NOTE: Earlier 10:00 start

Presenters:
Ram Ashish Giri (Monash University, Australia); Saraswati Dawadi (Open University); Sagun Shrestha (Dublin City University, Ireland); Saifa Haque (East West University, Bangladesh)

Teachers’ Preparations for Online Education in Emergencies: A Study of Response to Covid-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh and Nepal

Abstract:
Education systems are currently facing a novel crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic has caused educational chaos, significantly disrupting education and forcing some institutions to shut down. This has badly affected students even in highly developed countries such as the UK, Australia and the USA, let alone the students in developing countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh. This presentation aims to present a mixed-methods study that explored English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ and students’ experiences of online education during the pandemic in the context of higher education in Bangladesh and Nepal. The findings indicate that the teachers adapt the potentials of the digital artefacts to local contexts and use them in the best possible ways to facilitate their communication and enhance student learning. By using their stories, the session discusses the challenges such students and their teachers face in transitioning to online education. Finally, the policy, pedagogical and research implications will be discussed.