E-Learning during a global pandemic
Maggie McVay Lynch
Abstract
The onset of the COVID-19 virus has tested education, social, and economic structures as the pandemic has spread around the world. UNESCOs monitoring indicates that over 181 countries have implemented nationwide school closures, impacting more than 1.5 billion students. Though many universities have some experience in online learning, they are not ready to move from under 25% of curriculum already developed to 100% of curriculum being available with teachers ready to go online. K-12 education is struggling with most districts having never invested in an e-learning infrastructure or established a technology backbone for e-learning delivery. The pandemic shines a light on the unequal access to the technologies necessary to be successful either as an online learner or as an instructor suddenly responsible for delivering content remotely. Suggestions for rapid response and iterative course design options, as well as current free access assets are offered in this article.