The prolonged lockdown situation has made us all reassess various aspects of life including how and where we work. Educationalists are no exception. 

Just over 10 weeks of working from home - carrying out administrative duties, having virtual meetings and setting assignments - have made us all think about what it is we and our students are missing out on. For me, it’s these eight key aspects of teaching. 

Human touch
 

Human beings require physical contact - that’s a given. It is the core of our being. Real contact that relies on our five senses defines and shapes the way we perceive the outside world.  

Although social media has democratised information sharing, IT communication modes (as popular as they are) have also distanced us from each other. They underline our absence or our non-being. They isolate us, giving us a sense that virtual reality is the real world. On such busy platforms as Twitter, family members share not real but virtual time where many are merely together without the togetherness - alone (and often) lonely.  

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Background: Colleges should open 15 June to a quarter of 16-19s

Virtual reality vs reality
 

We can debate the nature of reality and how we define it, but there is no doubt we do - as human beings - need something that resembles the physical world, something that constitutes actuality.

Students are no exception
 

Our faith in a perspective cannot be dependent on IT images made of pixels. A true, verified perception has to be formulated by everything around us. Teaching and learning require human touch because we are creatures of reality. We are not products of virtual programming floating in cyberspace. In using IT, you cannot help thinking that whatever we are seeing is a mere distortion of our world, a grand illusion.

Empathy, eye contact and facial recognition

Human beings require live connections whether through touch, understanding or empathy. This, of course, is transmitted verbally or through paralinguistic features that help us to communicate effectively in real time. As such, the concepts of here and now are important - more so than for pre-recorded tutorials or group chats with such learning tools as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Similarly, as teachers, we need to sense the presence of another being when we are explaining or demonstrating an idea, law or argument. If not, communication can easily get lost or hindered depending on the complexity of the subject matter.

But, moreover, the teacher’s antenna that helps to detect signs of students’ distress, anxiety and concerns becomes absent in online teaching. Learning reliant completely on virtual teaching is handicapped because in such context students are mere digits, images on the computer screen. And so, as educationalists, we lose connection and rapport with students.

Project work

Asking students to work independently on long assignments such as projects and dissertations has proven to be erroneous and problematic. Students have reported a sense of disconnectedness that destroys their drive and motivation. They need to be fuelled, energised and stimulated by ideas, creativity and intellect. Only a teacher can provide that in the form of tidbits and questions that open doors to other worlds and possibilities. Only they can break down the assignment for the students into small manageable chunks.

The conducive environment 

A physical classroom with the presence of a real instructor helps to dispel such learning barriers. The teacher propels students, focuses their minds, provides them with incentives and directs their energies towards agreed and negotiated outcomes. The teacher measures the learning process and readjusts their style and delivery according to how well students relate to the skills set or teaching resources.

Moreover, a teacher’s greatest satisfaction is not the students exam results, but seeing the transmission of knowledge and understanding in the classroom - both in real time and in real life.

Although virtual teaching attempts to provide the same conditions as a physical classroom, the distinct lack of group dynamic is conspicuous. Students and teachers’ personalities, their vibes and interactions with - and among - each other, create the conducive environment. The teaching and learning space (the traditional classroom) is not something that lives in isolation to both parties. It is a shared reality that is both physical and tangible, and it is built by the dynamics between teacher and students. A classroom is created through mutual collaboration, by working in harmony with one another. It is not an independent entity.

Team and peer working

An important part of classroom experience is the interaction with other like-minded people. Students learn from peers through such strategies as flip boarding, working together, explaining learned ideas, peer assessing and marking each other’s work. As the old adage goes, it’s only when we can teach a piece of knowledge to others that we have truly learned it ourselves. The physical classroom enables students to achieve such an outcome.

The importance of structure 

The experience of a lockdown has taught us that we, as human beings, need a structure. It is vital that we have a set routine by engaging in different activities. So, allocating time in units is important for us - it helps us to arrange our day and activities and gives us experience in managing time as an entity. Endless preoccupation with one single activity can be detrimental. Learning activities have to have meaning, perimeters and shapes in order for the teacher to make an accurate assessment of the quality of their students’ learning. With the absence of time limits and learning objectives, students are likely to drift aimlessly without a goal or certainty. Attendance at a physical classroom on a regular basis also provides the student with order and discipline. Together with punctuality, it strengthens their resolve, gives them assessment practice in real time and develops their time management skills.

We must bear all this in mind as we consider alternatives modes of teaching for the new academic year.

Five recommendations

Post-16 education establishments need to consider the following for long-term curriculum planning:

• Online teaching mode should only be used as a last resort - if, for instance, it’s physically impossible to adhere to social distancing rules by having students in class. Instead, have you considered a 50 per cent timetable or removing curriculum components not wholly essential to students’ learning?
• Distance learning might suit certain subjects and levels while being largely ineffective for languages and resit courses such as functional skills and GCSE, which require students to demonstrate a range of direct communication skills.
• Lectures responsible for subjects and courses with low student engagement or attendance might be advised to stay clear of online teaching. If students weren’t interested during class, it is highly unlikely they will be connected by remote learning.
• Management must allow lecturers and course leaders autonomy in regard to teaching styles most appropriate for their students and their needs.
• For online teaching to be effective there has to be a mechanism in place to ensure the regular dissemination and retrieval of students’ work and lecturers’ feedback. That would require the employment of a sound system of IT support and learning tools which should also help to track and trace students’ engagement and progress.

Of course, teaching in some form of virtual reality is better than not teaching at all. Students having a sense of a classroom is better than an absence of class experience. For that reason, IT communication tools should only be used to supplement classroom teaching and not to generate an artificial replacement.

Roshan Doug is an education consultant