Online Teaching and Learning in the COVID World and Beyond.
(Also available to read at this link on LinkedIn)
The global events of early 2020 and subsequent quarantine, which may continue in many parts of the world for some time, have drastically affected our online learning and work habits. Many teaching companies have scrambled to transform their activities into viable online offers while learners desperately look at ways to expand and decorate their CVs as the ability to work presentially shrinks in various countries.
The resulting meteoric rise in popularity of videoconference products being used for both work and play has led to both a massive increase in these companies' stock prices and the pressure on the software to keep a stable connection going. Teachers teaching, learners learning and party revellers revelling in online gigs or 'bars', or everyday folk simply meeting their friends and family for a sociable drink, chat or both, have piled considerable pennies on the price of these platforms' shares alongside pressure on their software, not to mention users' expectations regarding security. When you think that many organisations with robust data and child protection protocols are now using such software to keep their business and core values viable, the pressure is intense to step up to the mark. As the online platform providers race to shore up holes in their systems, they also work to maintain uninterrupted connections for live interaction.
Given the pressure, especially on the technological stability and security of such platforms, the shape of a course offer and its details must take such online environmental factors into consideration. It is considerably frustrating for students to try to follow a teacher whenever the internet is running slowly, and equally embarrassing for a professional to struggle with technology while trying to provide quality service. Another issue is the utter waste of energy in maintaining contact in such stressful situations whenever a student could be doing the task offline without any need to be sitting in front of a live webcam.
Therefore, the class structure and timely delivery of tasks with clear instructions become important. Alongside the use of the humble yet tried-and-tested pen and paper, and assuming that learners already have the software capacity to listen to recordings, type and save documents when they sign up for a course, online teachers should begin to think about maximising the use of live class time while creating and delivering meaningful materials and activities.
So, maybe the idea should be to previously deliver tasks to students, then use live contact with them to give them the chance to practise their language as a new set of instructions, home tasks and guidelines are delivered at the end of class. The teacher can also use the class time to give the students feedback on their tasks not to mention feedforward, or guidance on how to advance with their studies.
Briefly looking at an effective online lesson plan, the online instructor should maximise learning through:
- Pre-delivering tasks previously to the live lesson starting, with enough time to complete the tasks and clear instructions written for the students.
- The first part of the live class should be kept for that which can only be done live; communicative activities and any questions on tasks. To support the live class, e-mails should be open and student and teacher in contact by phone. Chat applications such as WhatsApp are also useful as they have a videochat function. However, if the internet goes down, the phone is always there for backup.
- Offline task time; again, e-mail and phone should be easily accessible for further backup.
- Live class, Part 2; essential communication, speaking practice, verbal feedback, and live guidance and instructions for the offline homework tasks.
- Offline tasks Part 2; tasks delivered with instructions and a friendly and helpful teacher available and willing to answer an occasional call or message to keep the students on track.
With these types of course communication guidelines, the students are not paying for live class time, but quality of materials, timely delivery, expert feedback and most importantly, the commitment of experienced and sympathetic professionals. A student shouldn't pay for grainy connections, but commitment and quality as the information super-highway snakes into a shaky future of cyber-traffic jams and games of technological catch-up. And a teacher shouldn't suffer in front of a screen during a videoconference malfunction whenever there are alternatives to support remote interaction.
Remote interaction need not be so dependent on a constant and flowing internet connection whenever many of the tasks can be done by the learner in their own quiet time. If you think about it, this is very similar to the way learning happens in a face-to-face class and traditional learning circumstances, with the teacher instructing then leaving students to finish tasks alone, in class and at home.
