Critical Pedagogy in the Time of COVID-19: Lessons Learned

Authors

Carol Christine Hordatt Gentles, University of the West Indies MonaFollow

Abstract

The abrupt closure of universities due to the coronavirus pandemic caused unprecedented challenges for educators. They struggled to transition to online teaching almost overnight. This has raised questions about the readiness of Higher Education for digitalisation and hybridization of learning environments and focused attention on the renewal of teaching and learning models. It is incumbent upon those who practise critical pedagogy to join this conversation; the mandatory transition has raised difficult questions around how to ensure continuity of an agenda to offer students humanistic and democratic learning experiences in the new virtual reality. In this paper I offer a critical analysis of my journey through this period where I recount and deconstruct the difficulties and tensions that arose as I struggled to make my online classes conducive to critical pedagogy. I share how I learned to navigate and reshape initially oppressive, nonhuman spaces into democratic learning communities with my students. My conclusion suggests there is value in sharing stories of practice to ensure the continuing cultural relevance of critical pedagogy in an ever-changing world.

Recommended Citation

Hordatt Gentles, Carol Christine (2021) "Critical Pedagogy in the Time of COVID-19: Lessons Learned," Journal of Multicultural Affairs: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 21.
Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/jma/vol6/iss2/21