Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic
Adapting “face-to-face” education to distance/remote and/or online education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive challenge for countries around the world. Online education reignited older debates about inclusive education, such as hoped-for universal access versus current digital...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Expert Projects
2020-11-01
|
| Series: | Sociologie Românească |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://revistasociologieromaneasca.ro/sr/article/view/1687 |
| _version_ | 1818489682063785984 |
|---|---|
| author | Alexandra Hosszu Cosima Rughiniș |
| author_facet | Alexandra Hosszu Cosima Rughiniș |
| author_sort | Alexandra Hosszu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Adapting “face-to-face” education to distance/remote and/or online education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive challenge for countries around the world. Online education reignited older debates about inclusive education, such as hoped-for universal access versus current digital divides, prompting the public to reflect about the past, the present, and future of the educational system. This article analyzes the Romanian public discourse, both scientific and non-scientific, on emerging distance and online education in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to understand how public communication functioned as feedback for school digitalization. The paper charts the advantages and challenges of distance and online education experienced by various actors (teachers, students, and the members of civil society) or identified through scientific research, focusing on the way online education has spotlighted and reshaped social inequalities. We use thematic content analysis of 152 online articles published from March to June 2020 and eight scientific studies and reports. The results showed that public discourse about distance and online education was largely consistent within and across multiple stakeholders; also, the scientific reports were aligned with the other public opinions expressed and promoted via online channels. The general perspective of the emerging online education during COVID-19 is that it deepens the educational gaps and creates new forms of exclusion. On the positive side, some of the teachers have improved their teaching methods and educational content. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:06:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-de01a473783f4249bfb198411473e78e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1220-5389 2668-1455 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:06:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Expert Projects |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sociologie Românească |
| spelling | doaj.art-de01a473783f4249bfb198411473e78e2022-12-22T01:40:25ZengExpert ProjectsSociologie Românească1220-53892668-14552020-11-0118210.33788/sr.18.2.1Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemicAlexandra Hosszu0Cosima Rughiniș1University of BucharestUniversity of BucharestAdapting “face-to-face” education to distance/remote and/or online education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive challenge for countries around the world. Online education reignited older debates about inclusive education, such as hoped-for universal access versus current digital divides, prompting the public to reflect about the past, the present, and future of the educational system. This article analyzes the Romanian public discourse, both scientific and non-scientific, on emerging distance and online education in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to understand how public communication functioned as feedback for school digitalization. The paper charts the advantages and challenges of distance and online education experienced by various actors (teachers, students, and the members of civil society) or identified through scientific research, focusing on the way online education has spotlighted and reshaped social inequalities. We use thematic content analysis of 152 online articles published from March to June 2020 and eight scientific studies and reports. The results showed that public discourse about distance and online education was largely consistent within and across multiple stakeholders; also, the scientific reports were aligned with the other public opinions expressed and promoted via online channels. The general perspective of the emerging online education during COVID-19 is that it deepens the educational gaps and creates new forms of exclusion. On the positive side, some of the teachers have improved their teaching methods and educational content.http://revistasociologieromaneasca.ro/sr/article/view/1687online educationdistance learningdigital dividedigitization |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra Hosszu Cosima Rughiniș Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic Sociologie Românească online education distance learning digital divide digitization |
| title | Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Digital divides in education. An analysis of the Romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | digital divides in education an analysis of the romanian public discourse on distance and online education during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | online education distance learning digital divide digitization |
| url | http://revistasociologieromaneasca.ro/sr/article/view/1687 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alexandrahosszu digitaldividesineducationananalysisoftheromanianpublicdiscourseondistanceandonlineeducationduringthecovid19pandemic AT cosimarughinis digitaldividesineducationananalysisoftheromanianpublicdiscourseondistanceandonlineeducationduringthecovid19pandemic |