Roles of technologies for future teaching in a pandemic: activity, agency, and humans-with-media

Abstract

Research literature on the role of mathematics teachers during the COVID-19 crisis shows that teacher preparation for emergency situations is required. In reporting on this exploratory study, we present and analyse lesson plans created by seven future teachers for mathematics classes during the pandemic. Data were collected between April and October 2021 from 16 four-hour class sessions in a Mathematics Degree Program at a public university in Medellín, Colombia. The notion of Humans-with-Media and the Learning by Expanding theory were used as frameworks to understand what roles prospective mathematics teacher (PMTs) assign to technologies for teaching in pandemic conditions. The PMTs’ uses of technology for teaching mathematics during a pandemic were categorized. The results show that technology was used to reorganize and reproduce mathematics teaching practices. This report addresses the impact of technology on the activity system, and we conclude with a discussion of opportunities and limitations of students’ conceptions about teaching and technology during a pandemic.

Will we ever teach mathematics again in the way we used to before the pandemic?

“…The roles that prospective mathematics teachers assign to technologies for teaching in pandemic conditions were explored in a study in Colombia by Villa-Ochoa et al ( 2022 ) (in this issue). Based on the construct of Humans-with-Media and the Learning by Expanding theory as frameworks, their study investigated the impact of technology on the Activity System and they discussed the opportunities and limitations of students’ conceptions about teaching and technology during a pandemic.…”

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Transition from Baccalaureate to Higher Education: A Case Study

“…One of the most significant impacts of the pandemic on education has been the abrupt transition to distance education, which has created significant challenges for students, teachers, and educational administrators (Ferrer et al, 2023;UNESCO, 2022). The lack of technological resources, adequate training for the use of virtual platforms, and the emotional and social disconnection of students are some of the difficulties that have arisen in virtual education (Atweh et al, 2023;Bonal & González, 2020;González-Moreira et al, 2023;Mahajan et al, 2023;Villa-Ochoa et al, 2023). All this has negatively affected the quality of education, as many students could not receive the individualised attention and academic support they need to achieve their learning achievements (Ayoo, 2023;UNESCO, 2022).…”

“…Therefore, further research in this area is recommended to obtain a more complete picture of the benefits and limitations of virtual learning in understanding key topics. In this regard, other studies point out that virtual education can effectively teach the basic principles as long as appropriate pedagogical strategies are used https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/eticanet DOI: http://doi.org/10.30827/eticanet.v23i2.28433 (Villa-Ochoa et al, 2023), and interaction between students and teachers is encouraged. In addition, the results can be influenced by factors such as the level of motivation and the student's self-management skills.…”

Bibliometric Computational Mapping Analysis of Trend Metaverse in Education using VOSviewer

“…Technology integration can change and develop teaching and learning activities to be more innovative and creative. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the new role of technology in education [12]. Technologies that are often used are gadgets, one of which is virtual reality (VR), considered a learning tool in the 21st century, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).…”