{"id":26461,"date":"2020-07-22T00:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T00:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/?p=26461"},"modified":"2020-08-06T00:14:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T00:14:39","slug":"what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/","title":{"rendered":"What has the pandemic taught me"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Peter Lavender \u2013 Professor of Education, University of Wolverhampton, UK.<\/h4>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-26462\" src=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL-300x235.png\" alt=\"Professor Peter Lavendar\" width=\"368\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL-300x235.png 300w, https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/><\/a><\/strong>Without a doubt, we live in interesting times. Researching the impact of COVID 19 on universities across the world, Crawford et al (2020) <a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> note that most universities have closed their campuses and increased the move to online learning, but few have a fully virtual and online delivery strategy, even those who partly deliver online. However, some online businesses and entrepreneurs have prospered, whether it\u2019s bakers, toymakers, dating apps, delivery companies, online tutors, or milk delivery services \u2013 all of them have learned to adapt rapidly <a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s the individuals who are learning that intrigue me: and the number of times other people tell you what they have been learning, without being asked. Latin, the plays of Shakespeare, knitting, local history, baking cakes. As if it\u2019s quite the normal thing. Journalist Zoe Williams asks, \u2018<em>What has lockdown taught me?\u2019 <\/em><strong><a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/strong> and it\u2019s a question we should all be asking. For some, the answers lie in what they have missed most \u2013 the conversations with friends over a meal, being free to go where you wish, or to take a holiday. For others, the lessons have been harder \u2013 how to work while supporting children and grandchildren at home; how to eke out the food; how to manage mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Most people agree that we will all be changed by this experience. Looking outward many of us who work in adult education believe that we should build on the learning that individuals have done, capitalise on the catastrophe as it were.<\/p>\n<p>One example here, is a further education college (equivalent to TAFE in Australia) that urgently wanted to find out how students were dealing with the new online learning environment and responses to the changing pedagogy in lockdown. A research group was rapidly and enthusiastically formed to explore teaching methodologies and the learners\u2019 experience, determined to keep what works for the future. The results, which showed that most teachers were creative and inspiring in their interpretation of the curriculum also found that whilst students really enjoyed the remote one to one contact with the teachers, a significant minority didn\u2019t really want to continue with learning online. In another college, some 42% of young people say remote learning has made their mental health worse <a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a>. We need to consider disbenefits as well as the benefits of learning in a new way.<\/p>\n<p>But the most exciting thing for me is that staff and students have felt empowered by this new research group and want to be part of it, because at its heart it values practitioner-led research, and at its centre believes in the voice of learners and staff as the basis for change. And the stories of people learning and teaching are a rich resource for research.<\/p>\n<p>Around the world it\u2019s the ingenuity of people and their stories that come through \u2013 whether it\u2019s the skies over Cairo alive with the home-made kites of children; the Black Lives Matter movement; or an appreciation of how low paid workers hold the country\u2019s health together.\u00a0 The value of learning is in all these things. So let\u2019s keep asking, \u2018<em>What has the pandemic taught me?\u2019<\/em> \u00a0The answers might surprise us.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Footnotes<\/h4>\n<h6><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Crawford, J.; Butler-Henderson, K.; Rudolph, J.; Glowatz, M.; Burton, R.; Malkawi, B.; Magni, P.; La, S. (2020) <em>COVID-19: 20 countries\u2019 higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses <\/em>Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching Vol 3 No1<\/h6>\n<h6><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-52383193\">https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-52383193<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmmagazine.co.uk\/in-business\/whos-doing-well-out-of-coronavirus-lockdown\/\">https:\/\/www.bmmagazine.co.uk\/in-business\/whos-doing-well-out-of-coronavirus-lockdown\/<\/a><\/h6>\n<h6><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/jun\/26\/what-have-i-learned-in-lockdown-i-have-a-burning-need-for-small-adventures\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/jun\/26\/what-have-i-learned-in-lockdown-i-have-a-burning-need-for-small-adventures<\/a><\/h6>\n<h6><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> in Bedford college<\/h6>\n<h6>\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0 only 33% of students and 34% of their\u00a0parents said they enjoyed learning online<\/h6>\n<h6>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the vast majority of students and parents are against an online only switch<\/h6>\n<h6>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0fewer than half are happy with a blended learning switch (44%)<\/h6>\n<h6>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0vast majority want college based programmes (but might accept some blending)<\/h6>\n<h6>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a042% of young people say remote learning has made their mental health worse<\/h6>\n<h6>(from a tweet on 01 July from Ian Pryce, Principal)<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professor Peter Lavender<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Professor Peter Lavender\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adult Learning Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"392\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sally\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sally\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"sally\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fdfb0467db72c0409d0f3ecccd306c05\"},\"headline\":\"What has the pandemic taught me\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":665,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/PL.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Commentaries\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/\",\"name\":\"What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/PL.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/PL.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/PL.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":392,\"caption\":\"Professor Peter Lavendar\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What has the pandemic taught me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\",\"name\":\"Adult Learning Australia\",\"description\":\"Adult Learning Australia\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Adult Learning Australia\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/ALA-LOGO.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/ALA-LOGO.jpg\",\"width\":501,\"height\":269,\"caption\":\"Adult Learning Australia\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fdfb0467db72c0409d0f3ecccd306c05\",\"name\":\"sally\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ala.asn.au\\\/author\\\/sally\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia","og_description":"Professor Peter Lavender","og_url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/","og_site_name":"Adult Learning Australia","article_published_time":"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":392,"url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"sally","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sally","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/"},"author":{"name":"sally","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#\/schema\/person\/fdfb0467db72c0409d0f3ecccd306c05"},"headline":"What has the pandemic taught me","datePublished":"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/"},"wordCount":665,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png","articleSection":["Commentaries","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/","url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/","name":"What has the pandemic taught me - Adult Learning Australia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png","datePublished":"2020-07-22T00:23:18+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-06T00:14:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PL.png","width":500,"height":392,"caption":"Professor Peter Lavendar"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-me\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What has the pandemic taught me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/","name":"Adult Learning Australia","description":"Adult Learning Australia","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#organization","name":"Adult Learning Australia","url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ALA-LOGO.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ALA-LOGO.jpg","width":501,"height":269,"caption":"Adult Learning Australia"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/#\/schema\/person\/fdfb0467db72c0409d0f3ecccd306c05","name":"sally","sameAs":["http:\/\/ala.asn.au"],"url":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/author\/sally\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ala.asn.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}