2021: Reflecting on an Abnormally Normal Year
Where did all the talk of the "new normal" go? Because this academic session so far has felt very much like the "old normal" but with MS Teams thrown in for good measure.
I was just reading through an article with my students which was a reflective piece published in September of 2020 when we were all beginning to realise that Covid-19 had changed the world. The article made me think about what life was like as a teacher before the pandemic. I remember meeting with colleagues in a wee private staff room and discussing issues that related to learning and teaching, or just passing the time, chatting, having a laugh and letting off steam with other people who understood.
We don't do that any more.
I was chatting with a colleague and friend earlier this week about times when our team would collaborate with other departments, run fashion shows, art exhibits, talent shows and there was a real sense of togetherness, community both at work and in our social lives. My colleague said work was his "happy place".
But we don't do that any of that any more either.
Instead, I sit in my house or in my classroom endlessly and mind numbingly staring at a computer screen. It's all for very valid reasons: Team meetings, writing assessments, developing learning and teaching materials, creating courses on Moodle, marking students work... And I'm sure I'm not the only one, working away in my little silo doing all the usual things but with layers of technology and infrastructure problems getting in the way. But, for me the sad fact is, having just completed my MA in Online and Distance Education I found myself thinking back to the beginning of the first module, H880, thinking to myself, "How much of this activity is actually enhancing the learning and teaching experience?" Moreover, if this is how I'm feeling, what is the experience of the students been like?
Sure, there's a lot of activity going on, and maybe that helps us to justify what we're doing. But has learning and teaching been enhanced?
I've read other people saying how tired they've felt since returning to face to face teaching. Looking back on my blog from February this year I said that I didn't want to feel like I've been worked to death, and yet here I am. The ambitious "springback" seems to have got lost in layers of beurocracy which seems to centre on a desire to return to the old normal as quickly as possible, restore confidence and bring back the good old days. How very British!
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Sociologists and Criminologists have documented the human need to return to a state of pleasure (or at least a state of reduced discomfort) for some decades now. So in that sense a desire to return to the old normal is completely understandable. But by layering a whole range of environmental and technological complexities on top... well the whole thing just feels convoluted, abnormal and quite dysfunctional.
I've found myself this year coming back time and time again to the taxonomic model developed by Lister et al. (2020). Reflecting on the skills-related and environmental barriers referred to in relation to the mental wellbeing of students, I found myself realising that teachers and educators are experiencing the flipside of that same experience. And while I remember writing about the frustrations experienced by learners and teaching, staff which were directly linked to mental health impacts (McIntosh, 2021)... well, it's like that moment when you realise you're heading for a crash and are powerless to stop it. Or are we?
I'm not sure what I trying to say really. But while we're approaching the end of another year, to use a Scottish term, "am scunnered wi' it aw!" But maybe we can start the new year by thinking of all the things we lost sight of, forgot about or just stopped doing and start doing them again (in a safe and responsible way). And, while we're at it, think about all the things that scunnered us about 2021 and stop doing them instead.
(P.S. For those who are not familiar with the Scottish language, hopefully you can work out the meaning of the word from the context in which I've used it 😂)
References
Lister, K., Seale, J. and Douce, C. (2020) Mental health in distance learning: a taxonomy of barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing [Online]. Available at: https://www-tandfonline-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/02680513.2021.1899907 (Accessed 15th December 2021).
McIntosh, M. (2021) An Ambitious Post-Lockdown Springback [Online]. Available at: https://mcsquaredreflections.blogspot.com/2021/02/an-ambitious-post-lockdown-springback.html (Accessed 15th December 2021).
Comments
Post a Comment