Written by: Ms Anshu Sahi
Now that the new Coronavirus has made our school and class rooms disappear from our lives at least for some time and our teaching has to be only virtual, we can safely deduce that we have to adapt new pedagogical techniques to reach to our students effectively and make their learning process interesting. Let’s take this opportunity to improve and innovate.
As teachers, we are quite used to topical lectures using teaching and learning materials. Online classes operate differently. They provide interesting opportunities in terms of interactions with our learners. Interestingly, our learners display significant digital literacy and are using some of these technologies already. Therefore, you can think about assigning the role of Technology Assistant (TA) to one of them.
The engagement in a virtual class can be increased by having a small buzz session, Inviting students to answer a particular question, and using polls at the end of your lessons can help in gauging their understanding. Zoom also provides the feature of using Break-Out Rooms. This allows you to do sub-group work with your students as well.
As is expected in a normal classroom, it is important to set expectations in a virtual classroom as well. These expectations also become critical, as the online mode of learning may be new for some teachers and students. So it is useful to think about what we expect from each class.
Let us look at some helpful tips that you can use in our Virtual classrooms.
Classroom norms—Norms should be mutually set about the platform you will use, and other aspects like time, using reactions like raising hands /thumbs up when asking or answering questions.
Making notes of questions- As a teacher/facilitator, it is always useful to make notes of the questions your learners are asking. You should also make norms about the clothes one must wear during the session. During the session, teachers and students can sit in a quiet place with a normal background. Instructions regarding muting their microphones and starting or switching off their videos should also be given.
Setting priorities - It is useful to define the goals of your session and prioritise them. Our experience shows that it takes longer to accomplish learning goals in virtual classes as compared to a physical classroom. So, you can concentrate on activities which can be done easily in a virtual classroom. Remember to use your students as co-creators while designing activities. Shared responsibility helps in learning too and improves pedagogy.
Differences in pace of learning: All students have their own pace of learning. This difference in pace must be incorporated into the teacher’s goals. Importantly, the learner is also reacting and warming up to processing digital content. This may require more time. So, the learners may not be able to understand after being told once. Providing transcripts and chat logs after the session helps them go back to the content for review. Images and videos used in the session can also be provided for downloads. This will help learners across the learning spectrum to process the content better.
Let us now look at the different pedagogies we can use in our virtual classes.
Lecture based class using pre-recorded materials.
As you prepare for your classes, it may be important to consider whether you want to teach your content live, or use parts that are pre-recorded. Pre-recording can be a useful tool. It allows you to explore more in the lesson. While recording, try to break down the lecture into shorter segments. The recorded section should lead to the live session. You can connect the two using reflection sessions or sharing some personal stories. This will keep the session lively and engaging.
Before presenting it is advisable to practice once , maintain your normal pace and be visible to your students. To keep your learners engaged, you may ask them to write their thoughts or questions on the chat box. Your technology assistant can be especially helpful in keeping track of these questions. If your session allows, you can respond to these during the class, or later via email. Providing the learners with prompts can be helpful for reflection. Simple statements like ‘Please think about these questions’ can be put at different points in the slides. The learners may share their reflections using the chat feature.
Competency based Learning
The latest trend in school education is competency based education. The educators are expected to make the learning of students outcome based. These are known as learning outcome (LO).
Experiential learning
Experiential learning is an engaged learning process where the students “learn by doing” and by reflecting on the experience gained. It focuses on developing skills in the students through real life experiences. Here the learner guides the learning process, experiences, observes, reflects and implements it.
This type of learning is not compartmentalised into different subjects. All subjects are interlinked. It is the learner’s take away from his/her experience. Each learner will have a different learning experience. The learners also play a pivotal role in assessing themselves. It is also important to note that experiential learning activities can include, but are not limited to, hands-on laboratory experiments, field exercises, and performances.
The learning tasks are beyond the prescribed books. Students may take on a project of their interest, research from various sites and construct their own meaning through observation and reflection.
These experiences can be as simple as: virtually visiting a farm to observe and understand the process of farming, simulating volcano eruption or any idea which the learner wants to explore. The teachers may also explore these pedagogies and use them in their plans.
Assessment
In the online platform through zoom you can retain Videos and chats. These can be used for assessment. Students should be informed about the assessment criteria in advance. Reflection and original inputs by students should be kept in mind while assessing.
Read more about this at: https://teachremotely.harvard.edu/best-practices
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