Social isolation is the new normal since the unprecedented Coronavirus hit the world in 2020. The virus caused havoc around the world and disrupted our lives drastically. Each sector and sphere of work was affected, and education is no exception. All of the sudden, classes all around the world shifted over the internet, and the concept of online education was birthed. Let’s explore how the new model of education can be made really effective.
1. A Blended Approach
The conventional mode of physical education heavily made use of pen, paper, and dictation of the lecture. However, with the recent transition into a whole new realm of online teaching, teachers must understand that there is a significant difference between the two. Therefore, the need of the hour is to have a different approach or strategy to target students. Nowadays, blended or hybrid teaching is being used by teachers to teach their students. Hybrid teaching incorporates the elements of both online and traditional teaching. This further reinforces students to be more attentive in-class sessions.
2. A Teacher is a Student First
The rate of success of an online class session is directly proportional to how much one embraces it. Technology advances every day, and the present generation might be better versed in the same as compared to the preceding generations. Hence, there is no harm in taking help from your students while operating an online class. Furthermore, we learn a new thing every day; hence it is important to be an avid learner along with being a good teacher. This way our knowledge and technical skills will always be up to date!
3. A Reinforcement for Real-time Teaching
Online teaching can also be a catalyst to traditional teaching. There is an array of subjects and themes which is quite difficult to teach on pen and paper. Online classes make use of three-dimensional approaches to help teachers teach these topics effectively. Further, online education is a student-centric model; hence it empowers students to deal with their queries largely on their own! Moreover, the focus of online education is more formative than summative, hence teachers must give the tasks, tests, and assessments informative mode as well!
4. Be Mindful of Duration
Online classes duration should not exceed the duration of that average school duration. It depends on a variety of reasons – screen timing, attention span, content duration, etc. Scientifically, only 30 to 40 minutes to an utmost limit of 3 hours of undeviating Whether you’re becoming a catholic educator or you’re teaching in the public or private sector, engagement and participation are one of the major challenges faced by teachers nowadays.
5. Household Issues Must be Respected
Personal households and families have their fair set of issues. With the ongoing pandemic enforcing parents of many students to work from home, various concerns such as an inadequate number of devices, restrictive screen time, space issues, amongst others have surfaced. A well-organized time schedule should be shared by students ahead of time so that teachers can make time and space for them and their studies do not suffer. A good space away from all the household disturbances is very important for students to focus on their academics.
6. A Holistic Learning Approach Must be Followed
Teachers must keep the holistic development of each student, centric to their academic plans and syllabus. An online time schedule planned for the sake of students must not only contain scholastic areas but co-scholastic periods as well. Subjects like library (reading), games (indoor), art and craft, singing, dancing, theatres, etc. must not be overlooked. This enhances and enriches the academic performance of any student, by giving them a much-needed respite. This further enhances their creativity.
The present opportunity to teach online must be embraced as a big catalyst and savior of education when traditional teaching failed to operate. Educational applications like Teachmint can further enhance one’s online teaching and learning experiences. While the existing transition into online instructions might be transient, educational institutes across the world will persist to use this technology to enhance their teaching and learning experiences.
Hope you found this blog resourceful. Stay tuned for more online education-centric blogs in the future as well. Till then, stay safe and happy online teaching!
