Teaching and Learning Resilience and Adjuvant Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis: A Reflective Practitioner’s Perspective
Gilbert Motsaathebe 
Issue: Vol.5 No. 8 October 2024 Article 7 pp.347-356
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024587 | Published online 31st October, 2024.
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The coronavirus (COVID-19) was devastating to society. In addition to the untold anguish it unleashed on humanity, the pandemic considerably affected teaching and learning. The disruption to the school calendars resulted in a new shift that was constraining for both students and educators during the early stages of the pandemic. It is, therefore, unsurprising that many studies examining this pandemic’s impact tend to focus on its negative consequences. Thus, a less explored topic is the positive spin-offs of the crisis and how humanity transcended the abyss (in the Hegelian sense) amid agony. Therefore, this article fills this gap by examining some of the positive contributions and future possibilities resulting from society’s efforts to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. In terms of the method, the study draws on the author’s teaching experience and student feedback using an interpretative framework based on Driscoll’s What Model of reflection and insights from Resilience Theory and Reflective Practice. The findings highlighted humanity’s ability to bounce back in any crisis despite its magnitude and some of the innovative teaching and learning strategies that resulted in students being integral co-creators in the teaching and learning process. Based on the findings, the study ultimately proposes a five-stage crisis resilience model along a continuum of various cycles. The study contributes to embryonic scholarship that uses the pandemic as a lens to explore value creation and liberating avenues for humanity.
Keywords: Resilience Theory, COVID-19, Reflective Practice, Teaching and Learning
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Professor Gilbert Motsaathebe has a long history in academia and media practice, having worked and lived for many years in countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, India and the United Arab Emirates. He holds a PhD in Film and Media Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a C2 NRF-rated researcher, having published 12 books with reputable publishers such as Palgrave Macmillan, Rowman & Littlefield /Lexington Books, UNISA Press and Routledge and over 70 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and chapters in top-notch journals and compendiums. His research interests oscillate on Indigenous Language Media, the plight of Indigenous communities, African languages, African rhetoric, multiculturalism, media, gender and representation, journalism education and practice, and post-apartheid films. He is the founder and co-editor of the recently launched International Journal of Indigenous Language Media and Discourse. Before that, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Communication Studies in Africa (Communicare).
Motsaathebe, Gilbert.”Teaching and Learning Resilience and Adjuvant Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis: A Reflective Practitioner’s Perspective.” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 5, no.8 (2024):347-356. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024587
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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