COVID19 and effective online classrooms

 Dr Marcus Specht, professor of Advanced Learning Technologies, Open University Netherlands had said many years ago and I quote:

“The students in the future will demand the learning support that is appropriate for their context. And they’ll want it, at the moment, the need arises, not sooner; not later."

This moment has now come, not only in India but in the entire world. COVID19 has created challenges we hadn’t foreseen, challenges we didn’t think were so imminent.

In India, we had been talking about integrating technology with in-classroom teaching. Indeed a lot of effort had been made in this direction and experts had also  accepted the difficulties and challenges that came with bringing to the students these innovative changes;  and making both the student and teachers comfortable with technology.

It was almost overnight that the education scenario changed and teachers were certainly caught off guard, faced with the daunting task of teaching 30-40 students from their house to the students’ homes!

We must say that the teachers accepted this challenge and took this task with their usual efficiency and equanimity.

A teacher from the primary wing of a school wrote to me and said 'virtual classes equals new experiences this time and is also memorable'. I asked a group of teachers about their difficulties and I received mixed responses, mostly all reflecting the tenacity of the teachers in this new environment.

Here’s what some of them said:

•  “l believe virtual classrooms are a good technological advancement in the field of education but it can never replace classroom teaching”.

 

• “On the one hand we talk about limiting the screen time for students and on the other hand we are making keeping them glued to the screens for 3-4 hours at a stretch

Moreover everyone in lndia is not 100% tech- literate and there is a strong possibility of everyone not joining these classes due to connectivity issues

There are also issues related to students being not attentive during the sessions. It’s a very casual atmosphere which somewhat hampers the teaching learning process. The possibility of assessing their understanding of the concept is thin since most of them don't submit their assignments”

 

• “It is a challenge...we had to change our teaching methodology completely....Within two days we got ourselves accustomed to the new platform of communication. Trying to learn every step from any source available.

But we also got closer to children... They started introducing us to their other family members, especially grandparents and younger siblings.

Since we did not have books , worksheets or any other resource to make our lesson plan, We started watching videos to compile the text- learnt how to prepare a presentation, using relevant images, videos etc.-all of which wasn’t very easy. 

More than students, we teachers have to be on our toes to deliver our lecture/ class interestingly. 

Once the class starts and the children are ready to share their thoughts and ideas, the parents also start sharing their inputs from behind!

The parents / children also wait for appreciation for each answer, video, and painting done by them... So  while you need to applaud  each individual's effort-it increases our screen time too.”

 

• "The main problem occurs when the internet connection is poor as the bandwidth of the Wi-Fi is not strong for everyone’s requirements(other family members) . By 9 am everyone in the family starts using the shared broadband -therefore, the voice cracks in between, the screens get stuck and the flow of teaching enthusiastically gets interrupted !

One needs to be ready with an alternate idea. A back up plan has to be ready and for all this, one has to prepare well a day before - Preparing practise worksheets for each topic taught, then preparing reports on virtual classes. Compiling data of students for various purposes, meeting deadlines set by school to complete the admin work ASAP.

There are other challenges too-Some children who are not attending classes for one reason or other, what about them? Are we teachers supposed to take the topic again as extensively as of now?

Encouraging children to face this situation positively, making them emotionally strong, teaching moral values everything within those 40 minutes of class on Zoom is not easy either "

 

•  “Children are not able to take active part in participating because when two or three children also speak then the sound is muzzled...

Children get distracted and  start sending private messages to each other during the classes!

However, the option of sharing screen and white board is really helpful in explaining the concepts easily;  so in that way online classes are surely an advantage to a great extent as children are not missing out the habit of going to school completely...”

 

• “Teaching online is indeed a challenge for the teachers where the children are more tech savvy than us-there's a long journey ahead!

It is difficult to make the children understand without a blackboard. One has to search for PPTs or Pdf files beforehand, to make them understand.

Many times students get tired of sitting and listening to teachers one after another ; so they simply switch off their video and there’s no way to  know whether they are paying attention to the lecture. The biggest disadvantage is that we cannot check their online homework. With 4 classes and a minimum 130 students it's virtually impossible to check, monitor or correct their mistakes.”

To summarize, some problems that teachers face:

• Poor connectivity-some students connect on phones and others through laptops
• Lack of an emotional response with students
• Difficult to check and monitor work
• Ensuring attendance is a problem
• Often login isn’t available
• Students have to be attentive to understand and often they end up being distracted
• Parents keep popping in and out and sometimes interrupting too!
• Post lessons parents have queries, observations and sometimes supercilious attitude 

 

 How to make online classes effective?

1. Create ground rules like you do in a normal classroom. Ensure a 5 min break in a 45 min session
2. Create engaging presentations or illustrations-words and pictures are better than word alone
3. Introduce complex material gradually –highlighting the important parts
4. Speak clearly and enthusiastically
5. Use a board if you have one at home-it helps resemble a classroom 
6. Always recapitulate the lesson and ask questions. Keep 5 mins in the end to ask these questions
7. Create quizzes, use games to teach especially if you are teaching primary or middle school children
8. Use a system of rewards. Attentiveness and readiness may be graded and cumulative marks maybe added at the end in the internal assessment marks
9. Use virtual labs that are freely available online
10. Virtual games like treasure hunt, travel etc. can also make the classroom interesting for students
11. On the spot project work can be given to the students for the topics taught
12.  Give assignment and ask the same to be submitted to you online13. 
13. Take surprise tests time to time
    

While these suggestions might help in structuring classrooms better, remember everyone is evolving in this journey together-so don’t be too harsh on yourself, there’s no one right way to make online classes effective and you will keep learning what works best for your students on the go! 

Do share your own experiences in the comments below!