Covert Covid

So I have been away for a while but thought this would be the appropriate time to launch my comeback as Covert Man...well, it's actually covid man, given the context. When the name first appeared I was having this internal dialogue as to why the virus sounds like a secret agent. I think much only became clearer later. So this blog post will not be entirely dedicated to tech in the pandemic context but just a bit about how it has impacted me. Where do I begin...

I came back from Spain being Covid negative in more way than one. Is there any good that can come from this? I asked myself. I know that there’s for many, there was time of the novelty of the pandemic, having all the free time available but without the freedom was not so nice. I had to be quarantined for 14 days after my return from Spain, so I never returned to work. I made use of the free time before the lockdown to cycle about as much as I can and when the lockdown hit my computer screen became my only window on the world.

Lock down went from 3 weeks to 5 weeks and for most part this was bearable…my family was with me at home and we had internet connection that was covered. We had internet connection but for many it is a luxury. When the phased lockdown started I think it left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth because there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. We started on level5 but no conversation as to how long that phase would last or what the criteria would be for moving up or down. This was only to be made explicit later. This only after the death toll and the infection numbers started rising in our own province. There was lots of talk about people losing their jobs, the economy collapsing and more laws that was being passed without any clear logical reasoning behind it. Let me mention a few. Why were we banned from the beaches? The heavy handed attitude of police and over-presence of police at roadblocks. I have no idea if the latter was even effective. There still are loads of conspiracy theories going around about Covid 19, like the link to G5 technology. So there is a lot of fake news that made its rounds about what constitutes a remedy often perpetuated by hi-profile politicians.

The latest re-opening of the churches just doesn't make sense i.t.o. the guidelines given. I have the same concerns about the Uni's reopening. How and who will be monitoring all these regulations?

So here is the tech part...I've had to offer plenty of support to online teachers which was quite a surprise, but also very revealing. It highlighted the huge disparities in terms of the digital divide some of which were self-inflicted as it appears that many educators simply haven't bothered to adopt some of the new technologies into their teaching and learning environments. One of the biggest concerns was with the file sizes, Zero-rated sites and all this translates into accessibility to learners. It occurred to me that while we were on campus we did not give much consideration to bandwidth limitations since access was geared towards on-campus environments. In the "real world" the story and considerations are entirely different.

I'll end there..Check back as I will share some of the How to videos I did for the training of staff. I also realized that I could have created these a long time ago but the circumstances did not warrant it until now. I guess we are not that different from the learners we so often complain about.