Emerging Realities from COVID-19 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Mathematics Education Lecturers' Collaborative Autoethnographic Experiences

With the emergence of Covid-19 in South Africa in March 2020 and the subsequent lockdown restrictions, traditional universities looked to the University of South Africa for best practices regarding online teaching and learning. The Covid-19 lockdowns resulted in thousands of pre-service teachers in South African universities and colleges shifting and having to adapt at short notice to online learning. The outbreak caused students and lecturers to be thrust into online learning and teaching situations, with most of them having no prior training or preparation for the shift. For lecturers, the shift to online teaching represented monumental pedagogical and technical challenges, as they were expected to adopt and adapt to an online modality while rapidly learning to use various tools and maintaining the academic integrity of their institutions and modules. This chapter presents the autoethnographic experiences of four University of South Africa lecturers relating to teaching and administering learning and assessments for mathematics education modules. Within the qualitative research approach, we use a collaborative autoethnographic reflexivity approach to demonstrate the intersections between university society and self;the particular and the general;the personal and the politics of knowledge in the context of 4IR and the Covid-19 pandemic. Our experiences of online teaching and learning made us realise that the training of successful and effective mathematics teachers in online spaces during the pandemic is a complex and dynamic task, marked by issues of social justice, quality, equity, and academic inclusion, especially in a country as unequal as South Africa. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

"Locked Down, But Inspired”: Beginning Our Research Studies During COVID-19

This chapter presents a collaborative autoethnography of our experiences as beginning researchers during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. Specifically, it explores how completing our doctoral preparation degrees during these unsettled times positively influenced the development of our academic identities. By drawing on transformative learning as a conceptual metaphor, we consider how we connected with our researcher voices online, reimagined our understanding of a virtual research community, and transformed the limitations imposed on our research as an impetus for creativity. We argue that just as we redefined our research and academic identities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for academia as a whole to recognise and harness the potential for transformation as it responds to the new COVID-normal. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World: The Challenges of Establishing Academic Identities During Times of Crisis

This book adopts collaborative autoethnography as its methodology, and presents the collective witnessing of experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic within the higher education sector. Through the presentation of staff and student experiences and what was learnt from them, the authors examine the global phenomenon that is the COVID-19 pandemic through the purposeful exploration of their own experiences. This book presents an overall argument about the state of higher education in the middle of the pandemic and highlights academic issues and region-specific challenges. The reflections presented in this book offer insights for other staff and students, as well as academic policy-makers, regarding the pandemic experiences of those within academia. It also offers practical suggestions as to how we as a global community can move forward post-pandemic. © The Editor(s)(if applicable)and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

CODA The Challenges of Establishing Academic Identities During Times of Crisis

This section of the book synthesises authors' contributions by reflecting on the key themes identified in the various stories told within the chapters. It briefly describes the impact that marginalisation, parenthood, mental health, and virtual participation had on the formation of academic identity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The section ends with the editors' thoughts on what was achieved in this volume, in addition to the challenges that lie ahead. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Processing Uncertainty During COVID-19: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Two Stranded International Ph.D. Students

COVID-19 has transformed the world in diverse ways, presenting ongoing challenges. One of these challenges has been a profound sense of uncertainty. In this chapter, the authors from India/France and Iran explore their experiences of uncertainty as international students working on their Ph.D.s away from their Australian university. The authors engaged in collaborative autoethnography to present their stories as research poems. Interspersed with interpretations, the poems attempt to unravel the shared and diverse ways in which the authors contextually processed uncertainty. Finally, the authors underscore ways in which university and government actors can further support international Ph.D. students to address their specific needs during and post-pandemic periods. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

A Harmony of Voices: The Value of Collaborative Autoethnography as Collective Witnessing During a Pandemic

In this chapter, I describe collaborative autoethnography—the methodology which was chosen for this book. In order to clearly explain this methodology, I explore my own journey as I moved into social science research, discovered autoethnography, and subsequently encountered collaborative autoethnography. Through my reflections, I highlight the knowledge which can be gained through purposeful exploration of personal experience. I also demonstrate how, when multiple autoethnographers work together, the resulting collaboration creates a profound synergy and harmony of voices which cannot be achieved by an individual alone. Finally, I present the specific framework used to apply the collaborative autoethnography methodology in this book. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Social justice mentorship amidst a pandemic

The pandemic's rapid impact on higher education and ensuing move to remote learning introduced sudden and unexpected challenges for students and faculty. With the instantaneous switch to distance learning, doctoral student mentors and their mentees had to adapt not only to the lifestyle stresses of the virus, but also to new modes of communication, unfamiliar technology and time and space differences. Through this collaborative autoethnographic study, a group of doctoral students and faculty who engage in social justice research explore mentorship during a pandemic with a particular focus on how experiences with marginalization affect mentoring dynamics. Findings highlight the relational characteristics of mentorship, the adaptive processes specific to sociopolitical, institutional, and personal impacts, and supports toward continued commitment to social justice research. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Designing flipped learning in initial teacher education: The experiences of two teacher educators

The move to online learning triggered by COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 necessitated a rapid movement to effectively design synchronous digital learning environments. In such environments research suggests that a flipped approach to teaching and learning is most appropriate in learning environments mediated by technologies. This article examines the experiences of two teacher educators in dealing with online learning environments in a time of change and examines the shift to a flipped approach in teaching literacy units that are part of a postgraduate initial teacher education degree at a university in Melbourne, Australia. The article presents a collaborative autoethnography of the experiences of the teacher educators, shared as a set of curated narrative vignettes, and analyses the thinking that supports the implementation of flipped learning. These practice narratives are understood through the lens of collaborative learning theory which emphasises negotiated meanings and knowledge creation within groups. In post-COVID times this article points to future possibilities for a flipped learning approach in hybrid or mixed learning environments and offers a conceptual process model for designing learning in response to change.Implications for practice or policy:* Teacher educators may need to reconsider learning design for online and hybrid environments.* Universities may need to be more open to student-centred pedagogies such as flipped learning.* Leaders and policymakers in higher education should give more attention to student agency and active learning in educational delivery.

Severed connections and timely reflections: A collaborative autoethnography navigating uncertainty amid COVID-19 in higher education

In early 2020, against the backdrop of COVID-19, U.S. Higher Education Institutions transitioned from in-person to remote learning, causing student-teacher connections to become strained. This Collaborative Autoethnographic study explores the lived experiences of two faculty members as they navigated the transition from the physical into the digital. Early challenges stemmed from the lack of ability to navigate new digital spaces efficiently. Prolonged uncertainty in isolation resulted in emotional fatigue, furthering disconnection. We propose that self-awareness and (re)learning how to set boundaries were critical in the healing process. These unique perspectives contribute to the continued discourse on how COVID-19 has affected Higher Education Institutions. © 2023 Curriculum and Pedagogy Group.

COVID-19 and pre-tenure counseling faculty: A collaborative autoethnographic investigation.

Higher education faculty worldwide experienced heightened stressors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from completing their professional roles and responsibilities virtually to balancing personal and professional stressors. Consequently, the pandemic created many adjustments for pre-tenure counseling faculty across research, teaching, and service. In response to this pandemic, we explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the personal and professional lives of four pre-tenure counseling faculty members. Accordingly, we used collaborative autoethnography to investigate our experiences and narratives as pre-tenure counseling faculty, which resulted in seven overarching themes. We discussed the implications for practice, advocacy, education, and faculty training.

Offshore doctoral identity negotiation during COVID-19: challenges and opportunities

This article examines offshore doctoral students' challenges and opportunities to negotiate their doctoral identity development during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study draws on collaborative autoethnographic texts from the authors' diaries and a reflective discussion to understand how two offshore doctoral students negotiated their development of doctoral identity facing the pandemic. Informed by a conceptualisation of doctoral identity and distance, we explore challenges and opportunities. Results indicate that staying offshore can bring identity anxiety and a diluted sense of belonging to doctoral students, but they can control their identity by establishing caring relationships among themselves and with others. The conclusion suggests the importance of strengthening doctoral identity in a reflective and caring way to mediate COVID-19's impact.

Designing flipped learning in initial teacher education: The experiences of two teacher educators

The move to online learning triggered by COVID -19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 necessitated a rapid movement to effectively design synchronous digital learning environments. In such environments research suggests that a flipped approach to teaching and learning is most appropriate in learning environments mediated by technologies. This article examines the experiences of two teacher educators in dealing with online learning environments in a time of change and examines the shift to a flipped approach in teaching literacy units that are part of a postgraduate initial teacher education degree at a university in Melbourne, Australia. The article presents a collaborative autoethnography of the experiences of the teacher educators, shared as a set of curated narrative vignettes, and analyses the thinking that supports the implementation of flipped learning. These practice narratives are understood through the lens of collaborative learning theory which emphasises negotiated meanings and knowledge creation within groups. In post-COVID times this article points to future possibilities for a flipped learning approach in hybrid or mixed learning environments and offers a conceptual process model for designing learning in response to change. Implications for practice or policy: Teacher educators may need to reconsider learning design for online and hybrid environments. Universities may need to be more open to student-centred pedagogics such as flipped learning. Leaders and policymakers in higher education should give more attention to student agency and active learning in educational delivery.

Challenges and silver linings: Our reflections on delivering experiential learning online during Covid-19

As four academics from the University of Sydney, we use a collaborative autoethnographic lens to share our reflections on the extraordinary challenges, and paradoxically, some ‘silver linings’, which resulted from our emergency online delivery of experiential learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our units, delivered in collaboration with Australian and international organisations, are project-based experiences for senior undergraduate students that explore real-world, complex problems. We critically reflect on how we transformed these Industry and Community Project Units (ICPUs) for delivery online, whilst endeavouring to retain their authentic experiential nature. The transformation included adapting to a range of digital and technical challenges, physical and sensory adjustments in our student-teacher interactions, and modifying our teaching approaches for the collaborative and transdisciplinary components of the ICPUs. We share our optimism in translating what we have learned for future experiential classrooms, as we advance with greater digital competence, resilience, and an enhanced appreciation for diverse communication channels with our students, industry, and community partners. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pedagogies of belonging in an anxious world: A collaborative autoethnography of four practitioners

The concept of belonging has found prominence in higher education learning environments, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an unprecedented impact on educational provision. In times of disruption, alienation and isolation, the most basic of our psychological and physiological needs have come to be almost universally recognised as critical factors that must be considered and examined. Experiencing belonging is integral to human existence, and knowing where, with whom, and how we belong, is a salient driver for learning and self-actualisation. We recognise there are a number of ways to frame and approach the idea of belonging in the educational experience. We also recognise that there are multiple understandings of what belonging means and therefore how it is enacted within the curricula and the “classroom” in its varying forms-physical, online, digital, work-based. This Editorial takes a critical perspective to our own intellectual standpoint in relation to pedagogies of belonging. As co-editors, we have outlined our respective conceptions and experiences of belonging as a collaborative autoethnography, capturing our individual views of pedagogies of belonging in a collaborative context. Our collaboration has allowed us to situate ourselves both theoretically and practically, as well as ontologically, and advance our understanding of practices that promote student belonging in all its possible forms within the higher education experience. We suggest that the possibilities for belonging offered by interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are ripe for inquiry, and the place of non-traditional, Indigenous, iterative and emergent methodologies to examine belonging requires further exploration. © 2022, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.

Collaborative autoethnography in examining online teaching during the pandemic: from a ‘teacher agency’ perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak forced universities to immediately shift to online teaching, and the transition presented unprecedented challenges. This paper reports our findings from a collaborative autoethnography study with a special focus on the challenges we encountered and our agentive responses in teaching online. Data reveal four major challenges (1) unpredictable situations, (2) shifting teacher roles in online context, (3) issues on course design, expectations, grading, and feedback, and (4) technology issues. Also, we reported four agentive responses (1) adopting a positive attitude, (2) reexamining our teaching practices and educational goals, (3) exploring alternative pedagogical approaches, and (4) strategically implementing technology to enhance teaching and learning. These intentional reflections became opportunities for us to revisit our positionality, analyze our teaching experiences, and transform them into tools in supporting students. This study calls for more resources for professional development, as well as further conversations and collaborations among teachers and researchers. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Teaching in Higher Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Peripheral multilingual scholars confronting epistemic exclusion in global academic knowledge production: a positive case study

The decolonization of knowledge is increasingly high on the agenda of applied and sociolinguistics. This article contributes to this agenda by examining how peripheral multilingual scholars confront their linguistic and epistemic exclusion from global knowledge production. Based on the product of such a challenge – a Chinese-centric special issue of Multilingua, a global academic Q1 journal, devoted to crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and committed to furthering intercultural dialogue in research – we explore the decades-long knowledge production process behind that product and so provide a look into the “black box” of academic networking and publishing. Advocating for collaborative autoethnography as an inherently inclusive method, we focus on enabling academic and personal networks, textual scaffolding, and linguistic and epistemic brokerage. The article closes with three aspects of linguistic and epistemic citizenship that are central to inclusion, namely recognition of the value of peripheral knowledges, recognition of a collaborative ethics of care, and recognition of shared responsibility. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Multilingua is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A trio of teacher education voices: developing professional relationships through co-caring and belonging during the pandemic

Purpose>This research is situated at a metropolitan university in Melbourne (Australia) where the authors work in initial teacher education programs within the same faculty. The purpose of this study is to raise awareness that collegial, collaborative and “co-caring” environments can foster an improved sense of belonging, acceptance and inclusion in the academy. They also argue that communities of practice may foster an improved sense of belonging that enhances empowerment and harmony among all staff in academia in pandemic times and beyond.Design/methodology/approach>The authors draw on case study methodology as a qualitative approach to understand and illuminate the phenomena under study. Case study methodology provides an in-depth understanding of their trifocal voices, as it allows them to voice their stories through collaborative autoethnography. The authors use self-narratives to unpack their sense of belonging in academic spaces. Collaborative autoethnography (CAE) enabled them to work together as a team of women and as a community of researchers.Findings>The findings foreground the responsibilities of casual staff while concomitantly articulating the challenges faced by both permanent and casual staff to create a “sense of belonging” in the academy. The authors found that social connection engenders a sense of belonging and inclusion within a space that is often beset by neoliberal ideologies of competitiveness and individual achievement. They articulate their stress, pressure and uncertainty as permanent and as casual academics working supportively to develop and maintain identity in very difficult circumstances. They share how they developed professional relationships which bring unforeseen benefits and personal friendship at a time of especially restrictive practices.Research limitations/implications>The paper includes three voices, a limitation in itself, thus generalisations cannot be made to other academics or institutions. Employing CAE offers the possibility of delving more deeply into the emotional complexities inherent within this method for further research. They recommend a sense of “co-caring” as a form of pastoral care in the “induction program” for all academics including casual staff. While this may not “strategically” fit in with many because of power imbalances, the journey of co-caring and sharing and building friendships within the academy has a limited presence in the literature and calls for further investigation.Practical implications>The authors draw attention to the need for higher education institutes to recognise the role permanent staff play when working with casual academics.Social implications>The authors draw attention to the need to be inclusive and collaborative as a way to improve the divide and strengthen connections between permanent and casual academics at university worksites. This is imperative given the shifting demographics within Australia and its workforce. They also highlight issues of race in the academy.Originality/value>This is an original work carried out by the authors. It raises concerns about a sense of belonging in the academy, job certainty and the place of people of colour as these issues may also be experienced by other full-time and casual academics.

Recasting embodied and relational teaching in the arts: teacher educators reflect on the potential of digital learning

In this study, a group of seven teacher educators report on how they embarked on a process of collaborative autoethnography to uncover the problems and possibilities of teaching arts education using digital methodologies. Arising from the pressing need to pivot from in-person, campus-based teaching to online modes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenon prompted the authors to engage in critical and inquiry-oriented reflection on the experience. While the full group comprised teacher educators from across diverse disciplines, the current study focuses primarily on the idiosyncratic nature of teaching arts subjects such as music, drama and visual arts education to student teachers. Using qualitative analysis, the study identifies key themes and insights gleaned from critical explorations of the data. Although embodied pedagogies are considered no less valuable than before, the study reveals unexpected benefits that arise in the digital context, especially in arts education. In this frame, arts education is recast in a dynamic and unexpected fashion, despite the exigencies of the digital environment. Ultimately, the study points to important teaching and learning experiences, and new ways of framing dimensions of those experiences, that can inform future teaching worlds in the digital space.

South African Higher Education Institutions at the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sense-Making and Lessons Learnt

After the unprecedented changes experienced in higher education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need to integrate initial thoughts and reflective experience to decide on the way forward. This study aimed to reflect on, and make sense of the events related to South African higher education institutions HEIs at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic by using the Cynefin framework. Data from a rapid review of online media at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and a collaborative autoethnography session 1 year since lockdowns were implemented are used to present perspectives for the sense-making process. This offers insights to both ends of the spectrum as it highlights the evolution of processes taking place at multiple levels from government policies to institutional practices, as well as how this impacted on both staff and students. The Cynefin framework demonstrated sense-making efforts in the disordered, to the chaotic, to the complex, then to the complicated and eventually to the simple domain. Each domain ushered in its peculiarities and highlighted the issues ranging from vulnerabilities experienced in the higher education sector, to trying to reconfigure the academic year, to dealing with wicked problems, to eventually relying on expert assistance to navigate the virtual university space. Trying to establish causality in the simple domain proved challenging as the information available during the time was sparse. Despite these challenges, the lessons learnt include the importance of the sense-making process among all academic staff, the significance of collaboration and team efforts and the need to adapt leadership and self-leadership approaches to the changed ways of working in higher education institutions.

Preservice EFL Teachers’ Experiences in Their First Teaching Practicum: A Collaborative Autoethnography

This paper reports a collaborative autoethnography on a first teaching practicum at Universidad Surcolombiana. The study aimed at how we, as novice researchers and preservice English as a foreign language teachers, make sense of our teaching experiences in our first teaching practicum using collaborative autoethnography as a research method. The data were collected by reflective journals and ethnographic observations. Results show the meaning that we give to our experiences, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, by recognizing and analyzing our sociocultural context. Additionally, we were immersed in a virtual learning environment where we had the opportunity to confront unforeseen changes imposed by the pandemic, familiarize ourselves with possible issues that teachers grapple with, and imagine new ways to be ourselves. Alternate : Este artículo reporta una autoetnografía colaborativa en una primera práctica docente en la Universidad Surcolombiana. El estudio es un análisis de como nosotras, como investigadoras y profesoras de inglés en formación, le damos sentido a nuestras experiencias docentes en nuestra primera práctica docente, y para ello utilizamos la autoetnografía colaborativa como método de investigación. Los datos fueron recolectados por medio de diarios reflexivos y observaciones. Los resultados muestran el significado que le damos a nuestras experiencias, antes y durante la pandemia de COVID-19, mientras reconocemos y analizamos nuestro contexto sociocultural. Además, estuvimos inmersas en un entorno de aprendizaje virtual, donde tuvimos la oportunidad de enfrentar cambios imprevistos impuestos por la pandemia, familiarizarnos con posibles problemas que los maestros enfrentan e imaginar nuevas formas de ser nosotros mismos.