Conclusion: Pandemic Pedagogy

Abstract

Teaching and learning in universities is one of the most impactful things that higher education offers to society. Just think about it: our degree programs and classrooms are spaces where thousands of students come annually to learn about disciplines, from each other, and to apply their knowledge and understandings in creative and interesting ways. The scope of possibility for meaningful societal change through teaching and learning is enormous. But what happens to our teaching and learning environments in a time of pandemic? This chapter seeks to conclude this edited volume by speaking to the approaches we employ in our learning environments to teach and foster learning in a context of a serious health crisis and the spread of a new disease. Health crises are nothing new. But this moment feels and is different. The response has been unprecedented and global, resulting in the cessation of normal social, political and economic activity in the name of preventing the spread of COVID-19. As we all engage in social distancing and the closure of our campuses, we must ask, what does the present pandemic mean for a core mission of universities: teaching and learning?