I don’t mean to undermine the efforts of this week’s impressive OER. But for crying out loud!!! These are strange days! In the face of the pandemic, how can we deploy our skills to help schools and businesses get through it? What is the best way I can use my skills as an online educator and designer to help others? What are you doing?
Thanks for posting this. I have been so busy with Assignment 3 that I haven't even really had a chance to reflect much on how instruction will be done once school gets back in session for me (in two days!), aside from a little research into Zoom: https://virtual.educ.ubc.ca/wp/etec522/2020/03/23/zoom-video-conferencing/ I know I will be working remotely as of Monday, and that's about it. As I've been producing content for this course, however, I have taken note of my failings in terms of technical skill creating videos (as well as the few bright spots) and I have a wavering of confidence that, should I need to produce my own video content for students as a replacement for in-person teaching, I may just survive the experience. That said, I am not yet "in the trenches" of this experience, so I don't have much else to share yet, but I appreciate being able to read the thoughts of our fellow classmates on this matter.
Thank you for bringing up such a thoughtful discussion in this thread! As others have mentioned, in light of the current situation, there has been a drastic increase in the use of virtual technology and facilitation of online education due to closures across K-12 schools all the way to higher education institutions. In addition to studying for my masters online, I have been working online in ESL/EFL training for the past year as well, so I am fortunate that my situation has not been drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you asked how we can share our skills as online educators to help others, and I thought I would share some information passed on from some friends and fellow colleagues... some of them have been offering their assistance to parents who are homeschooling/remotely/digitally educating their children if they are in need of clarification about anything that has been assigned to their child(ren), or if these parents are in need of any more resources, they would be happy to provide them and answer any other questions as best as they can. For example, they have backgrounds in ECE - grade 6 with specialization in reading, so they are providing literacy resources to maintain/improve young learners reading levels at home. It is very inspiring to see others stepping up during these times and doing anything they can to help!
Hi Miguel, I appreciate this forum for the opportunity to express the challenge and gravity of this moment. I am in the Philippines about 20 minutes outside of Metro Manila. Most of my students live in Metro Manila which is now cut off from where I live and teach. Curfews and a strict lockdown have been imposed which means that only one person per household is allowed out on the streets to get food. It feels a little bit like what I imagine the days under Marcos' martial law were like except now all restaurants and public places are closed accept for wet markets and supermarkets. All schools are closed except for international schools like my own which are doing distancing learning. I feel that one the best things we can do is to show understanding and empathy with our students and families. I've been doing this by check-in with my students to see how they are handling the lockdown mentally, emotionally and physically. I now realize that I can have to scale down the amount that I teach by a third whether or not we have Zoom meeting--I must simplify my instruction and expectations. I am definitely using more online tools to reach my students--Edpuzzle, Goformative, Padlet, and TED-Ed lessons have all become useful for moving some content and assessment activities often prior to a Zoom session. Zoom can be rather tedious so I need use Breakout rooms more to break up the top-down format of it. I am not sure how to do certain things with distance learning such as teaching drama. I tend to enjoy teaching plays because they are interactive and physical--I can turn my classroom into stage that allows games and play but on Zoom that seems impossible. The best option I have is for students to record a dramatic soliloquy or monologue with some kind of preamble to it--maybe I'll use Flipgrid but the use of space which is much reduced. Our school meetings now are now of Zoom so that provides and opportunity to share in best practices with my colleagues and frank discussion of expectations is I think key to keeping balance for our students and community in check.
With regards to online education, I have heard several teachers in certain districts speak about how that will look. Many emphasize that education, in the form of taking classes and learning subject-specific material, should not be the priority for our students at this time. Our most vulnerable students are the ones who often do not have access to technology (e.g., internet, computer) at home, and with public facilities like libraries and schools being closed, they cannot be expected to continue their learning with a "business as usual" attitude. Instead, they are advocating ways to provide greater emotional and social support during this pandemic crisis. As well, teachers and administration are considering absolving official grades during this period of uncertainty, since issuing assignments and grades will only make the gap between our performing students and at-risk students even greater. Any thoughts from educators on what you think should be done with our students' education? I'm from a K-12 background, but I'd also be interested in hearing what professionals from other fields have to say about this issue.
Hi Miguel, thanks for bringing this up! I think the issue is at the forefront of our minds as we try and continue some sort of semblance of a normal life even though that it bound to be upset even further in the coming weeks and months. It's been an absolutely chaotic week and I don't expect next week to be any better (in fact, quite the opposite). Here in South Africa, schools and universities have been closed and the universities hope to continue with online learning in one week's time. The challenges we have are similar to those mentioned by Emily in that many faculty have refused to explore online learning options in the past and so now when they are being forced to do so, they lack experience. Staff feel overwhelmed and although I have many contributions I can make in terms of resources available, design and implementation of activities for the online space, the biggest challenge has become to manage the faculty's emotional capacity to deal with this change. Then, one of the biggest challenges we also face is the fact that this is not a country with a stellar first world internet infrastructure, even if the best designed online material was available- many students will struggle to access the content and would have to rely on limited access to internet cafes (which might close in the next few weeks, libraries have already closed) or their mobile phones (seems like a great option for microlearning focused materials but again mobile data is very expensive here and not every student has a smart phone/ or any kind of phone for that matter). Universities have approached the mobile network providers to negotiate zero data rates to access the various LMS platforms that the universities use but as yet we have no confirmation that we have this in place. I am assisting my colleagues in my department but also assisting the greater university teaching and learning center personnel by giving inputs on assessment strategies etc. I then also have to think about the online content that I am responsible for creating and the future planning that needs to go into that as I have to factor in that we might be in a complete shut down within 2 weeks time and I won't have access to laboratory equipment etc. that is needed for undergraduate training. A lot has to happen in a very short amount of time.
Hi Miguel, Thanks for starting this discussion. I think it is very important we take time and opportunity to discuss the current situation and what we are doing to help us get through it. The situation is certainly presenting new ways to learn and work. I think coming from an online masters program we have a distinct advantage with our familiarity with learning technology and experience working and learning using online platforms and various learning technology. As has been said – it is our time to shine – and now is when we have the opportunity t lead by example and truly honour, by putting into practice, what we have learned through our studies. I think we are very well equipped to meet the challenges that are now presented to us. How can we help others embrace this new way of learning and interacting in a virtual capacity and context? Especially those who may not have the experience and comfort with working using online systems and platforms for interaction? I do have colleagues of have resisted getting involved with online mediums and platforms greatly and I worry about them going forward when they may have no choice but to use these methods for work and communication in the future. What are your thoughts? In my context in the fitness industry where I work I am seeing a lot of colleagues taking their work online - doing Facebook Live workouts or holding Zoom calls or virtual conferences or summits to empower their followers and keep clients engaged and motivated. I’ll be filming some stuff and sharing it in the next couple of days for sure.
Okay, this DEFINITELY is the strangest most important time in history for online education. I am working with health care officials on the emergency roll out of online training material for quick deployment related to COVID-19. I imagine we all can find a roll to play in these times of absolute change. I sure would appreciate hearing more form our 522 community about what they are experiencing right now! Let's share experience and knowledge because it will make us all stronger in hard times
Thanks for posting this! I think that it is really important to be speaking about this at this level as well. As more schools close across Canada at different levels there will be more and more educators starting to use online tools. How will this be done effectively? How will students learn and be taught? We are entering an unprecedented time. It will be incredibly important to share knowledge, ideas and resources with fellow educators. We are in an interesting time.
I'm with you, Miguel! There's a major Google doc with crowdsourced (from universities and colleges) Remote Teaching Resources for Business Continuity making the rounds: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VT9oiNYPyiEsGHBoDKlwLlWAsWP58sGV7A3oIuEUG3k/edit#gid=1552188977 I've shared this with others and offered my assistance to my program coordinator at the college and to friends I know who are teachers but haven't taught using an LMS. Reach out and share your knowledge and expertise with others, in any form: resource lists, articles, words of advice, etc. Best to you!
Thanks for posting about the pandemic Miguel.I'm sure it's on the mind of everyone. I'm currently in France where all schools and non essential businesses have been ordered to close. Workers can opt out of work and apply for unemployment benefits and we are expecting Emmanuel Macron to announce a complete lockdown of the country as of tonight. We are scared for the elders we love and all of those who have weaker immune systems and chronic conditions. We are scared for everybody actually as the pandemy is unfolding right now and we are getting to learn more about this virus. We see that younger people go through respiratory complications as well and that people are dying next door (Italy) just because there are not enough respirators and beds in reanimation services. Doctors are now prioritizing who get a chance to survive. You are right, this is a crucial moment for online education. Here in France, students can access for free the national online education platform that is usually only used by home schooled students.If anything, this moment highlights that a shift is happening right now in the education world. Any educational structure must have as a robust foundation an online platform with classes and content accessible at any time. It's not an option anymore. Our role is to build these structures but also to guide students into the the world of technologies that could help them learn. Right now, I'm helping tutoring my nephews who don't go to school, and guiding them through online resources, and I wish we could access an adaptive learning technology like SquirrelAI to make the most of their time home. Here are 10 ways AI is being used to fight the pandemic. I'm impressed by the robot cleaners (to protect cleaning staffs) and the use of supercomputers to identify promising drugs to treat the virus. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/03/13/coronavirus-how-artificial-intelligence-data-science-and-technology-is-used-to-fight-the-pandemic/#61452efc5f5f https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/coronavirus-treatments-being-fast-tracked-via-next-gen-supercomputers.html
