The whole world is passing very crucial moments at present. COVID-19 created a tremendous fear in the human mind. They have lost the path, do not understand how to move themselves, how to deal with the business and how to even behave with the future generation; their beloved children. COVID-19 has shut down all educational institutions across the world as it is declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, the students seem to be quarantined by default or separated from their schools by the declaration of the ministry of education.
Alternative Arrangements:
The schools which follow the English Medium curriculum, their academic year is about to finish. The parents, students and teachers are worried of adjusting the syllabus and curriculum of different classes. The parents are more cautious of covering the gaps which are created because of long time shutdown and also the Ramadan vacation is going to be started. So the schools should have the alternative arrangements to continue the education process as per syllabus and curriculum of the school. The educators and school authority can use the following alternatives:
a. Online Platform: As we know that there are two types of learning and teaching flow that schools should balance based on their situations. The one is synchronous which happens collaboratively and at the same time with a group of online learners and usually a teacher. And the other one is asynchronous which happens at any time, not necessarily in a group, but with teacher feedback. Every school should have both of the flows, so that the teachers and students can continue the teaching and learning smoothly and comfortably staying at home. It’s a good news that a few schools in our country have the available facilities of continuing education even in any situation like COVID-19. Daffodil International School (DIS) is one of the schools which ensures the education to the students who are quarantined or away from the school campuses. Every day, teachers staying at home conduct the classes as per class routine of the school. So for continuing regular education schools should follow the following sources of teaching and learning:
2. Using Open Sources: There are some open sources which can be used for teaching and learning as; # Google Classroom (https://classroom.google.com), # Moodle (moodle.org)
Opigno (https://www.opigno.org/en), # Google hangout, # Google hangouts Meet, # Google Duo etc. and also some other sources which can be customized by the individual school authority and used to continue education during vacation or quarantine periods.
3. Mobile Learning Teaching: The mobile is the easiest tool to impart education with more relaxation. Mobile does not only refer to the portable computing device but also the learning that is best used with smartphones or tablets. The teachers can open different groups in Messenger, WhatsApp, tweeter, LinkedIn, imo, viber etc. and transfer the necessary data to the students who have to take permission of their parents.
4. Teaching and Learning Strategy in Online: There are many strategies to continue education after the shutdown of the school in the country, such as; Blogging and vlogging (creating video blogs), Collaborative writing or story-making, Discussion forums or text-based chats, Games/gamification, Intelligent tutoring, Live video chat, Multimedia presentations, Quizzes and surveys, Virtual gallery walks, Virtual reality scenarios etc.
How to Authenticate Students Works in Online:
Online education system is easier to authenticate students’ works than the other conventional systems. We need to bring some changes in how the works and assignments are presented and submitted for evaluation. In that case the teachers have to monitor students’ online activity more closely than in normal classroom situations. Teachers’ guidance and active supervision make this system more effective and useful for the students. The following guidelines teachers may follow to authenticate students’ works:
a. The teachers will take preparation to conduct an effective class with necessary materials. The slides, notes, project works etc. should be made ready for easy delivery of lectures.
b. They will use more formative assessments that are designed to get students to work together and use online resources.
c. They will have a very clear policy on how to submit work online. Students who are given a precise procedure are less likely to make mistakes in submissions, which account for many online learning integrity violations.
d. They will create more assignments that are collaborative. If the teacher is working directly with groups of students on their work, it is far easier for the teacher to monitor what the students are doing and to check their understanding.
e. They create questions and inquiries that require learners to embed their personal experiences and context into any assessed content. Since many online students will be in different locations, it will be easier for the teacher to see when a student is using their surroundings to compose their work.
f. They will use plagiarism checkers whenever students have to submit individual work, and assign drafts of parts of the work prior to a final submission. Most plagiarism checkers can accept drafts of assignments to check against final submissions.
g. They will create more multimedia assignments that require students to remix pictures, videos and text into their own creations.
h. They may create libraries and pathfinders for students to use as part of assignments, then ask students to quote from them as part of their work. This check how well they are able to reference and cite work as well as reduce opportunities for copying the work of others.
i. The teachers will sometimes Interview students about their work using a synchronous chat with audio or video feeds, if possible.
j. The teachers can have a session regularly to interact with students in collaborative manners. This interaction should be arranged for having a joyful session with the students, they may make fun with each other.
Parents Follow up to Children’s Attention:
Since the students are quarantined or separated from the school, and they are also given online education from the school, the parents should have some homeworks for their children.
a. Parents must follow up exactly what their children are doing; they are playing with the internet or attending online classes or doing any unwanted work. The parents should encourage their children to be as independent as possible during their time at home.
b. They will strive to teach their children general time management skills, and empower them to take control of their own schedule. Parents can begin the teaching process by setting their student’s schedule at first, and allowing more liabilities over time. All the time parents must have follow-up abruptly over their children.
c. They will inspire their children to sit on regular online classes and follow the teachers’ instructions as per schedule.
d. Parents should give them enough time to look after them with timely food, rightly accompany and also give them updates of the scenario of the country’s condition in terms of Coronavirus.
e. Parents will never show them fear of COVID-19, rather they will inform them about the real picture of the country and inspire them to continue their education through online and also advise them to have prayer for the affected people.
(Dr MdMahmudul Hassan, writer, education researcher and principal of Daffodil International School)
