‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices
The Covid-19 crisis has led to a rapid pivot to online teaching and student engagement across higher education internationally, due to public health ‘lockdown’ measures. In March 2020 in the UK this move was sudden, and universities were forced to move their provision to digital formats with little...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Ubiquity Press
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Interactive Media in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/655 |
| _version_ | 1818938341221990400 |
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| author | Lesley Gourlay Kristyna Campbell Lauren Clark Cosette Crisan Evi Katsapi Katherine Riding Ian Warwick |
| author_facet | Lesley Gourlay Kristyna Campbell Lauren Clark Cosette Crisan Evi Katsapi Katherine Riding Ian Warwick |
| author_sort | Lesley Gourlay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Covid-19 crisis has led to a rapid pivot to online teaching and student engagement across higher education internationally, due to public health ‘lockdown’ measures. In March 2020 in the UK this move was sudden, and universities were forced to move their provision to digital formats with little preparatory time, and in many cases, inadequate training and experience. In the subsequent period, higher education institutions have prioritised the enhancement of digital education, with a range of strategic initiatives and training programmes for teaching staff. This paper, written by a staff-student partnership of authors, reports on two institutionally-supported studies conducted at a large, research-focused university in England, in which student views were sought on their experiences and priorities surrounding online engagement during the Covid-19 crisis. In our discussion of the findings, we argue that the student accounts challenge some of the mainstream assumptions about constructs such as student ‘inclusivity’, academic ‘community’ online, and teaching which encourages ‘questioning’, requiring us to think more deeply about what constitutes a meaningful and rich online educative experience. In the spirit of ‘lessons learned’ from the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper proposes alternative conceptions of these values, emphasising relationality, communities, difference, and the importance of an ethos of care. We conclude with a discussion of findings, implications for theory, research, policy and practice in a post-pandemic context, proposing that an ethos of care be recognised as central to the development of digital education and the practices and ethics of student engagement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:06:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f3e5e8ff83a34fa09c773cd396857952 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1365-893X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:06:19Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Interactive Media in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-f3e5e8ff83a34fa09c773cd3968579522022-12-21T19:50:48ZengUbiquity PressJournal of Interactive Media in Education1365-893X2021-09-012021110.5334/jime.655411‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital PracticesLesley Gourlay0Kristyna Campbell1Lauren Clark2Cosette Crisan3Evi Katsapi4Katherine Riding5Ian Warwick6UCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationUCL Institute of EducationThe Covid-19 crisis has led to a rapid pivot to online teaching and student engagement across higher education internationally, due to public health ‘lockdown’ measures. In March 2020 in the UK this move was sudden, and universities were forced to move their provision to digital formats with little preparatory time, and in many cases, inadequate training and experience. In the subsequent period, higher education institutions have prioritised the enhancement of digital education, with a range of strategic initiatives and training programmes for teaching staff. This paper, written by a staff-student partnership of authors, reports on two institutionally-supported studies conducted at a large, research-focused university in England, in which student views were sought on their experiences and priorities surrounding online engagement during the Covid-19 crisis. In our discussion of the findings, we argue that the student accounts challenge some of the mainstream assumptions about constructs such as student ‘inclusivity’, academic ‘community’ online, and teaching which encourages ‘questioning’, requiring us to think more deeply about what constitutes a meaningful and rich online educative experience. In the spirit of ‘lessons learned’ from the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper proposes alternative conceptions of these values, emphasising relationality, communities, difference, and the importance of an ethos of care. We conclude with a discussion of findings, implications for theory, research, policy and practice in a post-pandemic context, proposing that an ethos of care be recognised as central to the development of digital education and the practices and ethics of student engagement.https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/655covid-19digital higher educationstudent engagementrelationalityethos of care |
| spellingShingle | Lesley Gourlay Kristyna Campbell Lauren Clark Cosette Crisan Evi Katsapi Katherine Riding Ian Warwick ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices Journal of Interactive Media in Education covid-19 digital higher education student engagement relationality ethos of care |
| title | ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices |
| title_full | ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices |
| title_fullStr | ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices |
| title_short | ‘Engagement’ Discourses and the Student Voice: Connectedness, Questioning and Inclusion in Post-Covid Digital Practices |
| title_sort | engagement discourses and the student voice connectedness questioning and inclusion in post covid digital practices |
| topic | covid-19 digital higher education student engagement relationality ethos of care |
| url | https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/655 |
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