning Post-Pandemic:
Lessons and Innovations. EURASIAN EXPERIMENT JOURNAL OF
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, 5(2):31-34.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic required higher education institutions to rapidly transition to Emergency Remote Instruction (ERI) with little preparation. Discussions are now underway globally to learn the lessons of COVID-19 and to use this knowledge to shape the future of learning science in higher education. In this study, we examined the experiences of instructors and students to ERI in three universities across three continents–America, Europe, and Australia. We measured the instructional strategies used by instructors including assessment types, and interaction opportunities during and outside class schedules. We also measured the learning challenges experienced by students including planning, distractions, technology, learning resources, their views on educational quality and what characterized quality interactions during ERI. Our findings suggest that most instructional strategies used by instructors changed little during ERI, although the nature of instructor and student interactions during class relied more heavily on technology. Students reported significant learning challenges which included distractions from their physical and social media environments and access to technology. Both instructors and students reported that interactions with each other and their peers were concerningly low, albeit similar to pre COVID-19 pandemic levels. There were differences in the perceptions of instructors and students on whether instructor-student interactions were better or worse online. Common among all universities, there was a large proportion of students reporting mental health and work-related stress. Lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic include ensuring more support for instructors to implement effective and equitable pedagogies and an increased recognition of the importance of practicals, and the social, interactive and hands-on aspects of learning science in higher education. We predict that the incorporation of active learning pedagogies and strategies which increase student engagement and foster a sense of belonging will be ongoing global challenges for learning science in a post COVID-19 campus.
Article
Full-text available
A decade ago, massively open online courses (MOOCs) were heralded as the solution to universal, global access to higher education. While they failed to reach this vision, primarily because of teaching-by-telling and learning-by-listening (a PDF of the residential classroom), MOOCs provided the foundational models and infrastructure for emergency remote learning in the pandemic. Reports of remote learning’s death post-pandemic are greatly exaggerated, since the world is now irreversibly hybrid—and will stay that way because many people and organizations value the new opportunities this presents. From now on, when students leave the shelter of classrooms to interact with the world beyond schooling, they must have skills for adept performance both face-to-face and across distance. Colleges, universities, and regions that force all teaching and learning to be face-to-face are dooming their graduates to reduced agency in every other aspect of life. As discussed in recent reports from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, innovative approaches to digital learning were developed during the pandemic that are now improving campus-based learning. Insights from these approaches offer the opportunity for student engagement at scale, taking advantage of strengths of online instruction such as collapsing time, bridging space, personalizing via rich datastreams, using AI-based instructional assistants and learning partners, delivering content and experience across universities, and sustaining online learning communities after formal instruction ends. Combined, these advances can enable next-generation massive digital hybrid learning, a means to achieve the aspirational vision of universal global access to higher education. A coalition of higher education institutions could begin to realize this vision, an essential step in enabling all learners to survive and thrive in our increasingly turbulent, disruptive global economy and civilization.
Article
Full-text available
The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted universities around the world. In the two weeks following a shelter-in-place order, all the actors of the educational system were forced to transition to remote education. This shift required a new reliance upon technologies that these individuals might never have adopted at all, often with significant difficulties. In this paper, we present a qualitative study on a university-wide survey dataset describing student and faculty experiences of abruptly transitioning to remote teaching and learning during the spring 2020 semester at the Pennsylvania State University. We performed an inductive thematic analysis to identify the challenges and opportunities that arose during the transition. Our findings contribute to building better tools, curriculum, and supports for remote education, particularly during an unexpected crisis.
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic caught societies worldwide unprepared in 2020. In Austria, after a lockdown was decreed on 16 March 2020, educational institutions had to switch to a patched-up distance learning approach, which has been largely maintained to date. This article delivers empirical insights from an interdisciplinary mixed-methods research study that investigated university students’ perceptions of and experiences with distance learning as well as their educational (home) spaces during the pandemic in Innsbruck, Austria. It combines results from a quantitative survey conducted with 2742 students in early 2021 with a qualitative multi-method and longitudinal research study that accompanied 98 students throughout four data-collection phases in 2020. Results show a significant improvement since spring 2020 with both teachers and learners adjusting to the distance learning formats and the use of digital tools, yet students urgently desired a return to face-to-face teaching and university life, particularly for its social benefits. Strikingly, more than half of the participants wanted to maintain the option of overall distance education after the pandemic. Based on the perspectives of students, it is appropriate to demand significant changes in post-pandemic education adapted to the era of the post-digital, for which this article gives short-term as well as medium-term recommendations.
Article
Full-text available
Our unique pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes at Simon Fraser University, in which experiential learning and professional mentorship are combined with academic course work, have undergone emergency modifications in order to enable our students to continue with their programmes while adhering to government restrictions due to COVID 19. As we respond to the emergent needs within university and school communities, social-emotional wellness, connection, ‘being apart together,’ engagement, and support for vulnerable students and those with exceptionalities, are currently the most important considerations. The pandemic has highlighted the need to dismantle racism and systemic inequities within our educational systems; to prioritise mental health and wellness in schools; to broaden and decolonise mainstream conceptions of teaching and learning as well as access to education; to build caring reciprocal relationships with the natural world; and to recognise teachers as researchers and community leaders. It is these issues that frame our vision of teacher education in the post-pandemic era. Inspired by the scholarship of Michelle Tanaka and Gregory Cajete, we ask ourselves and our students, what kind of educator does the world need today, and what kind of world are we going to leave for the children?
Article
Full-text available
Purpose This thinking piece examines, from the viewpoint of two Canadian pracademics in the pandemic, the role of pedagogy and professionalism in crisis teaching and learning. The purpose of the paper is to highlight some of the tensions that have emerged and offer possible considerations to disrupt the status quo and catalyze transformation in public education during the pandemic and beyond. Design/methodology/approach This paper considers the current context of COVID-19 and education and uses the professional capital framework (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012) to examine pandemic pedagogies and professionalism. Findings The COVID-19 pandemic has catapulted educational systems into emergency remote teaching and learning. This rapid shift to crisis schooling has massive implications for pedagogy and professionalism during the pandemic and beyond. Despite the significant challenges for educators, policymakers, school leaders, students and families, the pandemic is a critical opportunity to rethink the future of schooling. A key to transformational change will be for schools and school systems to focus on their professional capital and find ways to develop teachers' individual knowledge and skills, support effective collaborative networks that include parents and the larger school community and, ultimately, trust and include educators in the decision-making and communication process. Originality/value This thinking piece offers the perspective of two Canadian pracademics who do not wish for a return to “normal” public education, which has never serve all children well or equitably. Instead, they believe the pandemic is an opportunity to disrupt the status quo and build the education system back better. Using the professional capital framework, they argue that it will be educators' professionalism and pandemic pedagogies that will be required to catalyze meaningful transformational change.