KUCHING: Educators running online classes should be adventurous and willing to experiment different platforms and elements to keep the learning process interesting.
Teacher Lina Chong, 69, advised that teachers should test out a variety of platforms to use for online study in order to discover what suited their students and circumstances best.
“Teachers could try Zoom coupled with breakout rooms, YouTube, PowerPoint, quizzes, music, and fun activities to keep the students alert and looking forward to each online session,” she said when contacted by New Sarawak Tribune recently.
“Don’t force a system on students for the sake of conformity, standardisation, or ease of use – which usually translates into ‘boring’.”
She encouraged cooperation between educators and parents, especially for students in the younger age group.
“Sitting in front of a screen requires discipline even though the classes may be interesting. Parental assistance is necessary to create a new habit of sitting and participating in online class.”
She said sharing success stories of students’ work online could also be very motivating for them.
With this new online teaching and learning approach due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many teachers and students are finding online classes tougher than the usual face-to-face classes.
Chong said poor Internet connectivity and a lack of appropriate hardware or software were among the key contributing factors for this.
She said some students and teachers were also not IT-savvy and thus had to quickly learn how to use online platforms such as Google Classroom, Zoom, and so on.
“Some textbooks and study materials are not suitable for online teaching and learning.”
Aside from this, she pointed out that certain platforms required licences or subscriptions, therefore suggesting that the government could help to fund or subsidise such licences, software, or even hardware for students and teachers.
She said that corporations through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes could provide free online lessons via various platforms.
“Financial assistance and retraining for educators would also be very helpful.”
Another teacher, Audrey Isis, 33, also cited poor Internet connection as a hindrance to online study.
“Besides that, students are sometimes unresponsive in online classes. Time constraints are another challenge with regard to dividing time for online classes while also taking care of our family’s needs at the same time.”
She shared that she found it difficult to adapt to online teaching and learning.
“As a teacher, apart from writing assessments, we do assess our students through their facial expressions, behaviour, and emotions. These are difficult to evaluate in a virtual setting.”
She suggested that improving internet coverage in the state would help to alleviate some of the issues of online study, adding that support from parents was also important.
“Parents can assist by helping their children to adhere to the time scheduled for online classes.”
