~ Ridhima Yadav
In today’s time and age, due to the invisible enemy that everyone is dealing with, there has been a shift from classroom to online education. Adjusting to this change has not just been difficult for the students but equally for the teachers. Getting well-versed with the whole concept of online education was laborious for the teachers. Teaching in a conventional working environment is certainly very different from online teaching. As teacher and students are in proximity virtually but far away physically, it becomes way more strenuous to ensure that the students are paying attention. Needless to say, children can lose their motivation throughout the online class, and therefore, teachers are supposed to be engaging and enticing in their teaching skills. Studying alone can be isolating and discouraging without a proper dose of motivation and encouragement from the teacher. While it is significant to communicate encouraging messages to children, it is also of concern to provide constructive criticism along with maintaining overall positive morale. Both negative and positive reinforcements are crucial, especially during online education by teachers because children may indulge in a laid-back attitude and take things for granted.
The following are the significant roles that a teacher must play :
- Act as an individual mirror: As mentioned before, providing feedback is an important task/role of the teacher. Giving personal feedbacks to each child whether positive or negative is crucial not only for educational development but also for personal development. During their formative years, they form a premise which teachers must ensure is strong and well-built by showing them that there is always scope for improvement. As teachers act as a mirror, the students understand their strengths and weaknesses and thereby try to work upon them.
- Efficient communicator: Due to physical distance, sometimes a few things can be miscommunication that can lead to misunderstanding of what the teacher or the child is trying to convey through online medium. Therefore, it is pivotal for the teacher to be an effective communicator such that student engagement in the learning process is maintained at all costs. To make the process more captivating, the teachers must open floors for taking questions which helps in building an engaging community of the online classroom.
- Using technology efficiently: Online teachers must be creative and innovative so that they can use the platform to facilitate a space for creative energies. Online instructors can use infographics and various other aspects to make the whole e-learning process interesting. Online teachers must bring forth fun interactive presentations for class projects. After all, the online teacher knows that the engaged learner is the successful learner.
How to use technology effectively :
- E-Books narration
- Creating infographics
- Sending Quiz
- Engaging presentations
- Enticing podcasts
But where are we heading?
However and how-much, online classes might be a good source of education, but they have certainly ruined the decorum and discipline of a classroom. Students are making fake id’s to make inappropriate remarks about the teacher. The whole protocol of decorum has gone out of the window with online classes. Students troll teachers under the name of fake ID’s and even verbally abuse them. It’s so difficult to trace the faulty person, that this behaviour has become repetitive. Nabamallika Bhagabati a music teacher at a private school in Delhi said that “One of the biggest issues that female teachers face is online bullying, especially from older children”. She is also teaching students through online classes through the video-conferencing app Zoom. Also, with no information on when schools will reopen, teachers often say that they are trying to get past this which means ignoring such nasty behaviour. However, ignorance is not the solution and the student at fault must be traced and given punishment.
Teachers are bullied by students in online classes, disturbance due to argumentative parents peeping into the virtual class, demotivated students and distracted students are few problems teachers are facing while taking online classes. On top of this imparting teachers with values becomes very difficult. Nonetheless, the teachers must adapt to this new technological way of teaching such that the comprehension process becomes easier.
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