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– If the predictions for a second coronavirus wave are confirmed and quarantined, what else would you do to teach students remotely?
– Two months of distance learning: an important experience. The hardest part was the beginning, because no one had found it, so we didn’t have the skills either.
Clearly, in the beginning, I had to face challenges, in particular internet outages. Second, there were times when not all students were able to connect in time, wait, or search for them. However, it is gratifying that we all work together in our progymnasium, with the same Google Meet platform, which helped solve and facilitate many things.
By the way, at the beginning of the quarantine, for some reason, the teachers were only able to see the last five students who spoke. We worked like this for about two weeks. It’s really a challenge because you’re used to seeing everyone in class and only five. But later there was an automatic system update and it was already nice to see everyone on the screen.
– After all, that feedback, class reactions are very important, right? You can check if the student understands the material.
– Of course, this is very important, even necessary. Teaching a child not to see it is a completely meaningless process. It happened when you were talking, counting, and instead of a student, a kind of “imitation”, and then you didn’t know how to react (smile) at all. I had to communicate and explain the new communication rules.
I spoke with colleagues and there were situations like that for them. “We are like the radio: we talk and we don’t know if someone is listening to us,” my colleagues said.
– Looking back on the experience of spring, what would you wear later if you were to teach at a distance again?
– I think it was very helpful that Balsiai progymnasium started teaching lessons at different times, that is, the lessons for beginners were held from 8 am to 11 am, and for seniors, from 11:30 am to 4 pm to 4 pm : 30 pm. This distribution of traffic solved the problem of computers. If there are several children of different ages in the family, they are free to share the computer. This is the first.
Second, in the beginning there were difficulties with the video cameras, not everyone had them, so I hope they are now self-sufficient and if there are distance lessons in the new school year, everything will be fine.
Third, a good discovery was the tasks performed electronically on the system. After all, at first, the students took photos of their completed assignments from their notebooks and sent them to the teachers. It was very inconvenient, the teachers spent a lot of time correcting it. Tasks performed electronically, correcting them in the system is a very efficient way to check knowledge.
Photo by G.Kaškelis / M.Karanauskas with the Travelers’ Club
The fourth thing discovered, which is quite unexpected, is remote parent meetings. In this way, the participation is almost one hundred percent, because everyone can join, get involved, even while driving a car. I think that this form of communication sometimes, for example for short meetings, can really be used in the future.
– Distance learning has probably been a new starting point for you too, preparing for the lessons, thinking about how to present them. What did you do different?
– I used to send links online for viewing, and the Google Meet platform allowed me to share slides, show them, explain them, as in a normal lesson, it was not a very difficult situation. The next moment, I had to shorten the stories, tell them briefly, just the gist, not expand.
– What are the advantages of distance learning?
– Remote parent meetings have already been mentioned. Ideally, of course, if applied wisely, not always, but then participation is maximum.
As an advantage, I would like to emphasize that the parents saved time: there was no need to transport the children to school, pick them up, take them to groups, etc.
On the positive side for students, they learned more electronic spaces where information could be found and self-directed learning was encouraged.
Also, for teachers: there is no need for discipline problems in lessons. Students speak one by one, and if something is already very undisciplined, it is possible to turn it off. Directly by pressing the (Serie).
– And the downsides?
– However, I see the disadvantages of distance learning more than the advantages. One of the downsides is the aforementioned concise lesson, a narrative only in essence and about the most important things. This greatly restricts the teacher from making the lesson interesting, not standard.
Second, the Internet or electrical interference. Is it okay if they don’t exist and if they exist? This does not provide certainty for the teaching process.
Third, fatigue and eye damage. If it was the last lesson, you really would have seen which students were tired, less motivated. After all, you have to imagine that they are on screen for five or six lessons, and after that, they stay there again to do their homework.
This is definitely not a good option, since we all know how much time children spend in front of screens: computer, telephone, TV. Finally, after a day off, you are most likely going to entertain YouTube on YouTube, watch a movie, so your eyes will be on the screen again.
Distance learning is a test of the integrity of the student.
Fourth, distance learning is a test of the integrity of the student. Almost every educator I spoke to faced this. And it occurred to me that in correcting the tests, I found identical sentences in maybe six student responses. It was my kind of student. I told you right that I had found options, I suspected that I had written the answers, and I asked those who had done the tasks dishonestly to stay at the end of the lesson. I thought there would be six and nine left (smiles). We talked about it amicably, I lowered the grade by a score, but neither had any complaints.
Fifth, distance learning does not provide opportunities to feel and see the student, to control him. Suppose you are talking about mountains and he may be browsing Facebook, but he is tilting his head in favor. Therefore, the teacher only has to trust the conscience of the student.
Photo by G.Kaškelis / Mantas Karanauskas
– However, distance learning can be a lifesaver for introverted and less communicative educators. Perhaps there were some in your lessons whose results improved only during the quarantine? Or maybe colleagues shared those stories?
– You gave a very precise example. I have a student with various special needs. I also gave him after school time at school, but I had even more time remotely, about 15-20 minutes. We individually discussed what they realized, where more needs to be done. It was this student’s performance that improved significantly.
So I can safely conclude that for students with special needs, that individual attention, the teacher’s work with them, is a great incentive for them.
– How do you plan to use the quarantine experience in the new school year? Maybe there were ideas for mixing methods, say, to present some things live and others remotely?
– Computer science teachers will unequivocally assign more tasks in the electronic space. It really is very convenient and effective. I think this way it will also work for me as a geography teacher – students will be able to upload project group work online, and I will review everything there.
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