ISRRT_COVID-19_book
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Educator’s perspectives on the delivery of programmes and impact<br />
Tay Yi Xiang<br />
on students<br />
The dawn before new changes<br />
At the time of writing this chapter, many of us were living through a silent scream as we battle<br />
against an invisible and silent enemy. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the<br />
<strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong> outbreak a pandemic early last year, and it was no surprise as the world reported<br />
alarming levels of spread. Yes, indeed the characterisation of <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong> as a global health<br />
emergency was not taken lightly. <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong> is arguably one of the most significant global<br />
crises in history and the impacts and changes caused will be profound and long-lasting.<br />
As the world struggled with rising number of community cases and resurgence of <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong>,<br />
countries were introducing measures in response to the pandemic. The responses of the<br />
governments were broad, fast action – the speed and scale of these responses had been<br />
remarkable. Globally, heightened regulations were implemented, with many governments<br />
pursuing a full/partial lock-down of their country or individual states to halt <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong> surge.<br />
Education had been hit particularly hard by the <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong> pandemic, with partial or full school<br />
closures across the world. Higher education was severely impacted as universities closed their<br />
premises and countries shut their borders. Coupled with the unavailability of teachers in these<br />
unique circumstances and dual roles of healthcare providers as an educator and practitioner,<br />
the pandemic created the largest disruption of education systems in human history. As a<br />
result, billions of learners, including radiography students, had their learning process heavily<br />
disrupted.<br />
Higher Education<br />
Due to the closure of institutes of higher learning (IHL), classes had to be shifted from<br />
traditional classroom delivery to full home-based learning (HBL), and assessments were<br />
administered with the use of online software. With the advent of <strong>COVID</strong>-<strong>19</strong>, the trajectory<br />
and velocity of digital transformation were changed. Lessons are now delivered live streamed<br />
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