Our classrooms have not been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and forced us to rethink everything we know about teaching. While much of the public conversation has centered on "learning loss," the author instead found that personal loss and collective trauma have had the strongest impact on defining the differences…

Purpose: Prior to COVID, family involvement was on a forward movement of becoming a more involved, collaborative relationship between teachers and families of students. Just as family involvement was beginning to gain momentum with student-led conferences, in and out of school volunteer opportunities and families being seen as a valued perspective…

Instructional design, development, and planning decisions are fundamental to effective online learning. However, interactions that occur within the online environment have been underestimated, despite their significance for the success of online learning. Moore (1989) suggested viewing the interactions among individuals and content in three…

As participants in the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Distance and Online Learning Section (DOLS) Mentoring Program, two librarians collaborated to deploy a pilot library video tutorial program at the mentee librarian's small liberal arts college in the Southeastern United States. Drawing on the mentoring librarian's…

Across the globe, students have been away from schools and their teachers, but literacy learning has continued. In many countries, students' literacy proficiency is often measured via high-stakes assessment tests. However, such tests do not make visible students' literacy lives away from formal learning settings, so students are positioned as task…

The paper sets out a conceptual argument that the choice of teaching method is part of the freedom to teach in higher education. It enters into a dialogue with the views of Stephen Finn in a paper published in "Teaching in Higher Education" in which he argues that academic freedom should be limited in respect to teaching methods. The…

COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact the health of Hispanics/Latinos. While Hispanics/Latinos are considered one of the fastest-growing racial/ethnic groups, media news coverage in Spanish concerning COVID-19 is stunningly low. The Hispanic/Latino population comprises close to 25% of COVID-19 cases and 17% of COVID-19 deaths. Lack of…

This paper explores systemic challenges facing P-12 online education and the role of non-instructional interventions in addressing them. While not exclusively centered on the COVID-19 pandemic, it acknowledges how the global crisis highlighted existing systemic issues in online education. By examining foundational support, needs analysis, and…

For the last decade or more, circulation numbers of physical materials have declined in academic libraries across the United States. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered society and daily life, not to mention library functions. In particular, fears of contagion via physical surfaces and transmission by contact led many…

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced an unforeseen challenge to social work field education and drastically changed the landscape of social work direct practice. In March 2021, University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work launched the Talk It Out Counseling Clinic (the Clinic), training MSW students to provide short-term counseling…

This article explores the dynamics of student engagement in small institutions, emphasizing their unique community-centered approach. Particularly in the post-pandemic era, where personalized support systems have become crucial, small institutions are reevaluating their strategies to enhance student empowerment and connection. Key aspects examined…

In this commentary, we briefly describe our methodology in conducting a remote qualitative investigation with essential workers from southwest Kansas, and then describe some key considerations, challenges, and lessons learned in recruiting and conducting interviews remotely. From August 4, 2020 through August 26, 2020, Centers for Disease Control…

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some US workers became "essential" overnight and were, therefore, ineligible to work from home. Millions of these workers put their lives at risk to keep society functioning. So, why do we undervalue those we cannot live without? This article explores the transformative potential of learning in and…

Civil society organisations were well organised in the sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) held in Belém in 2009, and influential in framing a powerful agenda for transforming adult education. Despite some successes, however, there were also frustrations in the drafting of the Belém Framework for Action (BFA). Drawing…

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, paper-based delivery of the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) was not possible during the 2020 testing cycle. The NBTs, being a large-scale national assessment project, did not have alternative options, other than to offer the tests online. Moving these high-stakes tests online meant that certain considerations had to…