A dialogue between Taylor, a trans male Turkish-Canadian theatre student and Kathleen, a queer, cis-gendered female Scottish-Canadian theatre researcher considers some questions that queerness and trans identities in the drama classroom invite. Based on their mutual engagement in a virtual drama club in a Toronto high school in the 2020-2021…

What role should telemedicine services play in a higher education landscape that increasingly embraces online education? How prominently should telemedicine feature in the suite of wraparound services that schools prioritize for vulnerable students? While many studies interrogate single-factor health issues and college success, this essay argues…

This Forum explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Higher Education (HE) sector through the experiences and perspectives in China, Malaysia and the UK, with schools and universities closed and teaching moved online with very short notice. Authors were given an open brief as to the nature of their contribution, reflecting the still…

Faced with unprecedented challenges, students continue to learn during a global pandemic. This new atmosphere of learning comes with a host of challenges, ranging from financial hardships to mental and physical exhaustion. Students and faculty have had to make the shift to online learning, in some instances, in a matter of days. Despite the…

The sheer scale of the IELTS [International English Language Testing System] testing infrastructure and its unique position in the world of international education dictated some of the particular challenges that the IELTS Partners (British Council, IDP Education and Cambridge Assessment English) faced after the closure of test centres during the…

When the pandemic brought life to a screeching halt and forcefully shuttered schools across the country, few were aware that a crisis in public education was already well underway. COVID-19 may have been an unexpected and devastating shock to the system, but a virus had already taken hold, leaving Canada's public-school systems vulnerable at the…

In an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19 in Australia in 2020 state and territory governments mandated the closing of schools for all but vulnerable children and the children of frontline workers in various parts of Australia for various lengths of time. In what follows, five English teachers from across Australia reflect on the everyday…

Two advocates of grading reform, Joe Feldman and Douglas Reeves, answer questions about how grading practices and policies could--or should--be influenced by the current pandemic, and by U.S. schools' switch to distance learning. They weigh in on how the K-12 grading landscape will differ this fall--with likely more clarity about learning gaps and…

In this reflective piece, I consider the degree to which Australian universities have become financially dependent on income from foreign students, the reasons for that dependence, the risks it poses and the potential consequences now that COVID-19 has undermined this revenue stream.

This paper summarizes the findings from a panel of assessment experts on diagnostic assessments and their role in helping educators and parents support student learning. Teachers, schools, and school systems will face unprecedented challenges when schools eventually reopen after pandemic-related closures. One of the central challenges will be…

This position paper explores the needs of rural families of children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, literature portrays elevated stress in families of individuals with ASD and health and socioeconomic disparities for rural and underserved populations. These disparities…

The COVID-19 global pandemic necessitated a rapid transition to remote learning (synchronous or asynchronous) for higher education institutions. This paper documents lived experiences of this occurrence from the perspectives of a graduate student, an instructional designer, and a professor. There is discussion of strategies that facilitated a…

In this personal account of living through the coronavirus pandemic as a US graduate student, I reflect on the major events and themes that defined the time: the hasty closure of university campuses, the clumsy transition to remote learning, the economic consequences, the controversial reopening of campuses, and finally, my hopes for US higher…

Dr. Tracey Burns is a Senior Analyst in the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. She heads a portfolio of projects including Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, 21st Century Children and Trends Shaping Education. Until recently she was also responsible for the OECD work on Governing Complex Education systems. Previous to…

In this commentary, we discuss the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on Vietnamese universities and policy makers, paying particular attention to the growing appreciation for the merits of e-learning and related technology-based educational modalities. Some possible avenues for the adoption of e-learning in Vietnamese HE institutions in a…