Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of face-to-face classes in a northern Canadian college in March 2020. Educators and staff went into rapid response mode to continue teaching and supporting students from a distance. Critical reflections were written by the authors to summarize their responses to teaching and learning during the early phases of the pandemic. These reflections were themed, considered individually and collectively, then analyzed and synthesized. In this paper, critical reflection is used as an educational process within the context of critical constructivism and transformative paradigms. We share how teaching during the pandemic solidified our commitment to students and cemented our critical pedagogy by thinking and acting critically to assist students with this disruption in their education. Equipped with these capabilities, educators are empowered to work with students to problem solve and transform our educative lives for a just society. An inter-professional opportunity across programs, spurred by the pandemic, meets organizational strategic directions and fosters a promising relationality. Increased territorial and local technological supports and internal professional development is needed to solidify the immense prospects for distance education as the College transitions to a polytechnic university.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacts the lives of students, educators, and staff around the world through interrupting valued education and learning, transforming teaching and learning platforms, and adjusting to these implementations
The purpose of this paper is to share the educational response to the initial phases of the pandemic as experienced by postsecondary educators in northern Canada using critical constructivism theory, humanism, and determinism
We examine our response through a conceptual model, focused literature review, personal reflections from each of the authors, and highlight recommendations and implications moving forward
Summary
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacts the lives of students, educators, and staff around the world through interrupting valued education and learning, transforming teaching and learning platforms, and adjusting to these implementations. Other current experiences of the evolving pandemic include a disruption to postsecondary students’ learning and career trajectories, a loss of in-person graduation celebrations, physical distancing from peers and colleagues, self-isolation, and converting homes to work settings. These responses are at an educational level but many more responses are personal, familial, community, and societal and intersect with the educational contexts of our lives, resulting in upheaval in the world as we know it. The findings from this review generated six key themes: governance, accountability, academic program management, operations, and student recruitment and retention (for more information see MNP LPP, 2018) Actions emanating from this recommendation informed operational imperatives before COVID-19.
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