“A Depth Deficit: Rapport Building and Remote Field Instruction in University Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Now that nearly all college instruction in the Philippines resumed the onsite modality in response to the COVID-19 educational disruption that now seems like a lifetime ago. A few reflective pieces start to trickle in to inform us in hindsight of the advantages as well as fallouts of the pandemic-induced remote learning.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, major transformations in the practice of field instruction in higher education institutions were instituted. For field-based academic disciplines, remote field instruction, in the form of virtually corresponding with community and organizational partners through calls and emails, became an immediate alternative to fieldwork. While this has expanded the role of technology in facilitating learning, this also posed a challenge for field-based courses that source pedagogical strength from close engagements with their intended stakeholders in physical spaces.

Assistant Professor Elijah Jesse Pine is giving a talk for the Heo/Geo Lecture Series for 2024 that is happening at 5:30PM on 27 September 2024 via Zoom, and sponsored by the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS) and the UP Department of Geography. In the talk entitled “A Depth Deficit: Rapport Building and Remote Field Instruction in University Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic”, EJ Pine traces the assemblages of human and non-human actants that gave rise to remote field instruction as a social phenomenon.

Guided by Latour’s (2005) actor-network theory, Asst Prof Pine observed that the nature and scope of remote field instruction positively interrogated traditionally-held assumptions about the field as a learning space. However, it also highlighted the limited capacity of virtual spaces to create lasting interactions between students, educators, and stakeholders, in turn creating a depth deficit that may impede effective field instruction. This research provides recommendations in locating a happy medium between remote and actual fieldwork in an increasingly hybrid post-pandemic society.

Elijah Jesse M. Pine is Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Communication (DEC), College of Development Communication (CDC), University of the Philippines Los Baños. He obtained his BS degree in Development Communication in UPLB in 2015 and his MA degree in Anthropology in 2023. He has previously done research on educational communication, field education, and learning during the pandemic. In December 2023, he co- published a monograph titled ‘Development Communication in Emergency Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Adaptation, and Reimagination’ along with his colleagues at DEC. His current research and public service involvements focus on developing educational media to achieve reading literacy outcomes.

The Heo/Geo Lecture Series is part of the ongoing 40th anniversary celebration of the UP Department of Geography (1983-2023) which simultaneously serves and provides a space where practical, discursive and embodied discussions and performativities from academic geographers, practitioners and civil society can come together and thrive. This talk is co-sponsored by the combined research groups of the UP Department of Geography: Human Geography (HuG) and Media, Literary Geographies, and Geohumanities (MELANGE) and in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 (Quality Education).

To participate in this lecture, click this link: https://tinyurl.com/y4fttm7t

Source: UP Department of Geography Facebook