Corporum (Dec 2021)
Digital Pedagogy, Learning, and Assessment amidst COVID-19: Perceptions, Practices, and Prospects
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to discuss the perceptions of university teachers and students towards digital classroom pedagogy, learning, and assessment methods in higher education in Pakistan amidst the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The researchers used the mixed method approach. The data was collected from a large-scale public-sector university with nine campuses across the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The instruments used for the collection of the data included Google Survey Form for students (n=92), university teachers' interviews via WhatsApp (n=15), and university students’ views extracted from social media platforms i.e.official Facebook page of the university (n=20). The data obtained from multiple sources was analyzed using the corpus-based techniques for Sentiment Lexicon Generation (Darwich et.al, 2019). The findings of this study have revealed that 92% of students were interested in face-to-face classes and 82% of students had a preference for a face-to-face assessment. It has also been observed that the students also expressed their views negatively on social media regarding online teaching and assessment. They poured out their frustration against the university administration for conducting online assessments amidst COVID-19 qualms, chaos, and uncertainty. In contrast to this analysis, it has been perceived that both teachers and students struggled and successfully adapted themselves to the online environment. Moreover, it is interpreted from the university teachers’ views that the quality of digital pedagogy, learning, and assessment can be enhanced through mentoring, observation, novel techniques and strategies, teamwork, and self-directed learning. The study has recommended that teacher education programs in Pakistan can organize digital pedagogical and assessment trainingfor teachers to meet the drastic changes in pedagogy and assessment amidst COVID-19.
