REMOTE LEARNING - FRIEND DURING DIFFICULT TIMES

‘Going through things you never thought you would go through will only take you places you would never think you would get to.’

This quote indicates the empowered state of the education sector given the present state. We had never foreseen the current state of affairs but it is rightly said that one emerges out best in challenging times. Keeping this in view, the teaching fraternity is all geared up to venture into the all-new world of the remote teaching-learning process. My focus is learning because this phase has taught us so many things that we had never thought of earlier. It has also taught us to grow through the change instead of going through it. It is time we the educators, deliberate and devise ways in which our children are benefitted from remote learning amidst all the apprehensions that surround us about its possible disadvantages. It is already the end of June and we are sceptical about the ‘in-person’ classes. If the circumstances go better we might switch to ‘in-person classes’ by July end/mid-August but will it be easy to conduct classes following the norms of social distancing and other necessary precautions? So, what should be our next move? How can schools ensure a better learning environment for their pupils? What can be best suited for our students? These and many such questions are being pondered upon, with the sole motive to secure the future of the students. 

Most of the schools across the country have already switched to remote learning be it through video-conferencing, live lectures, video lectures, sharing e-content etc. and are trying all feasible methods to engage, interact and facilitate the learners. The focus is on the well-being of the students so that when online classes are conducted they don’t feel disoriented rather experience a newfound way to learn. This certainly would not have been possible without the constant support and motivation of the parents who have been equal partners despite challenges. I mentioned in my previous articles how all the stakeholders had extended their unflinching support to us in these challenging times. The challenges which the parents encounter during online classes range from lack of resources like multiple devices to engage two or three children attending classes at the same time, network issues, availability of enough internet data among others. Nevertheless, they are cooperating with the school authorities and helping their wards so that they can attend classes without fail. We too are concerned about the above issues but the best way to come out of it is to look for the silver lining. Most of us have optimistically come out of the setbacks that this phase has posed, similarly, let’s find benefits which remote learning can bring to our children and ensure that no child falls behind. Our mission has always been to ensure that learning should never be interrupted, come what may. There are a few areas which are of concern and need immediate attention.

Increase in screen time: Everybody associated with the student fraternity is aware of the increased screen time due to online classes which is extremely detrimental for the physical and emotional health of the students. But in an interaction with a few students of the senior classes I gathered that earlier when they used to attend classes in school they spent 3-4 hours online and it’s the same now. The only difference they see is, now they are using their screen time productively which they otherwise spent on social networking sites. Parents of young children are equally stressed about the same but our teachers have ensured not to burden them with academics rather conscientiously stay in touch with them so that they remain emotionally strong. Through interactions via video calls the teachers have successfully established a strong bond with the young ones. Also, when the child is engaged in online interaction and discussion with the teachers, it leads to the enhancement of his cognitive and critical thinking skills. Teachers are frequently upgrading themselves to channelize the attention of the young minds to something industrious and productive. It is undeniable that excessive screen time can have negative side effects but teachers can reduce screen time by assigning book reading, handwritten work or hands-on physical activities which can be photographed and submitted in place of typed documents. I said before that we have to look for silver linings in this time if we want our children to stay positive and in good physical shape. For all of us the pressing priority should be the physical, mental and emotional health of the child over academics.

Students’ understanding and progress: Along with the good physical and emotional well- being of the students the schools are also concerned about the child’s progress in terms of academics. Therefore, they resorted to an online platform suitable to them out of the many like Zoom, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams to name a few.On these platforms teachers not just conduct live lectures but also use a plethora of tools to ascertain whether the child has understood a particular concept taught in the class or not. Along with teaching a concept, I would like to suggest the teachers, plan certain activities for the Formative Assessment of the students, in a way that they can assess the learning of the child. These activities should not be cumbersome but engaging and interesting. Preparing online quizzes, short writing tasks, group discussions, mental ability questions, collaborative projects among others are good options. Apart from this, teachers can upgrade and share the e-content prepared by them in the form of notes, question banks, relevant videos, PowerPoint Presentations etc. with the students to add to their learning. As teachers, we should make consistent efforts to reach out to every student and tenaciously tread towards achieving this goal.

Change in teaching and learning process: These are trying times for the entire school community. However, with a good support system and mutual co-operation, it is possible to transform the difficult and inopportune challenges into opportunities for personal and professional growth. Transition to remote teaching and learning has not only been challenging but also refreshing; educators across the globe have seen it as an opportunity to collaborate and employ their collective creativity, skills, and knowledge to address novel challenges. With the similar approach, innumerable Capacity Building Webinars are being conducted by the experts in the field of education. Through these webinars teachers are being guided and mentored to welcome this change with a positive attitude. Teachers have been aided to give precedence to forward-looking approach to facilitate the learners instead of completing the syllabus that had been planned at the beginning of the academic year. Given that the teachers are well-equipped with the tools and methods used for remote teaching it is time to apply their skill and understanding of the technology in ways which can help the learners to make most from it.

When we all talk about the hazards of remote learning and parents are excessively concerned about the increasing exposure of their child to mobile screens, I fail to stop myself from quoting few incidents which I came across. I am not very fond of going to watch movies in cinema halls but occasionally with family. I saw a couple that had come to watch the same movie with a 3-4-year-old child and were sitting just one row ahead of us. For initial few minutes, the child was quiet but then it felt confined in that dark cinema hall and was not letting the parents watch the movie at peace. The mother, without trying some other alternative to soothe the baby, handed her mobile phone to the little one and played a cartoon channel on it. I kept observing the child instead of enjoying the movie and to my surprise the child sat quietly with that device for two and a half hours during which the parents were watching the movie. This is just one example, don’t we come across such incidents where we see how parents, in order to evade the child’s tantrums, hand them these devices without worrying about the screen time? I respect the distress which the parents are experiencing but aren’t we being selective in our approach towards the use of these devices? The answer lies with all of us. 

There is another issue to be taken care of.When our children are sitting securely in their homes and are availing this facility there is a group of school-going children who are deprived of it. I wish to draw your attention to the digital divide in India. While the transition has been quite smooth for privileged students, the underprivileged ones are in a pitfall, majorly because of a lack of access to internet services and electronic devices to view online content, leading to poor and unequal quality of educational services. Don’t you all think that those who have access to remote learning are fortunate? I believe something is better than nothing. Let us all agree that with all its detriments, remote learning has proven to be a shred of hope for the students and teachers. To avoid the lag in our lives in terms of education, remote learning is the only solution. Although it is not the perfect substitute for the classroom setting, there is no better alternative for now. I strongly believe that learning should never stop and technology is the best preference in the given situation. Whether we agree or not but this circumstance has spurred people to adopt new technology that they had resisted so far. It is rightly said, “When something will become a need, then people will find a way around it.” Personally speaking, today, I find myself more competent when it comes to technology. 

In the unprecedented phase like this, when there are more questions than answers, having a positive mental attitude can serve as a breath of fresh air. Optimism and cheerful spirits can create an environment where learning can take place in particular. To sum up,

“Change is inevitable in life. You can either resist it or you can choose to cooperate with it, adapt to it, and learn how to benefit from it. When you embrace change you will begin to see it as an opportunity for growth.”