Serendipity: Student Readiness and Adaptation Model for Remote Teaching and Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

This study attempted to develop a model of student preparation for the abrupt shift from traditional to remote teaching and learning. Guided by the Transactional Distance Theory (Moore, 1989), the model is dubbed SERENDIPITY, i.e. a mnemonic that stands for: Screenshot ready; Engagement (with content, co-learners, and teachers); Resiliency (maintaining sanity); Endless (adaptation); Nonchalant (being calm and relaxed); Diligent; Independent (learning); Procrastination (how not to procrastinate); Integrity; Tenacity (determination); and Yeasty (exuberantly creative). The model is a student readiness framework developed by the UPLB Learning Resource Center and operationalized through capacity development programs using webinars via zoom, Facebook, and YouTube delivered by various social scientists, psychiatrists, communicators, and artists. These webinars on readiness for online learning, mental health, mindfulness, netiquette, tutorials, bridging activities, daily doses of inspiration, and the like did not only capacitate UPLB students but also teachers, school administrators, and researchers in other universities and high schools in the country. The multiple attribute setting amounting to more than six million does not matter but the emerging strategies to prepare students to study remotely enabled them to adapt to the new learning platform that may now become the new norm.

Dying or Changing: The Challenge of the HK Radio Industry

Tse Wing-On — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

As radio shifts from analog to digital, the Hong Kong Radio Industry faces a challenge that they have not prepared for. To say the least, they have been running on deficit. In addition, it seems that they had become outdated, falling behind in terms of technology and exhibiting a lack of awareness about how online social media interaction between disk jockeys and listeners could attract more attention and increase their listener base. Significantly, Hong Kong radio is notable for not having archival systems for their sound recordings and radio content that could provide public and educational access after live radio sessions, and that might have helped maintain, if not increase their audiences who are increasingly used to accessing radio on demand via streaming services. This highlights the urgent need to set up a system for preserving Hong Kong’s precious recordings. Using ethnographic approach, the researcher adopted a qualitative method where they observed and interacted with the study’s participants in their real-life environment. Moreover, the paper applied a usability in a user-centered service design to help them analyze the problem, which includes the relevant domain, audience, process, goal, and context. Using an ethnographic study within a usability project enables researchers to thoroughly analyze the design problem and notice all associated issues to come up with a better solution. This paper focused on the radio industry in Hong Kong, particularly addressing crucial issues and questions that have been understudied in existing academic research.

Asian Congress for Media and Communication Journal

Serendipity: Student Readiness and Adaptation Model for Remote Teaching and Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dying or Changing: The Challenge of the HK Radio Industry