The Corona Virus and Educational Innovation
Dear Readers and Authors of IDE Journal,
The world we have known for most of our lives has changed drastically in the past several months. The Covid-19 virus has spread quickly across the globe, bringing disease and death, while at the same time setting in motion a global economic crisis. As this is written, great efforts are being made to bring the virus under control. Scientists in laboratories around the world are making attempts to produce a new vaccine, cities are placed under lock down and have become ghost towns in which only essential goods and services are available. At this point the outcome remains uncertain, and even if situations are brought to some degree of normality, it is unknown whether a second or succeeding waves will follow.
Schools, from kindergartens to universities are closed, as parents, teachers, and students scurry to develop distance learning programs. Unemployment levels have begun to rival those of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1933, H. G. Wells wrote a futuristic dissertation novel titled, The Shape of Things to Come. He forecast a world greatly changed because of war and disease. He was wide of the mark about many things. This is to be expected in the case of any futuristic scenario. In his book A Place Called School (1984), John Goodlad analyzed the inadequacies and inefficiencies of schools and argued for their general restructuring. He argued, among other things, that schools are typically too large, creating environments that favor the few and alienate many students. Perhaps one outcome of the pandemic will be a rethinking of school size.
Today we ask ourselves, will the internet and other rapidly advancing educational technologies make the idea of school as a place seem quaint? What does the future hold for education in the near term and farther on as we experience this current and perhaps lengthy Corona catastrophe of 2020? One thing does seem certain, that is, things will become “normal” in time. But what will the new normal be for education?
- We invite you to write a contribution on your first experiences and thoughts about the ways education might change as a result of this pandemic for publication in a special section of the Fall 2020 issue of IDE Journal.
- Among the topics are the effects on teaching, learning, administration, staffing, finance, assessment, and health and well-being.
- The deadline for sending contributions for the special section of the Fall issue is October 15th, to be published at the end of November 2020.
- Instructions to contributors can be found here.
On behalf of the Editorial Board
Arthur K. Ellis, Dr., Prof., Director, Center for Global Curriculum Studies; IDE Editor-at-Large, Seattle Pacific University (USA); contact: aellis@spu.edu