STUDENTS’ DISCOURSES DURING THE ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING IN THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID19 PANDEMIC: AN ACTION RESEARCH WITH STUDENTS AS CO-RESEARCHERS

The COVID-19 pandemic affected education communities by turning students and teachers abruptly to online teaching. This imposition of digital education is being investigated by various researchers all over the world since it has changed the way we conceive of the use of technology in classrooms and in our lives in general. Nevertheless, the students’ voice is being neglected and not taken seriously into account. In this paper an action research is presented with the teacher acting as researcher and the students as co-researchers. This action research took place during the first wave of the pandemic (March 2020-May 2020) in Crete, Greece. The students, after investigating the online education in general and after various discussions, in their final accounts reflected upon a. the changes in their role as students, b. the changes in the role of the teacher, c. they proposed the role that a teacher should have today. The teacher-researcher analyzed these three categories with Critical Discourse Analysis to identify the discourses the students promoted or silenced. The findings showed that online education is not a success story as promoted by researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders; rather it lacks human elements like humor, psychological support, and instant interaction.

Keywords:

action-research, students’ voice, discourses, online education, digital literacy critical literacy,

PDF

___

Abioui, M., Dades, M., Kostyuchenko, Y., Benssaou, M., Martinez-Frias, J., M'Barki, L.,Neto de Carvalho, C. (2020). Covid-19 and education in Morocco as a potential model of concern for North Africa: a short commentary, International Journal of Ethics Education, 5, 145-150, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-020-00100-4
Assunçao Flores, M., and Gago, M. (2020). Teacher education in times of COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal: national, institutional and pedagogical responses, Journal of Education for Teaching, 1-10, doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1799709
Carr, W., and Kemmis, S. (2005). Staying critical, Educational Action Research, 13 (3), 347-358, doi: 10.1080/09650790500200296 Code, J., Ralph, R., and Forde, K. (2020). Pandemic designs for the future: perspective of technology education teachers during COVID19, Information and Learning Sciences , 419-431. doi: 10.1108/ILS-04-2020-0112
Cordova, T. (2004). Plugging the brain drain: Bringing our education back home, In J. Mora, and D. Diaz (Ed.), Latino and Social Policy: A Participatory Research Model, New York: Haworth Press, 24-53.
Cullingford, C. (1991). The Inner World of the School. London: Cassell.
Fielding, M. (2007), "Beyond "voice": New roles, relations, and contexts in researching with young people". Discourse, 28 (3), 301-310, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300701458780
Flutter, J., and Ruddock, J. (2004). Consulting Pupils. What's in it for schools? London and New York: Routledge Falmer.
Hart, R. (1997). Children's Participation. The theory and Practice of involving Young Citizens in Community Development and Environment Care. London: Earthscan Publication. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315070728
Horkheimer, M. (1937). Traditional and Critical Theory. Critical Theory: Selected Essays. New York: Continuum
Howard, S., and Mozejko, A. (2015). Considering the history of digital technologies in education, In M. Henderson, and G. Romeo (Ed.), Teaching and Digital Technologies: Big issues and critical questions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 157-169.
Katsarou, E. (2014). Critical action research and the challenge of postpodernism. In A. Thomas Stern, F. R. Townsend, and A. Schluster (Ed), Action Research, Innovation and Change, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 191-201.
Marjatta Niemi, H., and Kousa, P. (2020). A Case Study of Students' and Teachers' Perceptions in a Finnish High School during the COVID Pandemic, International Journal of Technology in Education and Sciences, 4(4), 352-369., doi: 10.46328/ijtes.v4i4.167
Mitra, D. (2001). Opening the floodgates: giving students a voice in school reform, Forum for Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 43(2), 91-94, doi: 10.2304/forum.2001.43.2.14
Mitra, D. (2004). The significance of students: Can increasing 'student voice' in schools lead gains in youth development?. Teachers College Record, 106(4), 651-688, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9620.2004.00354.x
Mulleh, D. (2018). A general Critical Discourse Analysis framework for education research, Journal of Advanced Academics, 29, 116-142, doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X18758260
Quicke, J. (1994). Pupil culture and the curriculum. Westminister Studies in Education, 17(5), 5-18, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0140672940170102 Richardson, J. (2007). Analyzing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Selwyn, N., and Jandric, P. (2020). Postdigital Living in the Age of Covid-19: Unsettling What We See as Possible. Postdigital Science and Education, 2, 989-1005, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00166-9
Staples, J. (2012). ‘Niggaz dyin’ don’t make no news’: exploring intellectual work of an African American urban adolescent boy in an after-school program, Educational Action Research Journal, 20(1), 55-73, doi:10.1080/09650792.2012.647661
van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Watkins, C. (2001). Learning about Learning Enhances Performance, In McNeil F. (Ed.), Research Matters series, 13, London: University of London, Institute of Education School Improvement Network, 1-18, Available at: https://cutt.ly/hx1Qlja