Learning from the emergency remote teaching-learning in China when primary and secondary schools were disrupted by COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract China educational system launched the emergency remote teaching-learning (ERT) as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the mission of “suspending schools without stopping teaching-learning”. When schools moved to temporary remote instruction, teachers, students and parents encountered challenges in terms of deep remote teaching and learning. In the current study, parent (N=741) and teacher (N=145) from 16 provinces in China gave responses to four open-ended questions in the web-based questionnaires released on wjx.cn. The themes arose from the thematic analysis. The participants emphasized that online teaching-learning can’t replace face-to-face one in the brick-and-mortar classrooms in terms of the glitchy technology, engaging students into learning, enhancing students learning and leaning atmosphere. Teachers felt unprepared for teaching online. Teachers and parents also argued that remote teaching-learning only benefit those students with good self-discipline and high autonomy in learning. The current study suggests the provincial governments equipping schools with a standardized online teaching-learning management system (LMS), followed by the instructional technology professional development for ensuring online teaching quality at timely manner. This might make ERT teaching evaluation possible. Schools can develop a checklist of prioritized perspectives and actionable strategies for preparing students and their parents for online learning success.