Latin American and Caribbean teachers’ transition to online teaching during the pandemic: Challenges, Changes and Lessons Learned
Carol Hordatt Gentles, Tashane Haynes-Brown
Abstract
The forced transition to online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the integration of ICT use by teachers across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) . Given the slow adoption of ICT by LAC teachers before the pandemic it is useful to investigate how, why and in what ways, LAC teachers overcame their prior reluctance and resistance to learn and practice digital literacy. Using qualitative interview data from a global report on teachers’ experiences during Covid-19, this paper analyses how the pandemic changed the ways in which 53 teachers from 15 LAC countries think about and use ICT. It suggests their concern for student loss of learning due to school closures empowered them to overcome barriers that normally impede ICT use by teachers. At the same time, initial acceptance of ICT use has wavered due to ongoing widespread challenges with internet connectivity and access. This has implications for what we know about supporting professional development in the use of ICT after Covid-19 and beyond.