Lalond’s OHS system planning began during a time of distress, confusion, and concern for many BC citizens, and the world. A world that required near immediate change to how it was run.
To Ash’s point in their post, Ash references COVID-19 as a low tide, exposing “neglect of issues related to inequalities in access and use of technology”. Ash and I see this through a different lens, I see this as opening up a world of opportunities, at a rate not seen. We had to pivot for our school systems so quickly, BUT it happened, it worked, and it left us with so many more learning opportunities than we thought possible, things that we actually thought would take years to put in place, were put in place in a matter of weeks. When push comes to shove, we can do almost anything.
Adaptive and tech-savvy leadership were key in making this work. Leaders who embraced technology and change and were able to make decisions quickly where needed to allow students to continue their work in whatever way that they could. For many that was moving to an online environment. “Online learning is now a viable and increasingly mainstream alternative” (Brown, 2023, p. 512) for all students. This was an invaluable lesson in adaptability, technology, human ability, and patience.
One thing though that I think should be considered: during the pandemic, ‘pandemic babies’ were born, or shortly before, these babies grew up unsocialized and continue to have difficulties in school. Planners of systems like OHS should be mindful of the bridge that they are building between high school students and post-secondary students and the potential missing opportunity of learning young adult social skills in an in-person, post-secondary reality.
Brown, M. (2023). Leading in changing times. In Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (Zawacki-Rickter&I. Jung, pp. 509–525). Springer.
Laverne LRNT525
Hi Laverne,
In your post you highlight that adaptive leaders were able to pivot quickly during the pandemic – and through these experiences, online learning is now considered a viable option. I have definitely seen this shift in my context of HE, and see how online learning can open up so many opportunities for learners to have educational opportunities in their own communities. Have you seen this kind of shift in your own context? We still have many other barriers to access (high-speed internet, availability of devices, adequate space) for many learners – how can leaders help overcome these to help widen participation?
Hi Michelle, yes, I have definitely seen a shift in opportunities for learners. However, I 100% agree with the access barrier! An example from my community is the intention of opening up more options to high-speed internet. The way that the company planned and installed the equipment needed for the secondary option was an epic fail. They pre-sold installation and low-cost packages for consumers, leading consumers to cancel their currently reliable, albeit, somewhat slow, depending on what you were doing, services. This new service was delayed, unreliable, and often was completely cut-off for days.
Thankfully, I did not buy into the new service and it did not affect my online courses.
On the note of the pandemic, in our neighboring community an elders group would meet for 5 hours a day from Monday to Friday, because they weren’t unable do, it created many barriers for them. The administrative team got together and found a way to purchase ipads for all of the elders and found a way to teach them how to zoom. They successfully managed to get them on zoom for regular meetings. Elders who may not have ever used this type of technology were ‘zooming’ all around the internet!
It inevitably comes down to funds, what funds and resources are available to allow participation?