Virtual classrooms offer many opportunities – but challenges too
Our rapid transition to online learning has been nothing short of phenomenal. Milica Savic looks at the opportunities – and challenges.
Teaching and learning in a virtual classroom, my students and I have discovered that many things are different. I’ve found there’s a lot more I need to juggle, including juggling the needs of my own children who are also learning from home. I’ve never taught in a blazer and tracksuit combination before, nor have I ever consumed so much caffeine, had so much late-night planning or managed meltdowns during livestreamed lessons – mostly students’ but sometimes mine.
Working in a virtual classroom, remotely from home, has provided many opportunities for teachers to develop creative and innovative online teaching and learning strategies, and the Wesley College Institute has mobilised to establish an online learning environment in a matter of days and weeks, based on a strategy and blueprints that have long been in development.
Collaborative classrooms, but missing real face-to-face contact
Our virtual classrooms are vibrant spaces where students are collaborating in and beyond timetabled class sessions, but we’re all facing challenges in workingfrom home, and it really has hit home just how much I miss my students. Yes, I still get to see their faces and hear their voices online, but I don’t get to see them playing basketball, laughing at each other’s jokes, practising their UN negotiation skills to explain to me why their hat is not required this lunchtime, those ‘Aha!’ moments when they’ve understood a grammar pattern in French, their banter upon entering the classroom, the eye-rolls as I approach an open laptop after having asked them to close them. Yes, I miss them!
Teaching effectively and connecting with students has always been a tough gig but never more so than now. I have to admit, there are quite a few things I didn’t see myself becoming this proficient in: PowerPoint presentations, recorded videos, managing MS Teams meetings, Google forms and Education Perfect smart lessons to name a few of the things that go hand in hand with remote learning. We need to go the extra distance to engage our students and manage the online environment adroitly so they’re engaged with us and their peers.
Perhaps the most difficult change to come to terms with is the number of times I'm asking myself whether I’m living up to my students’ expectations and whether I’m being the best teacher that I can for them.
The importance of little wins
I’ve loved seeing my son’s eyes light up when he sees his fellow Prep classmates in their morning MS Teams class and experiencing the incredible work of his teacher to engage and support him. Love your work, Miss W! At the same time, I’ve also seen the tears and tantrums – yes, we’ve had both – that can often result when children miss out on the stimulation of normal classroom and playground interaction. I’ve felt empathy for frustrated parents whose circumstances make it near impossible to support their children’s online learning. I’ve felt the accompanying guilt, but I’ve also felt the joy of the little wins.
It’s worth remembering the importance of the little wins in times like these. For parents, that’s about making sure children eat well, sleep enough, talk about how they’re feeling and know they’re loved. For teachers, it’s about making sure students feel connected, supported as learners, and effective and productive in their learning.
Sure, at a time like this we face a challenge but also an opportunity – summed up in the wise words of the Chicago Bulls: ‘What time is it? Game time…WHOO!’
Milica Savic is a French Teacher at Wesley’s Elsternwick Campus. This is an edited version first published as ‘COVID-ucation: The 21st-century teaching nobody saw coming’ on LinkedIn.
