Essentials for Online Teaching

 

     COVID 19 Pandemic Have Changed the Lives of Many in all directions. The Era of Learning Online has been introduced and Implemented more than ever. Both Teachers and Students had a hard time adapting to this change but nothing is Impossible because the word itself says "I'm Possible". All we need is some patience and to actually teach our students the essential things when it comes to online teaching. So what are the things that we need to teach our students to prevent the troubles of Studying Online?

 Let us think what are some troubles that students face when studying Online?

     1- Internet Connection Problems: This actually wastes a lot of time from the online session and Sometimes the material explained is not very clear when the teacher's voice is lagging. Solution? Make sure to have a good internet Connection for an efficient session.

    2- Chaotic Environment: Many of the students tend to lose interest in the class when it is very chaotic and no organization is made in class. Solution? Introduce and explain to the students the expected rules and regulations such as raising their hands when they want to ask a question or when they want to speak. But if as teachers we are presenting we cannot look who is raising their hand. Solution?  Sign in from another device as well to see who is raising their hands. 

   3- Too Much Distractors: Students tend to Join the class and just go on Facebook and other social media platforms as well as just go to the kitchen to grab some food and doesn't really focus on the lesson. Or maybe the Parents are fighting in the house! This affects the performance of the student. So here, the solution is to advise the student to sit in a Room that is not very noisy to focus more on the class as well as to keep the students on task to prevent them from using Social media platforms.

    4- Poor computer skills: There are many students who are not aware of how to use the platform they are using to study online ex: Zoom, Google meet, Teams... Etc. Students should be taught on how they can submit their assignments using the platform, how they are supposed to join, where are the assignments posted... etc. So, Students should know how to use the online tools and provide them with clear Instructions on what they are supposed to do. 

   5-Teaching students Respect: This is to avoid Cyber bullying, students should be taught that everything they do , they are being watched for it and anyone who mis-uses the internet will be suffering the consequences.

   6 -Avoiding Plagiarism : Students should also be taught on which websites are credible to take the information from as well as How to avoid Plagiarizing their assignments.  

   7- Time management: Due to the fact that the material is being taught online, the students should do double the effort in the sense that they should prepare the material ahead of time to get the most benefits of the session and to teach the students how they can organize their time between studying and resting at home even if no one is seeing them.  

   In conclusion, everything needs time to be adapted to and in fact online teaching is improving the higher order skills in the curriculum due to the fact that the type of exams being used are related to the analysis, synthesis and evaluation levels to avoid cheating and the darkness of online teaching.  

                                                                                                                         - Dana Molla -