I don't know if it really is the end of the world as we know it, but it certainly feels like it.
Overnight my colleagues and I were jettisoned into the realm of online teaching. For the higher levels, it is no doubt much easier. For me, with CLB 4, it is not too bad. But I really feel for instructors of CLB 1 or 2 students, many of whom never attended school in their home countries!
On Friday we left the college believing that on Monday we'd have classes as normal, along with a couple of workshops to prepare for online instruction, should that become necessary.
The reality: on Sunday we learned that in-person classes were cancelled and instruction would move to online.
I had already prepared some materials for the week, so it was simply a matter of altering them slightly, uploading to their Moodle book, and changing the instructions so students would know how to send me their work. I gave them three options -- they could write their answers in the email body, they could write their answers on paper and send me a photo, or they could email me and attach their work in a Word document.
On Monday we were told not to worry about teaching any content this week; our main concern should be to contact our students.
In a matter of hours, we had formed a class WhatsApp group, missing only 4 or 5 of the 21 students. I directed them to their Moodle Book, and since then I have received numerous emails with their writing and texts telling me about the reading and listening they've done.
Here at home, I was scrambling to learn to use Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. Fortunately, it is easy to learn, and I was able to prepare a session to introduce students to the system. The plan is to have a short session on Friday to make sure everyone knows how to join and participate, and on Monday (fingers crossed!) we should be ready to roll.
I've also spent time with a couple of other tools: Screencast-o-matic, which allows you to make simple videos quickly and easily, and EdPuzzle, which allows you to edit videos and add mini quizzes.
I said I wanted to learn to use technology in teaching! Here is my chance!
Continue with this course and be sure to update me if you find other applications, programs, etc that are more suitable. I want to be able to upgrade and roll out this course for the next session. I think we are all learning by the seat of our pants. And yes, we may continue to have face to face sessions after this traumatic event is over but I do believe COVID-19 will forever change the way we teach online.
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