Virtual distance in project work: What we have learned from the pandemic

Virtual distance in project work: What we have learned from the pandemic

• Hafner, Christoph A. The City University of Hong Kong
• Xia, Sichen The Chinese University of Hong Kong

RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 54(2), 452-460, 2023

SAGE Publications

2023

• Q Philosophy of Education, Educational System & School At Different Levels
  • QG Adult, Lifelong & Continuing Education
    • QGE Distance Education

Project-based Learning Emergency Remote Learning English for Specific Purposes English for Science Digital Video Project Digital Multimodal Composing

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Unknown or Unspecified

The COVID-19 pandemic posed novel challenges to language teachers and learners, as 'emergency remote teaching' became a necessity in order for teachers and learners to isolate from one another. Much has already been written about the nature of those challenges and language teachers' response to them, which response frequently made use of video-conferencing technology like Zoom in order to facilitate remote interaction, teaching and learning. The existing work has focused heavily on teacher experiences, including the kinds of strategies and competencies that teachers made use of when 'doing' synchronous online learning. However, much less work has examined the student experience. In addition, one challenge consistently identified in the literature is that of fostering meaningful interaction and engagement. In this viewpoint article, we apply the concept of 'virtual distance' to the activity of project-based learning taking place at a university in Hong Kong and mediated by digital technologies as part of emergency remote teaching. We report on the emergence of a socio-technical divide in one particular student team and teacher strategies that tend to bridge the divide. We offer suggestions on how the lessons learned from this experience can inform project-based learning in the post-pandemic future. Copyright © 2023 SAGE Publications.

• English

Journal Articles

• 00336882

• 10.1177/00336882231158162

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/ea78a901

2024-05-17