ONLINE LEARNING

From an educator’s perspective, online teaching has thrust many of us into a space where advanced IT skills have had to be quickly acquired. Those who might have been reluctant to learn new programmes whilst at school, have had a very quick catch up and, surprisingly, have surpassed some of those with established computer skills.  

The creativity happening in order to engage and inspire children on a daily basis has been something incredible to see. While online assessment might have seemed daunting at first, children are now submitting prepared reading via voice notes, completing Mathematics assessments through Microsoft Forms and uploading images as evidence of work, to name just a few.

Live lessons are both exciting and frightening spaces for teachers. It is delightful to catch up with the children in a live setting provided the correct netiquette is followed. The early days are filled with horror stories of teachers being muted in their own meetings, all of which will form tales to be told for years to come. With Teams ever evolving, functions such as “raise your hand” in meetings converts the virtual class to something very much resembling the physical class.

Our students, who tend to be more intuitive when it comes to technology, have in a very short space of time sussed out exactly what Microsoft Teams has to offer and are using it to their advantage. Whilst connectivity has been a challenge to some, we have endeavoured to keep these children engaged via WhatsApp and email. Our dedicated IT specialist has availed himself to the teachers and children to assist with issues ranging from login to software to devices.

Is it scary to consider going back to school? Well, yes of course. Teachers will again need to adapt, facing a physical class as well as online classes for those children who cannot return to school. They will also need to provide support for the children, who will no doubt take some time to adjust to the initial transition and their new reality. I am confident that with the skills gained through this online revolution, our teachers are more than ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

We have learnt that we can do anything if we set our minds to it. And that we miss our children more than we could have believed possible.