Brock Education Journal

Pandemic Pedagogy: Innovative Strategies for Uncertain Times

Trevor Norris — 2020-09-04

Editorial for Vol. 29(2) 2020. Pandemic Pedagogy: Innovative Strategies for Uncertain Times

How education can help shape a new story in a post-pandemic world.

Susan Drake — 2020-09-04

Globally, nations are grappling with massive social and economic disruptions and the disparities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The world is in the middle of a wicked problem—one so complex that it is difficult to find a solution. The “Story Model” was developed as a transdisciplinary curriculum model and a collaborative problem-solving model for K to 16. The model can address wicked problems in ways that traditional problem-solving procedures cannot because it allows for messiness, multilayered complexity, and a big picture perspective. With a deeper understanding of the interdependent and interconnected patterns occurring both locally and globally, educators and students alike can contribute actively to shaping a new story that reflects their values, beliefs, and actions.

Teaching physical education teacher education (PETE) online: Challenges and solutions

Chunlei Lu — 2020-09-04

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for physical education teacher education (PETE), and PETE appears to suffer the most when transitioning from face-to- face to virtual (online) environments due to the characteristics of PE. There is no literature found to address the profound challenges and solutions for teaching PETE online that we so desperately need nowadays. The present study examined specific challenges and solutions for online PETE. Future research directions are provided.

COVID19 & The Ongoing Problem of Educational Efficiency

Michael Mindzak — 2020-09-04

In many ways, the current COVID-19 crisis has provided the impetus, or else opportunity, to examine the state of education and schools today. Currently, responses have focused largely on instrumental, pragmatic concerns that would allow formal education to “return to normal” as soon as possible. Perspectives such as these demonstrate the ongoing prevalence of values surrounding educational efficiency and how the pursuit of efficiency continues to dominate the field of educational reform. Thus, this essay reflects on the ideas of place, pace, and purpose in education surrounding the problematic nature of efficiency and asks instead to consider how we might shift our gaze to reconceptualize education in the contemporary period and beyond.

E3Cs: A Research-Based Model for Effective Digital Learning for K-6 Schools

Candace Figg — 2020-09-04

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers in Ontario were thrust into a new teaching situation at the end of the 20192020 school year for which few were prepared. To address the need for guidance in transitioning to distance teaching, we offer the e-3Cs model, a research-based framework with flexible elements essential for promoting optimum distance interactions for K12 learning, more specifically applied to younger learners (K6). Serving as a tool for designing age-appropriate digital instruction while honouring and caring for affective domain needs of students, the model provides the necessary support for teachers in the purposeful design of digital learning communities.

Making ‘Math Making’ Virtual

Candace Figg — 2020-09-04

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, university professors are challenged to re-envision mathematics learning environments for virtual delivery. Those of us teaching in elementary teacher preparation programs are exploring different learning environments that not only promote meaningful learning but also foster positive attitudes about mathematics teaching. One learning environment that has been shown to be effective for introducing preservice teachers to the creative side of mathematics—the mathematics makerspace—promotes computational thinking and pedagogical understandings about teaching mathematics, but the collaborative, hands-on nature of such a learning environment is difficult to simulate in virtual delivery. This article describes the research-based design decisions for the re-envisioned virtual mathematics makerspace.

Assessing Higher Education in COVID-19 Era

Rahul Kumar — 2020-09-04

COVID-19 has changed how universities operate. The changes are in all spheres and caused by demands of social distancing rules predominantly mediated by various digital technologies. Applying Bauman’s (1993) ethics of technology on newly initiated assessment practices, this article raises ethical concerns of relying on solutions solely manufactured by technology companies without professors’ and students’ input, various considerations of privacy, and overall ethical concerns that the use of any new technology raises. The article concludes by beseeching all stakeholders to collaborate to construct the tools for tomorrow that meet pedagogical needs without compromising Bauman’s ethical concerns.

Reimagining Mathematics Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anjali Khirwadkar — 2020-09-05

This essay uses an enactive approach to map out the ways Ontario teachers, students, and parents have reimagined online mathematics education at the K-12 level during the COVID-19 pandemic. The essay highlights the importance of education researchers using an appropriate framework in understanding the emerging mathematics education realities. It encourages education researchers to pay attention to this call to action while recognizing that such an action is not without challenges. To address the challenges, education researchers must engage with the evolving mathematics education environment and community by innovating and reimagining their research tools and techniques.

Lessons on Change: Shifting to Online Teaching during COVID-19

Ruth Lynn McQuirter — 2020-09-04

The current COVID-19 pandemic has presented educators at all levels of schooling with the challenge of converting face-to-face instruction to online learning. Past efforts to enact educational change, especially the adoption of technology in the classroom, have had mixed results. The author outlines frequent barriers to successful pedagogical change and contrasts these with observations of positive change strategies employed by her institution in moving to online learning. The essay concludes that strong institutional support for the development of technical skills, coupled with collegial sharing and building on current practices, leads to a sense of agency among instructors and a greater willingness to embrace change.

Age of Surveillance Capitalism – The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.

David Kendell — 2020-09-04

As an educator have you recently heard the term or perhaps even been told to be data driven? Inherent in this simple two-word statement is a quagmire of ethical and privacy concerns that educators must confront to reach the goal and realize the expected results. Central to the concept of data-centered collection, interpretation, and prediction is surveillance capitalism from which many of the tools, methods, and ideology used originate. This review of Shoshana Zuboff's work narrows the focus to the implications for education both in the classroom and in research. As an educator, Zuboff describes three central areas of concern for education's adoption of surveillance capitalist methodologies: changes to the division of learning, private money in research, and the impacts on student development. The work presents many quesitons that can be raised at all levels of educaiton to quesiton technological adoption in and for the classroom.