Building Resilience during the Forced Isolation: Experiences of Tenacious Academics of the Open University of Sri Lanka

Abstract

PCF10 Sub-theme: Building Resilience // The purpose of this paper is to report on the resilience of the faculty academics of the Open University of Sri Lanka who embarked on the online journey to support the isolated learners during the Covid-19 lockdown. A total of 225 academics responded to the questionnaire administered immediately after the lockdown, resulting in a 66% response rate. Findings revealed that 10% of academics had already completed their activities, 53% had engaged in online teaching before and during the pandemic while 17% had commenced only during the pandemic. In contrast, 20% had not gone online. This study focuses on the 17% who responded promptly to support learners during this unexpected situation. The challenges were categorized as learner-centric; teacher-centric and institutional-centric. Learner-centric challenges were focused on learner issues such as access issues related to devices, internet connections, data, etc., and how to design alternative strategies to increase learner engagement. Teacher-centric challenges were upskilling knowledge and skills associated with online learning, balancing official workload with personal commitments, etc. Institutional-centric challenges were related to obtaining essential support services remotely. These tenacious academics demonstrated how they build their resilience to face unexpected situations through self-regulatory mechanisms. This study provides some insights into building resilience for future educational endeavours. // Paper ID 9029