Wherever we are located in the world, COVID-19 continues to have a profound impact on our societies and lives. Lockdown is one experience widely shared globally. This has resulted in sudden closure of schools, and educators striving to find ways to support students online, through TV or radio, and sometimes through delivery of food and printed material to students homes.
For educators it has involved a sudden and steep learning curve in designing and managing non-physical-presence teaching and learning.
Even though some of us have been successful in transitioning from physical-presence teaching to online, reports from different countries during March-September 2020 reveal that the experience of remote schooling is leaving many students in difficulty or even stranded.
If education was not good before COVID-19, it cannot transition effectively as online learning. However if teaching quality has been high quality, and if students have access to online resources, much can be achieved.
Successful transition often requires profound changes in navigation of learning pathways, and structuring of learning processes. Now that the extent of the problem is being recognized effective pedagogies will soon emerge.