Many parents globally are facing the home school during the COVID -19 pandemic as a challenge. This is something that affect also the teachers with planing, learning how to use the digital tools and platforms, and also how to assess students, in special in the early ages. Which kind of challenges as teacher are you facing? As parents or families, what is the most difficult thing to manage? Thank you.
Dear Andressa Guimarães-Mataruna ,
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brings with it feelings like anxiety, stress and uncertainty — and they are felt especially strongly by children of all ages. Though all children deal with such emotions in different ways, if your child has been faced with school closures, cancelled events or separation from friends, they are going to need to feel loved and supported now more than ever. Instead, parents describe how challenging it is to get much done these days, with routines turned upside down and everyone hunkered down in place for an extended period of time.The parents are suffering to orientate the family kids about the on-line activities. To many working parents, that addendum may have sounded downright aspirational. Talk of kids helping their parents work from home isn’t what I’ve been hearing.
Instead, parents describe how challenging it is to get much done these days, with routines turned upside down and everyone hunkered down in place for an extended period of time. Today, children and young people are global citizens, powerful agents of change and the next generation of caregivers, scientists, and doctors. Any crisis presents the opportunity to help them learn, cultivate compassion and increase resilience while building a safer and more caring community. The most huge problem is the most part of the lectures and instructors around the world that are not ready to deal with the technology, and teaching platforms. #COVID #coronavirus #pandemic #crisis #school #stayhome
I am replying as a university teacher in a developing country (Tunisia). We are facing several challenges:
1) Not all students have personal computers. In some fields, the rate of equipped students may be very low (perhaps 10 %). There are not official data but I think this is a real issue.
2) The connexion is not always good and not everywhere. It may be especially problematic to follow live sessions via Skype, Zoom... I registered all the sessions to try to remedy that. Moreoever, numerous students cannot afford buying hours of connexion (bad or good) all the time.
3) Not to see the students is an issue. We estimate our success in transmitting knowledge through the questions of the sutdents. But also through their expressions and their body langage, completely absent in a digital session.
4) Not being able to write on a white board, to draw a graph, show something with my finger... was really difficult for me, especially when I tried to correct exercises. The platforms we had access to did not allow to simulate all these actions.
5) A student told me that this way of teaching had not been a success with him because there was always the temptation not to do it: no pression, no disapproving glance, no entailing effect... And once he began to absent himself, it had become very difficult to catch up with the missed lessons. Another student had the opposite experience and appreciated very much the digital material (lessons, records...) and the liberty she enjoyed to schedule her work as she pleased depending on her other constraints. In fact, digital teaching gives more liberty to students who may be differently able to manage this liberty.
As a parent, I am trying to reduce child's Corona fear by sharing more times with him. He is interested to follow his online classes and homework too. He is missing his school environment definitely and already observed few changes in his timing. It depends on situation and different contexts too.
Thank you Rim Lahmandi-Ayed , very good contribution with your comments. This is the same issues that we faced in Brazil. In the UAE, the country concedes internet and equipments for the students and teachers, but the economic reality of a developed country is different from our countries. Thank you for the response.
GreenwaldLeonardo Mataruna , Hermann Gruenwald and Muhammed Ashraful Alam thank you very much for all answer
Dr Asli Cazorla Milla
What is your opinion as specialist?
Dear Andressa Guimarães-Mataruna , I completely agree with the comments of Leonardo Mataruna . Apart from all the challenges mentioned by fellow academicians, I would like to add that many institutions and organizations were not ready for this kind of digital transformation. Systems lacked, human resources were not capable enough to support the dynamic changes and instead of transitioning gradually they overloaded both the teachers and parents in an attempt to prove that nothing is interrupted. Therefore we saw many kids not being motivated to study and teachers and families are being forced to give many assignments and homework as a result.
Dr Asli Cazorla Milla I agree with you and complement. How transform the conventional classes more soft and attractive? Regarding contemporary students, it is not possible to conduct the same class face to face in a streaming meeting or virtual class. It is much more than adapted, is to transform the pedagogical style. Most part of the educational system around the world are using outdated techniques or methodology to engage online classes and not a proper system of distance learning. Is time for changing! Mohammed Sayeed Khan can you describe the innovative styles and techniques in your country?
Dear Andressa Guimarães-Mataruna ,
We must pursue this research question keeping in mind that until mankind finds a cure for the novel coronavirus, E-learning will be the safest mode of learning for both the teacher and student. Even before the outbreak, teachers were utilising digtial tools such as smart whiteboards to make their lessons more interactive.
I completely agree with Dr Asli Cazorla Milla that the education industry was not equipped to handle this kind of a situation. This pandemic will be a steep learning curve for the key stakeholders in a traditional industry.
Dr Leonardo Mataruna rightly pointed out that we need to support our children and provide them with a healthy environment to nurture and develop their existing skillset in these tough times.
Mohammed Sayeed Khan This pandemic will and should certainly help us learn how to teach using e-learning tools, how to improve the platforms so that we get closer to face-to-face sessions, how to rely on this kind of approach even outside pandemic periods, in order to optimize the space and time use...
BUT when doing this, the solutions set up must include the students of all social strata and be adapted to all countries. We must take into account the financial shortages, the real lack of equipment and connexion of both students and teachers in numerous parts of the world.
Moreover, digital learning alone, even in the best conditions, is, in my opinion, not enough for a good learning. There is certainly a way to alternate e-learning with face-to-face sessions with reduced numbers of students, even in pandemic situations. We cannot envisage complete confinement as a durable solution. We can and should minimize contact when necessary but not avoid it completely even in a highly contagious situation. Precisely, this episode has been or should have been an opportunity to learn how to deal with this issue reasonably, thus without excess and to be really ready for the next episode of the kind.
Dear Ali H. Al-Hoorie
I can understand exactly your felling. My kids also play around me during my office hours and it is really hard. However, now it is necessary to find a balance life to give attention for all, work and family.
Dear Andressa,
In my view the problem is that we never had to think education in a setting were children have to be the protagonist. Many teacher across the word are felling in trouble because for the very first time they have no control over the students. The educational system are too centered on the teachers’ thoughts and learning are conducted in a constrained environment rather than in an autonomous one.
I think we can take this moment as an opportunity to rethink edication.
For several months in many countries due to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic (causing Covid-19 disease), the previously conducted traditional, stationary teaching process has been replaced by e-learning classes. Stationary didactic classes in schools and colleges in the period March - June 2020 in many countries suspended and replaced by e-learning conducted in the form of online video conferencing. Therefore, the importance of using new online media for remote communication is increasing, primarily through the development of e-learning platforms. The development of a pandemic forces an increase in the use of technology in education processes. If the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus pandemic or other virus will return in subsequent years, and therefore if the entire teaching process has to be implemented remotely via the Internet in the form of e-learning, then there will be no other option. Then, as part of the ongoing technological progress in the field of ICT information technology and also the technology of the current fourth technological revolution Industry 4.0 and the increase in the scale of implementation and applications of these technologies in remotely implemented teaching processes, new e-learning platforms will appear that will also allow the implementation of certain types of classes exercises, practical in remote form via the Internet. Since the didactic classes in schools and kindergartens have been suspended and take place remotely via e-learning, parents need to devote more time to their children and help in the implementation of the didactic process. Parents now help children in remote contacts with school and in the implementation of learning through e-learning. In addition, parents must provide their children with activities at home when they are unable to leave the house. The most difficult situation is in families with many children, in which children are of school age and all participate in didactic classes conducted remotely via the Internet in the form of e-learning. When several children participate in activities conducted remotely and also parents work, this situation is difficult. Often in this situation at home, several computers are used to carry out specific activities (e-learning and remote work) conducted remotely. On the one hand, there are many positive aspects of these pro-family social situations. On the other hand, the above situation, if it lasts for a long period, and in some countries it is already over a month or already 2 months of being in quarantine at home, it generates various psychological problems. The ability to meet other people is very limited. This situation causes a kind of psychological social alienation of citizens. If, because of suspended classes in schools and kindergartens, children stay at home for a long time and there are limited possibilities of moving around in public places, it is impossible, for example, to go to the park or forest for recreational purposes (in some countries even such anti-pandemic restrictions have been used) then condition The psychological well-being of citizens can be significantly worse day by day. This can generate an increase in domestic violence. Currently, opinions prevail that the threat of continuing the development of the epidemic or the emergence of a second wave of pandemics is still high in many countries. Therefore, perhaps in some countries from autumn 2020 again, teaching classes will be conducted remotely in the form of e-learning.
Best regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Teachers are having a horrid time here in Pakistan. They are forced to shift online overnight and they are under tremendous pressure because schools are about to shutdown and teachers are fighting desperately to save their jobs.