Journal article 261 views 48 downloads
Pedagogical inertia and asynchronous specificity: a heuristic model of post-covid teaching in higher education
Professional Development in Education, Pages: 1 - 19
Swansea University Authors:
Duncan Watson, Steve Cook
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© 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/19415257.2025.2536264
Abstract
Our paper introduces a heuristic model to explain how the UK higher education sector’s rapid shift to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic may constrain subsequent pedagogical innovation. Adapting the asset specificity framework, first introduced in the 1980s, we develop the concep...
| Published in: | Professional Development in Education |
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| ISSN: | 1941-5257 1941-5265 |
| Published: |
Informa UK Limited
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70062 |
| Abstract: |
Our paper introduces a heuristic model to explain how the UK higher education sector’s rapid shift to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic may constrain subsequent pedagogical innovation. Adapting the asset specificity framework, first introduced in the 1980s, we develop the concept of asynchronous specificity, a form of pedagogical lock-in that arises when teaching materials and institutional practices become narrowly tailored to pre-recorded, non-interactive delivery modes. We argue that these covid-era adaptations, though necessary at the time, may have created structural and cognitive sunk costs that disincentivise research-informed pedagogical reform. Our model highlights the competing incentives facing academics, between compliance and innovation, and the institutional conditions under which innovation is more likely to be suppressed. While our approach is conceptual rather than predictive, our approach offers a diagnostic tool for understanding inertia in teaching practices and sets out an agenda for policy and professional development reforms. We conclude by arguing that unless emergency responses are critically reassessed, the sector may risk mistaking short-term coping strategies for long-term pedagogical progress. |
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| Keywords: |
Innovation; highereducation; pedagogy; Covid-19; asset-specificity |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Start Page: |
1 |
| End Page: |
19 |