Is Online Teaching Sustainable In The Long Run?

The onset of the COVID-19 virus has brought about radical changes in one’s lifestyle. Social distancing, wearing masks and periodic lockdowns have deranged our traditional routines. And one such routine that needed immediate innovation and attention was the education system. Resorting to digital learning modules, sustaining academics during a pandemic raised several questions, with the biggest one being can our teachers sustain e-learning for long? Yes, they can if parents, educational institutions, governments, and policies set forth regulations that help reduce teacher burnout.

Online teaching is a mammoth task on its own and with professionals given limited turn-around time, online teaching has come under a lot of scrutiny. Here’s how you can pitch in to curb the situation.

Moving Away From the Caregiver Role

Nurturing and providing adequate support is cited to be a teacher’s main character, but with teaching now going online, many professionals are often left stressed as daily student contact is made limited. This is where parents need to step in to offer children full support. Some practitioners are going way beyond their way to reinforce the relationship. Some teachers are organizing various leisure classes to engage with their students and enquire about their mental and physical health. 

Offering More Than Just Academic Support

Despite the availability of the Internet and open-ended communication, online learning is unable to bridge the gap of offering uninterrupted educational support to students with special needs. Some students require more attention and some are more comfortable in learning through regional languages, so having a uniform access isn’t effective.

And with most of the parents working or being unavailable, teachers are now addressing this situation by creating learning modules for various student groups. In some cases, teachers are going beyond their working hours to address students’ uncertainties.

Minimizing Digitization

From the educational institutions' perspective, setting in simpler teaching platforms rather than creating innovative technologies will help reduce teacher burnout during this lock down. It has been statically proven that bolstering learning during such unprecedented times isn’t too fruitful hence investment in creating counter intuitive technologies and platforms for teaching can take a backseat. The same can be redirected towards the practitioners to help them rid worker’s exhaustion and in return work towards creating mediums and recourses that are more effective. 

Aided Parental Support

Teachers and administrators are under intense scrutiny from parents. A teacher's struggle is observed minutely and those who struggle with efficacy and aren’t able to cope are constantly questioned. While it is important for parents to understand that the sudden shift to e-learning is very new, setting up boundaries is equally important. Parents will need to pitch in to offer technical support to their children and also aid teachers in maintaining teaching schedules.  

Cross-Curricular Support

Teachers are often wired to be observant and hence individual monitoring was possible only in a classroom. But with remote learning, teachers are concerned about a child’s attention span. To deal with these circumstances, education specialists are now formulating theme-based, interactive and cross-curricular modules that require students to engage in skill development spreadsheets. Parents will need to assist and motivate their children to meet timely deadlines.

Set a Routine

Children are often wired by an alarm clock or period bells during a ‘normal school day’. But the current fluidity has both students and teachers unmoored. Teaching schedules are no longer restricted to the 8 am to 3 pm time frame and parents now feel like they need to be available 24x7. The best way to deal with such fatigue is to set time slots for everything.

Teachers need to create a to-do list that lets them take live teaching classes, set time aside to review papers, and have time slots to answer parent questions. For parents, it is equally important to list down schedules that let them help their children in homework, arranging live classes, and more. Prioritizing meal breaks, playtime, sleep, and lesson planning are also equally important. Both teachers and parents need to work towards creating a balanced workflow that lets them accept the slowdown. 

Pay Emphasis on Health

Teachers haven’t signed up for the work-from-home routine, they are usually seen moving around from one class to another and are usually standing while teaching. This new routine has pushed them to rely a lot on laptops thereby pushing their bodies to experience back pain and tennis elbow.  

Just like children, adults too need to move their bodies to help boost mood and gain mental clarity. Online learning has drastically increased screen time and teachers need to move around more than ever. Ditching the traditional chair and table set up and opting for a standing desk will also help gain better mobility.

Reminder to Believe In Yourself

People have been very quick in judging teachers and their way of teaching. And if this scrutiny wasn’t enough, the uncertain times have pushed many to question their teaching skills. Practitioners need to remember why they enjoy teaching and how they have no control over external factors. Experts will need to invest more time in doing things they love to reduce stress.

Setting Forth a Clear Communication Channel

As primary step, educators need to step back and work towards pivotal things. Prioritizing and working towards creating a clear communication channel helps both parents and students. Teachers need to set forth their expectations, create monitoring documents with mutual consent, and have clear regulations for parental contact. From a parent’s perspective, give in your bit by being available to assist your child in technological aspects, do not invade a teacher’s presence, question them personally and not in a public forum, and establish clear procedures on your expectations!

Teachers have gone above and beyond their capability to offer quality education to their students. It is a daunting task for traditionalists to use technology and other digital recourses to support online teaching, but this can only sustain if educators are supported and their voices are heard. This will ensure that the education system will remain resilient during the pandemic.