THE HEIST: WHAT DIGITAL PLATFORMS STOLE FROM PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS UNDER THE GUISE OF COVID-19
Author: Patrice Flynn, PhD
ABSTRACT
After two-and-a-half years of teaching college students during the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, we can begin to assess the new teaching-learning environment. This paper explores the impact of Covid-induced digital education on (a) the homogenization of teaching pedagogies across courses, disciplines, and academic programs, (b) the intellectual property rights of teacher-scholars, and (c) student learning. The findings suggest that gross inequalities in knowledge acquisition are solidifying behind the veil of the supposed sophistication of technological bells and whistles. Employers will figure this out soon enough and lobby for government-funded private on-the-job training to augment formal education. Digitized education, moreover, feeds into the broader anti-intellectualism in modern society, the false notion that teachers are somehow out of it and not keeping up with the times. Quite the contrary. Covid demonstrates what happens when teachers are not able to offer young people the skills and knowledge to survive in a competitive economy.
Keywords: Digital Learning, Digital Pedagogy, Covid-19 Teaching-learning Environment.
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