To make sense of the changes provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate aftermath, this paper critically examines digital education policy responses in the context of the 'new realities' faced by schooling. Based on seven case studies contributed by authors from Australia, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Sri Lanka, two key questions…

Government of India has cleared the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by bringing out many reforms in the education sector with a focus on education design, delivery, and assessment. This work is an attempt toward perceiving the post-COVID-19 era as an enabler in the engineering education process for the implementation of blended learning. Causal…

The COVID-19 outbreak urged the educational institutions to adopt alternative methods of teaching and learning for the continuity and maintenance of quality education. In India, the pandemic had a major impact on higher education (HE) and it convinced educational institutions to adopt E-learning who earlier were not willing to adopt it. It made…

Purpose: External pressures, like the pandemic, influence industry and academia. ICT can assist in creating service innovations and better responses to external pressures. When higher education institutes combine service innovations with an appropriate business model, they can better understand educational transformations and marketing and aim for…

An appreciative inquiry approach oriented eight semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers from Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Italy, Spain, Canada, Bangladesh and India to identify their intrinsic and extrinsic strengths and understand how they were able to translate them into practice during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.…

COVID-19 pandemic has affected one and all in unison. Different sectors, including the educational sector, have been disproportionately affected in developing and the least developed nations. Against this backdrop, this paper, while considering the impact that the pandemic has had on the education sector in developing nations viz. -- India, South…

This article discusses the recent trends in doctoral education in India in the changing context of higher education in the country. This context is characterised by the gradual withdrawal of state patronage for this level of education and the coterminous rise of the private sector, the formulation and implementation of the national framework for…

Digital technologies are increasingly present in young children's lives. How can early education systems get the best out of digitalisation while minimising its risks? This is especially urgent as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated our reliance on digital tools -- tools that enabled young children to continue learning when early education…

This open access book offers a unique and refreshing view on working with social theory in higher education. Using engaging first-person accounts coupled with critical intellectual analysis, the authors demonstrate how theory is grappled with as part of an ongoing practice rather than a momentary disembodied encounter. In a structure that creates…

Educational institutions, especially the higher education institutions in Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand, have had to stop face-to-face educational activities during the period of COVID-19 pandemic. Online classes have been the only alternative to carry on academic activities. Teachers were suddenly compelled to transition their…

This paper presents a new estimate that pre-primary school closures in 2020 may cost today's young children US$ 1.6 trillion in lost earnings over their lifetimes. However, most low-and-middle income countries are leaving pre-primary education out of their responses to COVID-19. This paper also draws lessons from accelerated, bridging, and…

With the limitations imposed by COVID-19 pandemic, educational regulatory bodies in India recommended a number of online education portals to support higher education. Present work undertakes a detailed study on these recommended platforms and presents a comparative analysis based on the relevant features. 'SWAYAM' a widely popular and emphasized…

When making study choices, students often find it challenging to identify their interests and strengths. Higher education (HE) systems that do not offer opportunities for reorientation and transfer run the risk of some students never completing their studies. This policy brief examines the different flexible pathways institutions can choose to…

The major objectives of this study were to review the current policy on and status of open and distance learning (ODL) and technology-enabled learning (TEL) in India; address the wider questions of access, equity and quality vis-à-vis ODL; analyse cost-effectiveness in relation to student success and attrition; and make recommendations for how ODL…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education provision at an unprecedented scale, with education systems around the world being impacted by extended school closures and abrupt changes to normal school operations. The Responses to Educational Disruption Survey (REDS) investigated how teaching and learning were affected by the health crisis, and how…