Online Classes: The 'new normal' I am now part of
Yesterday (21 Sept) marked the official start of my academic classes at the University of Glasgow.
The unique thing about my programme is that it is jointly taught by partner universities from the United Kingdom, Malta, Estonia, Cyprus and Ireland. This means that the experiences in both teaching and learning will be very much different compared to just being taught by professors from a single university. Moreover, the learner will have to adjust to different vantage points offered by each professor. These includes not only their knowledge and experiences; but also by their socio-political and cultural backgrounds. If this doesn't sound exciting to anyone, then I don't know what this is anymore.
I will provide my insights on these experiences and many more in the coming months (and years!). However, I would like to share the thrill of coming in to the first academic class I am attending this semester. Although there is nothing too much to get excited for as I have been into many online courses just before I came here to Glasgow, the thrill is coming from the reality that I will now face as a student taking formal classes. A few months while the lockdowns were in place, I have been commenting that the learners last semester had to face an arduous shift when classes and even assessments have been turned to online. And this is now happening to me as well.
Given the months of preparation for this coming academic year, and with me joining as one of the 'guinea pigs' of that new normal of instruction and learning, I thought it was good to be participating in online classes. I empathize with my classmates who may have different expectations about how our programme will be conducted. However, I also think this is a welcome change especially that my objective is to appreciate, experience and understand what may be largely the future of education. Li and Lalani (2020) offered contrasting viewpoints on the challenges and opportunities for online education, including how developed and developing countries' to laptops, internet and other digital resources vary. In the same article, both synthesized that learners' retention may actually increase through online learning than learning in the classroom, with a caveat that learners have wide access to online resources and technologies.
Writing this also made me reflect how much effort and sometimes thick face students would wear to solicit support from the public and purchase the needed laptops for their studies. Rappler, a media outfit in the Philippines, used their social media and website to launch #PisoParaSaLaptop (a Peso for a Laptop) campaign. Students, as well as parents from impoverished backgrounds turned to this platform to post their request for donations in cash. To substantiate their 'legitimacy' as recipients - which I will question in my subsequent posts - some also shared their academic credentials and their dire circumstances to add to the 'emotive' narrative to persuade people to donate. A number of these requests succeeded. But do we really need to go this far?
Yet here I am with Dr. Andreas Kollias from the Open University of Cyprus (OUC), our facilitator in the module on 'Teaching Adults Online', together with our other classmates. I am sharing what our class online interface looks like. This is anchored in our class Moodle provided by OUC to our cohort. Just like everyone in the class, and perhaps, millions (if not billions) of schoolers globally, I am looking forward to this new learning experience.
McRhon
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P.S. Here are some recommended leisure reads you can refer to.
1. Li, C., and Lalani, F. (29 April 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is How. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/
2. Magsambol, B. (29 July 2020). #PisoParaSaLaptop: Students seek help for online learning. https://rappler.com/nation/students-seek-help-online-learning
3. Stokel-Walter, C. (27 Aug 2020). 'It's going to be a different experience': preparing for online learning at uni. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/27/how-to-prepare-for-online-learning
4. Govindajaran, V. and Srivastava, A. (31 March 2020). What the Shift to Virtual Learning Could Mean for the Future of Higher Ed. https://hbr.org/2020/03/what-the-shift-to-virtual-learning-could-mean-for-the-future-of-higher-ed
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