Distance Learning

     I have been working as a teacher more than 10 years now. Sometimes I can feel very confident in at I am doing but at the same time in this kind of dynamic life now when daily changes happen in all the fields, I say to myself “I should not stop learning and it is never late to gain a knowledge”. “The most effective, successful professionals are constantly learning, they take the time to apply what they have learned, and they continually work to improve themselves”, (Gardner, 2020).

    Since we have entered Covid times, distance learning and E-learning have become an ever-increasing reality for the learning of today. As many nations have closed their doors on in person learning to help curb the virus that has invaded many of our lives, the learning process has had to evolve and be taken from the classroom through the screens of the students and into the home. As a teacher, the thought of sitting at a screen, trying to teach phonics, math, and science to 14 excited and noisy preschoolers is something that imposes feelings of anxiety and dread. However, as teachers, we have made a promise to empower and deliver academia. For us to understand how to best deliver sessions, we must first understand how best our students will learn online.

    For the older student, it is my belief that synchronous learning, (learning that is in real-time, such as video calls where a student will watch and interact with a lesson taught in real time via an app), is best. Students from the age of 6 are better suited to learning where they can take the ideas of others around them and connect their understanding to the understanding of others. Often, older students benefit from the routine and scheduling of lessons and can better understand the role of a timetable in their learning. At my school, during online learning, students from Year 1- Year 12, were expected to attend sessions where the teacher and teaching assistant would teach full 25–45-minute sessions using zoom and google classrooms. It is in my opinion that this quote best sums it up, “There’s a lot of discipline-specific, really active things that go on in those sessions that aren’t just the equivalent of a recorded lecture,” Muir said. “It really is the same as doing some sort of activity in the classroom, just in a virtual setting”, (Muir, 2020).

    For younger students however, it is my opinion that asynchronous learning is most beneficial. Asynchronous learning is learning that can be pre-prepared and can be accessed at any time by the learner. For our kindergarteners, our school allowed us to create learning resource packs that the students could take home. Our teachers would host meetings, but the students wouldn't need to attend if they were unable. The video calls would be recorded, and links would be sent for the students to watch at a more convenient time. Our teachers would also record videos explaining tasks that the students would be able to follow along at home without the need of teacher input. Teachers would also record videos telling stories and singing songs. Asking the youngest children to sit for a long time and follow along on a PC or tablet is, at times, too much of an expectation. In EYFS settings we encourage students to be able to ‘dip in and out’ of activities and to be student-led. Asynchronous learning, in my opinion, is the best way to encourage that during distance learning.

Below is the link to one of my recorded videos for my Phonics online session.

                        https://youtu.be/WcUDhTxzZFs

     The tools we use to deliver learning to the students online are very important. Apps such as Zoom, Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams allow us to present on virtual whiteboards, share resources and create interactive lessons. Without these apps we would be simply sitting on a video call and talking to our students. “Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event”, (Hayes Jacobs, 2020).Educators should have the right knowledge and should be well trained in order to use various online platforms effectively in Education.

 In my opinion, Distance Learning is good when there is no other option for learning. Such as when people had to follow strict quarantine rules being only at home. On the other hand, if the situation in the country and in the whole world is safe enough to have offline Education, I will personally choose for my children and for myself as a teacher "offline learning" or "blended learning". Considering that prime learning areas of young learners are Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development, distance learning somehow limits these type of development of children. Knowing this, during Online classes I tried to use activities which encourage students to move, like "Scavenger Shape Hunt" where students should find similar shaped objects around house or "Show and Tell" where students can show their peers a favourite toy and talk about it.

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Reference List

Gardner, J. (2020, September 24). Strengthening online learning when schools are closed: The role of families and teachers in supporting students during the COVID-19 crisis. OECD. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/strengthening-online-learning-when-schools-are-closed-the-role-of-families-and-teachers-in-supporting-students-during-the-covid-19-crisis-c4ecba6c/

Hayes Jacobs, H. (2020). To use Trello, please enable JavaScript. Trello. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://trello.com/c/PzK3sDXf/19-teachers-need-to-integrate-technology-seamlessly-into-the-curriculum-instead-of-viewing-it-as-an-add-on-an-afterthought-or-an-ev

Muir, K. (2020, June 24). What's the difference between asynchronous and synchronous learning? Office of Distance Education and eLearning. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://odee.osu.edu/news/2020/06/23/whats-difference-between-asynchronous-and-synchronous-learning