WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
NANDINI VAZ FERNANDES
Covid-19 pandemic has hit hard not only the economy sector, but has left the educational sector too in a dilemma. The decision of having nationwide lockdown was a good move by the government and much appreciated even by World Health Organisation (WHO), and was much needed in order to save the life of many. Goa being a small State, the decision of the State government to continue the Janata curfew into the full-fledged nationwide lockdown was a wise move in the interest of the people. Though the lockdown has caused some hardships, it has brought in positive impact on the environment or nature besides controlling the spread of Covid-19.
The Education sector too was totally unprepared for this sudden crisis situation due to this pandemic. March onwards is crucial time for both students and teachers. And suddenly all are confined to their houses due to the lockdown. In this situation, anxiety mounts in the minds of students and teachers as to how do we carry out teaching, learning and evaluation. This is ‘food for thought’ to all in the education sector to relook into the pedagogies of Teaching-Learning-Evaluation, governing our education system. I would like to discuss some aspects of ‘Teaching-Learning’ and ‘Evaluations’ in the higher education sector and what measures we can adopt to overcome the challenges and make sure the academic year remains unaffected due to the pandemic.
Using our time productively
To combat against the coronavirus outbreak, the University Grant Commission (UGC) said students and teachers need to take preventive measures, maintain social distancing and utilise this time productively by engaging in online learning during this lockdown.
‘How do we make students learn outside the classroom’ is a mental task for many of us. Some may even say that it is difficult for students to ‘learn’ without the presence of the teacher. However, for teachers acquainted with multiple modes of teaching and learning, it may not be a difficult task. ‘Lecture method’ is one mode of teaching and may not always be fruitful to get the interest of the new generation students. In higher education institutes, the preset generation of students can learn through various means. Research has shown that teachers need to adopt many active learning strategies and cooperative learning strategies for effective learning. These include Problem Based Learning, Flipped Classroom, Project based learning, Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), Inquiry based learning, Technology based learning, Research Based Pedagogical Tools (RBPT) etc. These techniques make students responsible for their own learning. Integrating Bloom’s Taxonomy in any teaching technique that we adopt is a must. Our teaching pedagogies should enable students to apply knowledge learnt, analyse, synthesise and evaluate rather than just understand and remember.
E-learning from home
In this period of lockdown, we need to focus on ‘online teaching-learning’. For this, having a learning platform is essential. For institutions having moodle based open source learning platform, things may be much easier. Moodle is an acronym for "Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment". It is a free and open-source learning management system (LMS) which enables you to create a private learning space online full of engaging activities and materials. Developed on pedagogical principles, ‘Moodle’ is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other e-learning projects in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and other sectors. Institutions which don’t have moodle, need to consider having it in future. The other option available is ‘Google Classroom’. Google Classroom is a free web service, developed by Google for schools/colleges, that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments in a paperless way. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students.
Once you have this platform you can then engage students in learning process. ‘Learn from Home’ module can be created on moodle/Google classroom by you and resources can be made available to the students. Resources can include PowerPoint presentations of topics to be taught (lecture wise), Free animation Videos teaching concepts or content, Journal research resources, web links to open course ware, links to journals or E-Books related to the topic taught etc. One can even create and upload own videos, or audio notes for students etc. The visual, audio, and kinaesthetic learning are three key areas that need to be focused to offer an optimal learning experience. This approach simply means giving opportunities for the students to see the knowledge, hear it and feel it to the core. Let students learn by going through all the resources that you provide. Since the responsibility of learning is now shifted on to the students, they will take keen interest to understand things better. Teachers can even experiment with options of internet chat, and internet videoconferencing. Some faculties across the globe are now setting up accounts on some online video conferencing system such as ‘Zoom’, ‘Hangout Meet’, ‘Skype’, ‘GoToMeeting’ etc. If you are tech savvy, try these too.
Nationwide initiatives
There are many online education websites offering their content for free now. Even the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, through its Online/Digital education initiatives is trying to ensure that students can continue their learning sitting at their home, during this lockdown period. Government online learning platform SWAYAM has set up a plethora of free online courses to do its bit for the learners' community as schools, colleges and universities shut down amid the COVID 19 lockdown. Usually courses on SWAYAM are time-bound and run as per semesters but due to the current situation, these 1,900 courses are accessible throughout.
"Online education is the need of the hour and has picked up out of sheer necessity. Since all of this content was already available, we are making it public and people are also using it," says Parameswaran N as reported by ‘Business Today’ on March 27 2020.
There are several ICT initiatives of the MHRD, UGC and its Inter-University Centres (IUCs) - Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) and Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC), in the form of digital platforms. These digital platforms can be accessed by the teachers, students, and researchers in Universities and Colleges for learning. Other online learning websites and resource provided by the MHRD to study for free during the Coronavirus lockdown are UG/PG MOOCs, e-PG Pathshala, SWAYAMPRABHA, CEC-UGC YouTube channel, National Digital Library, Shodhganga, e-Shodh Sindhu and Vidwan.
In response to the COVID 19 impact on educational institutions, Coursera too announced free access of its catalogue to impacted universities and colleges through the 'Coursera for Campus' platform. This gives universities and colleges access to more than 3,800 courses and 400 specialisations on Coursera.
Students who are sitting at home can now make full use of all these learning materials.
Home learning can be challenging for students. In a physical classroom setting interaction is more dynamic and teachers can stimulate feedback from students more easily to gauge the understanding of the subject taught. But in this ‘learn from home’ situation, how do we ensure that students are learning? Since we are not able to meet students, putting up content in simplified manner and also devising means of checking if learning is taking place is required.
How to gauge student’s learning
Well, here are some things that you as a teacher can do to gauge their learning. On each PowerPoint presentation / lecture / video / any resource provided by you, give them a set of ‘problem based learning’ questions based on blooms taxonomy (Higher order thinking skills) and ask for submission of their answers to you. Alternatively, you can tell students to create ‘mind maps’/ ’concept maps’ of their understanding of the PPT / Videos /resources uploaded. Give them a chance to come up with some brilliant or interesting ways of creating their mind maps of understanding. You can even ask students to write summary of their understanding. Give them a ‘real life case’ or ‘situation’ and tell them to analyse it. This would also help them to learn how to apply what they learn in real life and not simply study to score marks in exams. For all submissions you can give deadline. But one also has to be flexible as students may have issue with bandwidth or access to computer. So give them time. Let them do things at their own pace. This kind of teaching-learning would not only help students to retain the information for a longer period in their memory, but also enable them to critically analyse and evaluate things. This sort of self learning phase gives them the independence to take control over their learning and this can boost their confidence level. I’ve tried out these techniques with my students, and I was overwhelmed with their response to learning through these means.
Evaluation of learning includes formative (Intra Semester Assessments -ISA) and summative assessment (Semester End Assessments- SEA). Conduct of examination is governed by rules, regulations and ordinances. However, academic autonomy granted to Chowgule College, permits flexibility in adopting different modes of assessments. Formative assessments may include assignments, multiple choice questions(MCQs), Gobbets, problem based learning activities, quizzes, short answer questions (SAQ), mini projects, practice presentations, kinaesthetic assessments, reviews, project based learning activities, case studies etc. Of all these, the first five can be easily adopted as online assessment mode in emergency situations or lockdowns. Teachers can even conduct online viva-voce using whatsapp or Skype or Instagram. If teachers have the freedom of choosing the mode of assessment, then these options are worth considering. If not, maybe we need to relook into the ordinances or regulations governing formative and summative assessment modes to offer flexibility. At present, most institutions consider written exam as the only mode of summative assessment. However, we need to be more prepared to conduct examinations in situations of lockdowns and emergencies in future. Maybe we should think out of the box measures to deal with this and consider other modes of summative assessments such as ‘Process Based Portfolio’ or ‘Creative assignment’ submissions as summative assessment instead of SEA. If such choice is available we may be able to be better prepared to conduct online examinations in such emergency situations in future.
Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented situation and no one really knows how long it will be, before normal routine life begins for us. Social distancing will go a long way in controlling the situation. Let us not allow Covid-19 to stop our teaching-learning. Let’s say that even in the darkest of times, there are opportunities for us to shine. A lot can be done. This is a time for all teachers to unleash their innovative side and come up with ways to continue teaching, learning and assessments by online means. We need to come up with a positive plan to start the ‘Learn from home’ learning journey of our students. We only need to have the right attitude and start innovating rather than despairing. This experience of being away from classroom will surely change the way we look at the approaches we have been adopting to teach in the colleges/universities.
(The writer is an Associate Professor, Dean- Faculty of Life Science, Head, Department of Zoology, Parvatibai Chowgule College (Autonomous), Margao)
