From face-to-face to online learning: COVID-19 and the emergence of ubiquitous learning scenarios

Abstract

As technological development eased the access to information, ubiquitous learning - technologically mediated learning that occurs regardless of time and space - provides learning able to overcome geographical barriers and to level the field for students generally disadvantaged in access to education.

The particular needs and contexts of educational agents – teachers, students and parents –, however, and their access to technology, Internet and digital literacy, may have a major impact on the processes of going digital, and therefore cannot be ignored.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the declaration of a state of emergency in Portugal triggered a sudden shift to the digital environment. As schools closed on March 26 2020, there was the need to go digital, a leap that had deep impacts not only in learning, education but also in the lives of individuals. Beyond the need to redesign pedagogical materials, adapt evaluation systems and learn to use online platforms, shifting to digital revealed disparities on teachers and parents’ digital literacy and brought challenges to their professional and personal lives. In order to ease the teaching and learning process, schools developed tutorials on how to use online platforms, leading to an increase of teachers' work and affecting their work-home balance. Parents had to learn how to use platforms, to share digital equipment with their children, and to support them along lessons and homework. As for reconciling work with family, this scenario led to a reality where contexts blurred and mixed, to an increasing number of work hours and to an additional cognitive, emotional and physical effort of both teachers and parents.

This paper describes the first stage of a study that aims to characterize the ubiquitous learning scenarios and challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic to the Portuguese basic and secondary education context. Exploratory empirical research – addressing the main challenges experienced by basic and secondary school teachers, and parents with children in those levels of education, during the period of suspension of classroom activities – is being carried out, aiming to answer the following questions: 1) regarding time management, what were the main challenges of working from home?; 2) while using technology to support teaching/learning, what were the main pedagogical and emotional challenges?; 3) while working from home, what strategies were adopted to reconcile and/or articulate the personal and professional dimensions?; and 4) as to privacy and exposition, what were the challenges of dealing with online exposure of both teachers/parents and children?

Data is being collected through individual interviews made to teachers and parents (N=24, convenience sampling). Preliminary data indicates that going digital required significant adjustments, with the main challenges being the (re)establishment of the relations with the students, managing family-work context, managing time, and keeping students’ interest and motivation during confinement times.

In a context where the shift to the virtual – where communication, interaction and learning are established through the use of audio and video transmission technologies – enhances the permeability and dilution of boundaries between workspace and personal space, this paper provides a reflection on the challenges fostered by ubiquitous learning and the permeability of contexts, faced by both teachers and parents during the COVID-19 confinemen