“Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think — Albert Einstein”
Today, I came across a news article about students not paying attention to the classes since its all virtual learning and they are not able to take it seriously as they would before. I tried exploring what could be the reasons for Virtual learning to be not successful. I must say I am not an expert on this subject and these are my thoughts as a learner and I tried to focus more on the age group of people trying to focus on their bachelors/Masters program:
Sudden change in the system: All of sudden, we have been made to switch gears from the traditional way of learning to the online environment. Everybody is in a state of confusion and we are not prepared for this kind of change and people are trying to address the situation in their way.
Perception of the medium: It is generally perceived that online learning is not as effective as the traditional medium. As nobody is checking on you during the lecture, you can always cite technical issues as a problem to miss the class and other reasons. Suddenly, no one is accountable for missing the class or taking a quiz (someone else can take the quiz in place of you if it is a pre-programmed computer operated test).
Lack of Interpersonal Communication, Conversation, and Interaction: One of the reasons online learning can be ineffective is because of a lack of communication between peers or the instructor during the class. Although conferencing can support this aspect, it is not effective. Sometimes, a student might need one- to -one support in understanding things better. It also points to the point of motivation and self-discipline of the student which was a little better in the traditional way than the online way.
For Virtual learning to be successful, there are three primary factors: Instructor, Student, and good internet connection. Assuming that a good internet connection is available, let us focus on the other two factors in this context. There is a need for self-discipline from the student’s end and the requirement from the instructor to provide direction to the student. In the traditional approach as well, this was the same case, however, the student was was present physically and was perceived to pay attention in the class because of the surroundings.
Since the system had already changed and we can only expect things to change more in the future. I have shared some of the ways how online learning can be effective keeping the two things of good internet connection and student’s discipline as constant.
Make it a game-based or activity-oriented learning: I have two instances to explain this thought:
First one: I attend training online where the instructor started with a stern face and kept reading the slides without even paying attention to the audience. At the end of the lecture, I didn’t have anything to share or there was nothing I could remember from the class.
Second one: The lecture started with a puzzle appearing right on our screens and the instructor said to guess what it is and relate to the subject. I could see the chatbox with continuous messages. The whole lecture was more or less having these interesting ideas. I could very well remember the concepts after the class. During the class, the active participation of students gave confidence to the instructor that this was working.
Checkpoints during the lecture: It would be great to check the pulse of the class by having constant checkpoints during the lecture. This can be as simple as opening the forum for questions or a quick 5-minute quiz.
Restructuring the evaluation: The traditional way of evaluation cannot be used to Virtual learning as the context is different, the medium of instruction has changed. Encouraging an open book system, revising the teaching plan, instruction slides, incorporation of quizzes, discussion points can be helpful.
Design of the curriculum: I have come across the concept of Choice theory by William Glasser and it is a psychological model that explains how and why human beings behave. When Glasser’s theory applied to the classroom, it is said that you develop intrinsic motivation within the student to learn rather than learn because of fear of failing or being punished. Instead of forcing students to take up subjects just because they are mandatory, how about students designing this curriculum to meet the credits. The changing environment demands a change in the way of education is imparted, assessed, and encouraged.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — APJ Abdul Kalam”
