At midnight South Africa will undergo a complete societal shutdown due to the coronavirus. In the course I coordinate, LST 110, academic literacy for natural, agricultural and veterinarian science students, the pathogen has coerced a shift from a hybrid to an e-Learning model of interacting with students and instruction. This has had significant implications for teaching and learning practices. I am interested in colleagues' actual methods of applying e-Learning strategies, online tools, linkages of assessments with online learning platforms, integration of Learning Management Systems with course content in the face of the coronavirus.
Significant and related text > Conference Paper EMPOWERING TEACHERS FOR ELEARNING IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS: ...
Adasa Nkrumah
Thank you Colleague! Will definitely investigate and report back.
The E-learning method of teaching certainly adds to the teaching and learning process but certainly at this time can not replace the face to face interactions between a teacher and his/ her students. Especially with the present cadre of apps and video conferencing tools available. One would need almost a virtual presence reading facial and body cues for it to be most effective. Also, it is almost not fair if all students when they do not have access to devices, appropriate software tools and quality internet. I am a proponent for the E-Learning to be an addition to curriculum for teenage. It probably works well for adult learners but for our more concrete youngsters under the age of 12, they need more.
Certainly though for handling paperwork I am all for it....
I fully agree with you Keisha Foster . That is my concern here in southern Africa and for the rest of the developing world. While on campus students have access to technology and the Internet, off-campus many do not. That is where your concern kicks in - the human element is cut off between students and teachers. Your response is much appreciated.
Adasa Nkrumah
Have you used QQ to communicate and interact with students or colleagues?
I use EDMODO, and StarLeaf for video conferencing. some of my colleagues utilize Google classroom for the learning management system and Zoom for the video conferencing. Since some of my students do not have access. The StarLeaf and Zoom Video conferencing comes with video recording where these sessions can be recorded and made available at a later date to those students when they get access.
@Adasa Nkrumah no, I didn't know about QQ. I had to look it up a while ago. No I already had my students on a learning management system called edmodo which we used to communicate using messages and post tests videos and give assignments.etc.
Dear Oscar,
For areas in the world where internet access is not available to all learners, I would suggest to investigate other ways to keep in touch with students. I have a hunch (not yet researched), that the medium does not make the big difference, but that the frequency and the quality of the teachers actions have a larger impact. And if it is the teacher's actions that are important, then any medium will work, even mail through traditional postal services. Or boxes per child or student that can be put in the school yard. Teachers put in the assignments, students collect their box, do the assignment and hand in the box again.
With this pandemic, it can also be wise to ease down a bit on the curriculum set. It will not be possible to match curriculum standards for all children/students in this time. There is another opportunity for learning though that, as educators, we often fail to deply. Children and students are now in their home surroundings. How can we, as teachers, connect the curriculum standards to these home settings? How can we organize children/students to share what they learn at home? Maybe we can, for now, skip some of the stuff we normally do in class and leave that for later. Instead, keeping in touch frequently and providing do-able assignments in the home surroundings might keep the learning going at a feasible pace.
Dear Francine Behnen
I am deeply humbled by your response which I take most seriously. Please allow me to meditate on these truths. I will write again to you and everyone.
Sincerely
Oscar
Dear Oscar,
I will be looking forward to reading your writings!
Hartelijke groeten,
Francine
Greetings Colleagues
A few updates from me. First context > during the pre-COVID-19 phase our curriculum was hybrid; this means there was integration between contact and online practices. Now we are forced to go full on eLearning. In the last week we piloted Zoom and Blackboard Collaborate. While our strategy is not finalised going forward we will use Zoom for visual, voice and chat synchronous (live) interactions. Collaborate will continue to be employed to share course materials and the collection of assessments. Since the shutdown our data shows that over 90% of students accessed our Learning Management System. Access remains a concern for when the semester resumes. Our next phase of planning entails interacting online in meaningful ways with students. We have to plan our activities wisely.
There are particular strategies one can employ for expensive, unreliable and slow internet access in higher ed - a problem our college students share with many others in SA.
1. Use a data-free App for classroom administration such as Moya. Students do not use up any data when they read your messages.
2. Town down on video-conferencing. We love it for its immediacy, but it is very bandwidth hungry.
3. Choose only very short videos (5 min) and/or make video files smaller with free software such as Handbrake. Also, consider converting a video file to audio if it is just a talking head anyway.
4. Poll your students' internet speed. If theirs are far below 10Mbps upload and 2 Mbps download, keep mostly to text if you can. Record any video conferencing, make the recording smaller and post it.
I really agree with the comments that called for empathy and a less dense curriculum during this time.
Greetings Gerhard Badenhorst
Your input and valuable advice is appreciated. I have never experimented with Moya before and will definitely study it. Practically - let me follow up on your advice and respond after receiving results.
Sincerely
Oscar
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology
- Mental Processes
- Learning