InSITE 2021 call for papers
Tuesday 6 July 2021 9amInSITE 2021: Informing Science + IT Education Conferences
6-7 July 2021, online
Colleagues are invited to submit research papers to a special InSITE 2021 track titled Beyond the ‘new norm’ – academic voices: Opportunities, challenges, and experiences with digital teaching, learning and assessment in higher education. (Website: https://www.informingscience.
The details of this Special Track are outlined below:
The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled all education sectors to the think, redesign and act in real time. The effects of the pandemic resulted in the unprecedented closure of schools and institutions of higher education worldwide. UNESCO estimates that over 500 million learners were affected by the closure of educational institutions. The dramatic changes in the education sector raises several questions in terms of the adaptability of the education sector and the readiness of the sector who had to act fast as this crisis worsened. The changes have influenced not only the way education is delivered but has had an effect on the international student mobility, pedagogical readiness of academics both in design and delivery of lectures, technological readiness of institutions to rise to this change, student readiness to move from a face-to-face delivery to a completely digital delivery. In addition, there is a need to recognize technological readiness in rural areas, especially in lower-income countries. The literature clearly shows that the higher education sector must change and adapt to technologies which are difficult and expensive. The virus caused an immediate need and increased cost to many universities to adopt and adapt to technologies which in many cases will result in increased cost to many universities. An area that needs particular attention with the rapid introduction and immersion into digital technologies during the pandemic is the issue of quality assurance (QA) processes for such deliveries. The speed at which the pandemic set in may or may not have allowed adequate time across all HEIs to have these QA processes in place to the highest level. Research suggests that insufficient pedagogical knowledge by staff in designing and online learning which results in a lack of student engagement resulting in passive learning. Overall, the rapid change in the landscape suggests a need to address policy gaps, identification of appropriate online tools based on the specificity of the discipline, the needs of academic staff to adapt to the new teaching situations and the readiness of students to learn in a completely digital environment.
We request you to make your submissions to this Special Track by 30 December 2020 at https://www.informingscience.
Please refer to the attached CFP or the website https://www.informingscience.
Kindly send us an email informing us of your submission, once completed. If you have any queries please feel free to email us (singhup@ukzn.ac.za).
We look forward to your submissions, Dr Upasana Singh and Prof Sid Nair.