The editorial board of the Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL) would like to use this
opportunity to thank each and every one of you working through a very challenging time over the past
twelve months of the pandemic. It is a significant event, a critical incident, that will take some time to
document and reflect upon in future journal editions.
So many words have already been written about this past year that try to capture the disruption and
change. However, to summarise even a scintilla of what has happened across Irish higher education is a
slightly daunting prospect. We have seen various terms used to describe the rapid shift to teaching and
learning online, such as milestone, pivot, emergency remote teaching. None of these fully encompass the
myriad of ways that those of us working in education have had to become resilient, responsive, and
supportive of colleagues during this period.
Considering the response from members of the educational technology community within Ireland, one
could argue that the term overwhelming is a good starting point. For a start, a tsunami of work ensued,
that at times threatened to engulf individuals. Education ‘pivoted’ from a position where online was
generally a supplementary or complementary activity to one where, in an online mode, we became the
campus. Systems and processes were hastily altered, modified or expanded far beyond anybody’s
expectations. While some of those have creaked and groaned, we have managed to teach classes, run
meetings and carry out assessments; run on-campus labs and social distanced teaching; in short, we have
kept going. People have been inventive, innovative and extremely hard working. But above all else, they
have been generous; generous with their time, their expertise and generous in spirit.