Since teacher professional identity is ever changing and not fluid, do you feel as an English teacher your identity has in any way changed due to online teaching?
Are you the same person when teaching online as compared to face to face teaching?
Do you feel any difference in your approach to teaching in online classes?
Yes. I feel many aspects of my personality have been changed. Due to the lack of eye contact and personal interaction, I became a bit nervous with my students and my temper becomes less.
Very interesting. I miss the human interaction, eye contact, facial expressions and physical presence of my students as well. I cannot be sure whether they are following what I’m saying and if they are happy with what is going on in class.
In our department, we have used blended learning. Two weeks of face-to-face learning were followed after distance learning in order to ensure that learners have understood online courses through Moodle Platform. Then, exams took place in the classroom. I think teachers have become more autonomous after this new experience.
Well due to the pandemic all our classes at university are being managed as online or offline. For the past 9 months no face to face classes have been held. I do agree with you that teachers have become more autonomous than before. Teachers in a way were forced to become more autonomous due to the circumstances and while it may be difficult, they are professionally self improving and self developing.
In my opinion, no matter how advanced online resources are, human offline interaction is the missing part of the puzzle. As an EFL teacher, I cannot manage the (virtual) classrooms as I would physically. Besides, the evaluation process as well as instant feedback for students' answers are 'different'. I think there are many miles to cross before online teaching would be considered a plausible alternative to what we already had before COVID-19.
Dear Bashar
Thank you for your answer. I do agree with you in saying that the human interaction is the missing part. I am sure many teachers miss this part most. The evaluation process is very different and I never feel happy with my different types of evaluation compared to classroom evaluation. Yes we teachers have to cross miles before finding a suitable alternative for face2face classes. It's just relieving knowing you'r not alone in this.
Personality I think not. On the strategic planing, we have shifted some ways of handling our classes
Dear Dr Abu-Krooz
Thank you for your response. Definitely we have developed different ways of strategic planning for our classes.
Apparently, we experience a great difference in all components of the teaching process, from planning till implementing. The really harsh parts for me are the absence of physical contact, system failures, the 'validity' of time and the need for the total re-evaluation of the curricula. I keep on trying and adjusting.
Thank you for asking a really interesting and relevant question. I can only give you my personal impression, but I feel that in terms of identity I have not changed much at all (maybe I should have changed more!), but I am sure that my students perceive me very differently.
We have all had to transform our teaching styles and habits in an instant and, like most people who have answered, I miss the magic of classroom interaction deeply. I agree that we will have to change curricula and testing and assessment mechanisms if this is going to be the new normal.
I teach with recorded lessons and live meets and I quite enjoy it, but I believe we all underestimate how much is lost in digital teaching and learning: the non-verbals, pragmatic cues, the instant feedback that you can give (and receive) in the classroom.
The future of university teaching may well be blended, but I really hope a great deal of work will be done to understand what we are working with and how to use the affordances of the digital age effectively and meaningfully.
Dear Richard
I loved the use of word MAGIC in your response "the magic of classroom interaction". Looking back at the experience of our classrooms I think all teachers miss this magic. There is no more time to postpone and we all need to make the necessary changes and adjustments for effective digital teaching. So I am personally learning the requirements of digital teaching in the new era.
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