International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 19, No. 3 (2023)

An Academic’s Professional Experiences in a Developing Country during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Autoethnography

Vineeta Persaud, University of Guyana

Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries imposed restrictions on daily movements and operations, which resulted in the physical closure of academic institutions. As the world moved online, a University in Guyana also transitioned its programmes. However, operating in an online environment was fraught with challenges relating to inadequate technological expertise and support, official policies, and financial, technological, and infrastructural constraints. Through autoethnographic self-reflection, this research considered how the author experienced lecturing during the COVID-19 pandemic between April 2020 and December 2021. The themes that emerged out of a thematic analysis of the author’s self-recorded recollections for this period revealed the specific challenges faced by the author, how they adapted their professional practice, and the lessons learned from those experiences. These findings were compared against literature describing the experiences of academics in developed and developing countries to discover shared experiences and those specific to the Guyana context.

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