TEACHERS’ NARRATIVES FROM INITIAL VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN DEVELOPING BANGLADESH

Abstract

In the face of sudden migration to online teaching due to Covid-19 pandemic, education is going under trying times globally, especially in the low resource contexts of the Global South. Little is, however, known about how this forced migration to and coping with emergency remote teaching (ERT) are happening in the low resource context of developing Bangladesh, particularly in the Higher Education (HE). This paper, therefore, aims to understand how virtual classrooms look like in the Higher Education context in Bangladesh through TESOL teachers’ narratives from initial virtual classrooms imparting ERT. Employing narrative inquiry, four teachers from four different public and private universities in Bangladesh share their experiences of doing, undergoing and reflecting as they try to adopt, adapt and strive in imparting ERT and carrying out education in HE. Insights from these initial teacher narratives may inform higher education pedagogies, teacher development in distance education environments in Bangladesh and similar contexts in the Global South. As the paper addresses HE teachers’ initial orientation to ERT without exclusively dealing with TESOL education, it has multidisciplinary approach to migration to and coping with ERT in HE in general.