Technology is Transparent in Online Teaching: Is There any Panacea?

Schools all over the world have shifted to synchronous learning (online education that happends in real time) just after Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. While all teachers and school administers are getting used to teach online via some online teaching tools and apps, there are some crucial elements of online education that we need to take into consideration to navigate the new tools comprehensively and equally. I believe that this is not only setting up infrastructure but also adopting a systematic approach that we need to get ready for instructional design of online teaching. This is not that simple to reclaim “we set up “zoom” and we are ready for teaching since there is a critical process that is called acculturation. As all educators, we need to realize the process of virtual acculturation which refers to deal with psychological stress, acquiring new skills and developing a sense of identity and navigating through the system synchronously (Ward,2001).

We need to develop or plan new teaching strategies and techniques as we already used to do in face to face lessons, this is a line of vision in developing systematic perspective; namely:

Implementation     →Observation    →   Developing strategy

Hence, it is extremely important to find correspond of conventional pedagogic behaviors in online teaching too. What I have observed in my own online teaching lessons so far is expecting our students behave and orient the new system as they used to do in face to face lessons. However, setting lesson time and rules as like the same we practice in F2F lessons is actually a big strategic mistake for school administrators and deputy heads. Teachers now are trying to do their best in online lessons by motivating their students and following the curriculum in order to catch up missing classes while facing with some institutional restrictions such as teaching the same lesson plans with the same content and design, and having the same amount of lessons. In order to cope up with the defaults, we should have a mind map of online education and plan how parents and students get ready for online lessons as well as making them ready for a home program with regards to stress management.

Here are some tips for the teachers who have recently started online teaching;

·         Revise your learning outcomes and plans (search about Mayer’s Multimedia Principles)

·         Watch the tutorial of the new tool/app that you’re going to navigate in online teaching. Adjusting volume, video setting, recording sessions, taking turns, chat box settings, grid options, interface of remote conferencing (Zoom, Meet, Google Hangouts)

·         Prepare some warm-up activities- fillers- energizers- icebreakers-random choosers- to motivate them to be actively involved in e-learning

·    Try to use individualized language with your students (instruction that is individualized for each students make them more engaged in learning (Mayer,2003).

·         Interaction decreases transactional distance between you and your student.

·         Add clear and appropriate visuals and sound to your PowerPoint slides

·         Use short and concise texts (Do not read what you wrote on the slide). Repeating the same information on the screen instead of paraphrasing/restating increases students’ cognitive load. ( It depends on your learner’s level and proficiency)

·         Don’t forget you are the captain of this ship and you can navigate them to the right place at the right time J Ponder on their learning styles and characters!

Is It Possible to Do Online Summative and Formative Assessment?

Validity and reliability of online assessment is still being discussed by the scholars but there are some tools that we can use to assess our students during online education. There are some web tools we can apply for formative assessment like Quizizz and Kahoot and take-home exams, and projects can be used as summative assessment tools. On the other hand, adaptivity of students for these new assessment tools are important to have reliable and valid scores, that’s why we need to put into account our students’ digital literacy and internet connection problems. Furthermore, we need to aware that who is using the system, are the questions open-ended or multiple choice, are the questions asked randomly or in an order, are the questions found in other sources or used before and so forth. As a candidate for being a future educational technologist, I believe that getting students engaged in learning and teaching them to navigate well through in the new system by developing their Socratic thinking and research skills regarding to educational outcomes are more comprehensible and beneficial than compelling them to get higher scores in exams during this pandemic situation (COVID-19) There is no panacea for making our students to grow cherries in desert but they can enjoy learning by discovering self-regulated learning with our guidance.

References

Mayer, R.E., Steinhoff, K., Bower, G., & Mars, R. (1995). A generative theory of textbook design: Using annotated illustrations to foster meaningful learning of science text. 

Educational Technology Research and Development, 43, 31-43. Ben-Jacob, M. (2005). Integrating computer ethics across the curriculum: A case study. Educational Technology & Society, 8(4), 198-204.

Cheesman, E., Winograd, G., & Wehrman, J. (2010). Clickers in teacher education: Student perceptions by age and gender. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 18(1), 35-55.