AbstractWhat are books? In 2054, where reading and writing have been banned, a scholar in a dystopian academy known as University V might legitimately pose such a question. This article uses speculative fiction as a form of narrative enquiry to explore the socio-materiality of the iconic educational artefact of the textbook. It gives an empirical account of socio-material practices of textbook use (and non-use) gathered from a series of interviews with online distance education students. We analyse these interviews via speculative fiction. We engage in a sense-making activity of the student testimony by narrating their story, via a scholar looking back at our times from a post-literature future. We seek to contribute to a relative dearth of future studies that use real student data. We give an example of how speculative fiction may be used as a form of research method to analyse and interpret such data. In so doing, we seek to cast a light on current educational practices, to show how books and people are entangled. As people, objects and spaces of education intertwine, they call our attention to the interplay of form and function. They decentre the human actor. We attempt to show how form legitimates certain types of knowledge, certain people, indeed people themselves from other non-human actors. We conclude that knowledge is not disembodied, is not stable and is not locked up in books. In our final analysis, we conclude what may seem obviously true, that books are not like people.

This study aims to describe the distortion of the implementation of student character education in online learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic era. The research was conducted in Majene Regency, West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. Methodologically, this study is based on a mixed-methods approach, where data was collected through 4,380 respondents. Respondents were selected to represent Elementary Schools, Junior High Schools, Senior High Schools, and Vocational High Schools in Majene Regency. Apart from respondents, data was also collected through the interview process and documentation study. The results showed that as many as 292 schools spread across 8 districts with a total of 44,949 students actively implementing online learning. Applications that are commonly used during online learning are WhatsApp, Ruang Guru, Zoom Meeting, and Google Classroom. The implementation of online distance education has distorted character education in students, including distortions in religious, nationalist, independence, mutual-cooperation, and distortions in integrity characters. Therefore, to reduce the distortion of character education through online learning, blended learning should be carried out, namely combining online and offline learning processes while still paying attention to health protocols.

The abrupt shift to online distance education as a result of COVID-19 pademic resulted to the diversification of teaching modalities and pedagogies. This study explored the lived experiences of instructors in online teaching during the SY 2020-2021 using Van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological design. Purposive sampling was used to select the twenty-five participants for the study. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with all the participants to gather information from the teachers. Data analysis was employed using the six components of hermeneutic phenomenological design and with the aid of NVivo software. Results revealed that the instructors’ experiences in online teaching were identified in five themes: preparation of learning materials, realization of learning outcomes, stability of internet connection, availability of technological resources, and difficulty in the conduct of assessment activities. The instructors encountered positive and negative experiences in online teaching. Online teaching enhancement program is recommended in this study.

Emergency remote teaching due to the Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the need for transformation of distance learning, amplified issues of access and equity, and exposed the necessity to assure and ensure quality distance learning. This study applied a qualitative literature and material review by using the MAXQDA-analysis method to identify whether the current measures (following Covid-19 protocol) are accessible to all students at the right time and establishing links regarding access equity and quality. The results revealed that online distance education is a strategy to be enhanced towards ensuring credible distance learning. The results show the intersection and fit of access, equity, and quality in distance learning as perpetual social justice issues. Online education and what is required to make it accessible, related online learning material that is accessible for all, and needy students’ support should therefore be prioritised.

The present study refers to an origami workshop of visual arts activities and interdisciplinary research, implemented during COVID-19 pandemics in online distance education in Higher Education. The aim of the workshop was to engage pre-service preschool teachers in origami activities which should then be used and implemented in activities mainly in early childhood and primary education. The paper presents: a. the structure and the content of the workshop with activities by hand and in digital form, and b. the students’ responses regarding their experience and perceptions about origami based on quantitative data.  The results revealed that the interplay of physical and digital art and space composed an inter-media origami experience with various potential implementations in education.

As a response to the Philippine government’s prolonged community quarantine measure to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, educational institutions have shifted their mode of teaching and learning towards distance education despite resistance from various sectors. This paper examines the ways an educational provider taps elements of its social capital such as closure and reputation, to establish enforceable trust from clients and their network to enroll in online learning; in addition, it explores the factors that clients consider in deciding to enroll their children in online distance learning. This study is informed by James Coleman’s and Ronald Burt’s conceptions of closure, trust, and reputation. It employs a case study approach, focusing on a Philippine Catholic parochial high school. Results show that closure is demonstrated through the school’s dense social network with parents, students, and the community through the Catholic church. Closure and the school’s intergenerational and social reputation facilitate the creation of trust, which increased senior high school enrolment, contrary to the pattern of private schools closing down due to insufficient enrolment. This study contributes to the literature in online distance education, by focusing on aspects of the social structure that function as resources for people and organizations to achieve their interests.

AbstractIn this paper we examine the impacts of the global pandemic in 2020 on different levels of education system, particularly looking at the changes in teaching practice. The health emergency caused closure of schools, and online distance education became a temporary solution, creating discomfort for many teachers for whom this was the first time engaged with online education. In our research we investigated two important dimensions, namely, how technology was used and what the newfound distance meant in terms of the teacher-student relationship. The article offers insights into experiences of teaching from lockdown reported by 41 teachers at primary, vocational and higher education level in the region of Vaud, Switzerland. This comparative qualitative research has provided an opportunity for an in-depth analysis of the main similarities and differences at three distinctly different educational levels and a possibility to learn more about common coping practices in teaching. The study gives a contribution to a lack of comparative studies of teacher experiences at different educational levels. Results show two dimensions in handling the lockdown crisis: mastering the digital tools and the importance of student–teacher interaction. Whilst the interviewed teachers largely overcame the challenges of mastering digital tools, optimizing the quality interaction and ensuring the transactional presence online remained a problem. This indicates the importance of the social aspect in education at all levels, and implies that teacher support needs to expand beyond technical pedagogical knowledge of online distance education.