ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an extremely strong impact on societies around the world. According to the UNESCO (2020), as many as 1,186,127,211 (67.7%) learners were affected across the globe, from 144 country-wide closures. In that sense, the need for the construction or re-invention of various cultural frameworks of research was demonstrated to respond to the needs that were presented in each nation. Some of the invisible heroes in this ordeal were the teachers. Despite inadequate technology and a deepening digital divide, they managed to continue their work largely through their own ingenuity and innovation, or in other words, using a real “do-it-yourself” (DIY) teaching method. This study analyzes how teachers and students from Bulgaria and Spain dealt with unforeseen circumstances in the context of online learning. We take as reference the cultural discourse studies approaching culture not just as an innocent “difference” in knowledge and communication skills. We argue that teaching in an unprecedented environment increases the motivation of teachers for self-learning in accordance with Rancière, “The practice of the ignorant master … it is the crucial experiment that liberates the pure powers of reason wherever science does not lend a hand.”
