Post CoVid-19: Reconfiguring Teaching-Learning Dynamics - (Webinar by Department of English, BKNMU, Junagadh)

COVID19, Corona Crisis, Lockdown.....
All these words may sound scary but in actuality they are not so. In other words,  this pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for us. Rather than getting panicked by death tolls surrounding us, we can take precautions and continue learning from home. Recently various webinars are being organized for the same by many institutions. Today, I got an opportunity to participate in a webinar on "Post CoVid-19: Reconfiguring Teaching-Learning Dynamics" - organized by the  Department of English, BKNMU, Junagadh.
Presided by Prof. Chetan Trivedi Sir, Honorable Vice-Chancellor of the University, the webinar was co-ordinated by Dr. Firoz Shaikh, Associate Professor and Head, Dept of English, BKNMU. Prof. Chetan Trivedi sir energized the participants through his propelling words in his introductory speech.

After initial proceedings, two eminent speakers were requested to share their valuable insights on the subject.
Prof. Dilip Barad, Head of the Department of English, MKBU and Prof. Mahesh Jivani, Department of Electronics, Saurashtra University interacted on the utilization of web platforms for teaching. Rather than giving a speech, both the stalwarts made a lively discussion with infographics and examples of real life. They also answered to the questions of the participants as posted in chat-box during the session. Such interactive and engaging way of presentation made it really gripping.

Human life is passing through a transition stage and 'Work from home' is a new mantra nowadays. All areas are facing a sea change due to corona crisis and academia is no exception. Adaptability to change (to use Darwinian phrase) is a need of the hour for the teachers' fraternity. Almost all justifications for the resistance to technology are nothing but an excuse. It's high time now that we assimilate technological advancements for our classroom teaching.

I have noted down bullet points of the discussion which are shared below. Disclaimer:- These are running notes so some point may be missing and there may be some discrepancy. Apologies for that...!!!
Over to the eminent speakers:-
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Dr. Mahesh Jivani:

·       Technology is a necessity not a luxury anymore.

·       Online Streaming technology is a part of life

·       Parents these days learn it for their kids’ education

·       Just like the use of a knife – depends on discretion and maturity of the user

·       High speed internet and high quality webcam are preferable.

·       Integrating Technology for teaching is not a rocket science.

·        "Jiska koi nahi uska Google hai"

Prof. Dilip Barad:

(Maslow's Need Hierarchy)

·       How we understand the language of technology is essential.

·       Some people are reacting negatively against online teaching

·       Process is always a difficult part, one has to see the end product

·       As a teacher, we have to reconfigure ourselves

·       Earlier there was a resistance against CCTV in classroom, now suddenly that teacher’s space is broken

·       Difference between Online Teaching and Remote Teaching

·       ERT – Emergency Remote Teaching

·      Zoom has been there since so many years but suddenly we realize about it

·       Need to design our instructional thing

·       Flipped Learning, Blended Learning

·       Shift from Learning to Teaching – not just replicating F2F mode

06 Elements

1.    Environmental

2.    Technical

3.    Interpersonal

4.    Pedagogical

5.    Behavioural

6.    Motivational

Environmental: -

·       Natural Imitation of our Teachers

·       Lack of experience of online Learning

·       Only quality of content matters

·       We rely a lot on eye contact, gestures etc

Technical: -

·       Understanding virtual platforms

·       Blackboard, Canvas – very costly

·       Google Classroom + Drive + YouTube + Kahoot + Google Quiz + Google Meet (personal choice also)

·       Google educational apps more reliable, first choice

Interpersonal:-

·       Writing is at the centre of online communication

·       People fight on social media

·       Tone, mood, feelings not present in written word

·       Communication problems

·       Insults and appreciation both sound extreme in written communication

·       Learner’s Devices and tools

Pedagogical:-

·       Learning Affordance

·       Understanding our environment, our learners, their tools/devices/network capacities

·       Pedagogical model

·       The Networked Teacher – Survey before this webinar – a list of various platforms and apps for online teaching

·       If a teacher is performing on 10 apps, students have to download all of them

·       Students’ devices mostly are not high-end devices

·       Institutes should come down to a not so heavy platform – which may work on slower internet connections also

·       Don’t go for very attractive, glamorous platform

Behavioral:-

·       No facial expression, no gestures, no eye contact

·       Both teachers and students need to be oriented and trained for understanding behavior

Motivational:-

·       Gamification

·       Khan academy videos

·       Use of social media for higher education

·       No peer motivation, no teachers motivation, only self motivation

Prof. Mahesh Jivani

·       Online teaching is not going to replace physical teaching

·       Flipped learning

·       We have to use other alternatives like youtube channel, google websites etc

·       Handwritten notes – apps like camscanner, document scanner, google lens etc can help us convert notes into pdf – WOW…

·       Material on websites 365 days 24/7 students can access anytime, any day

·       Just classes on zoom or webex is not online teaching

·       Online teaching is a subset not the main thing

·       G Suit allows 2000 students, Google Classroom allows 250 students

·       PPT export button in PowerPoint – through single click it will convert into a video

·       Slideshow – record voice, rotate slide as per narration and edit

·       Office 365 – latest version of Powerpoint – facility of webcam

·       Download Power Point Presentation – download in mobile ???? Recorder (app)

·       Very simple things yet very effective and applicable for teaching

Prof. Dilip Barad Sir

·       Maslow v/s Bloom

·       For basic needs, education is not required

·       Digital devide – In earlier times, there was not access to physical schools also

·       We didn’t wait for full attendance in physical class – Was there 100% presence in physical class? If NO, why should we expect the full presence in online teaching?

·       Smart villages rather than smart cities

·       We need high quality eyeways (?)

·       Some years back - “Our students don’t have devices” – It was just an Excuse – Govt provides tablets to students

·       Right now google meet is free for some time

·       Necessary to write Actual name in zoom app rather than just the device name – to avoid Avoid Zoombombing – suggestion from Jivani Sir

·       DIY (Do It Yourself)

·       No need for online teaching in primary education, homeschooling is a good option

·       Online teaching is like fill in the blanks… - Jivani Sir

·       When Newspaper was the media and  Radio was invented, people were afraid that it will replace newspaper – later there was similar fear that TV will replace radio and newspaper but still we have all three of them – assimilation of all of them

·       Everything will assimilate

Shaikh Sir's Ques.:-

E-content development is a major challenge

Jivani sir –

Takeaway from COVID19 situation … just like a laboratory, all universities must establish a studio in their campus… better content – prepare teachers for e-content.

Barad Sir – it can be a new model – preparing video can be a part of the teachers' workload.
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Dr. Om Joshi offered vote of thanks to the speakers, faculties and all the participants.
                                                               -  Dr. Jay Mehta