Abstract
The pervasive shelter in place mandates of March 2020 forced all educators to precipitously migrate to online education. After grappling with myriad technical concerns such as hardware, software, and internet connectivity, educators began addressing more complex issues such as a new, different online pedagogy. Other hurdles to virtual education included appropriate curricular adaptations, modifications to instructional delivery and assessment, and evolving parameters of social engagement. This chapter explores the intersection of the pandemic and the growth mindset which many educators manifested during online migration, often with no preparation and under the duress of immediacy. Successfully navigating such a large magnitude of change challenged educators, and their ability to embrace a growth mindset often facilitated more positive outcomes with online teaching and learning. The silver lining of the dark cloud of COVID-19 was its unexpected intersection with the growth mindset, leading teachers and learners to develop new skills, abilities, and potentialities.
TopCovid-19 Issues, Problems, And The Growth Mindset
Hodges et al. (2020) differentiated between emergency remote teaching (ERT) versus online learning, arguing that coherently developed online learning experiences were more efficacious and meaningful than courses simply migrated online as a response to emergency change in venue. Similarly, Adedoyin and Soykan (2020) elucidated on the initial “crisis response migration”, and ERT equivalent, as universities rapidly moved online, providing an emergency continuity of instruction initially as a haphazard venture towards evolving into a steadier routine of teaching students in the online venue. They stressed the need to evolve from an emergency remote instructional approach to a more sustainable pedagogical reframing of online teaching and learning. Van Wyk et al. (2020) extended the argument that institutions of higher education needed to use this disruptive ERT as an impetus to innovate in online pedagogy in their faculty preparation.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Innovation: Creation of something new in response to novel circumstances or challenges.
COVID-19: A novel, deadly coronavirus that was identified in late 2019 in China, thought to have originated from animal produce sold in a Wuhan wet market.
Emergency Response Teaching: Teaching style resulting due to rapid, unplanned, migration to online venue.
Shelter in Place Mandates: Local and national governmental orders to stay at home as much as possible except for procurement of food, health care, and life necessities.
Pandemic: A global infection that spreads through air, water, or other transmission modes between people.
Online Migration: Movement of education to the digital platforms due to school closures driven by shelter in place mandates.
Online Technology: Digital resources, virtual tools, and meeting venues like Zoom.
Growth Mindset: The attitude and perspective that one can grow and develop one’s capacities through effective effort.