Engaging Learners Remotely
I know how it feels when as a(n) teacher/educator, you are losing more control than ever, due to the need for remote/online teaching. In fact, students are feeling the pain too. Engagement, as much as we want to “pretend it’s all good”, is a huge challenge in a culture of distractions especially when those distractions occur at home.
But mind you, these distractions are not merely about “being lazy to get Internet access” or “students would rather watch Netflix”, we are actually in a period where financial and family issues are affecting more people than ever. We have to accept the fact that not every student has the same access to a quiet learning space at home.
Some students may even be living in a state of uncertainty with parents who have been recently laid off or struggling to put food on the table. Some are dropping out just to get jobs to assist their parents. And in some cases, parents are truly testing their capacity and capability as being “parents”, something that they may not have time to be bothered about before.
It may sound “exaggerating” to some of us but signs are there and I believe one way we could do is to empower students at this time to be more self-directed, resilient and goal-oriented. Even the word “resilient” is over-used over the past few months but actions to really address this remain unclear. Our so-called “flexible deadlines”, “innovative approaches” or “alternative assessments” may not mean much if students have bigger problems to overcome and we are still worrying about attendance or compliance to “age-old” rules.
Not easy, not comfortable, but I think many educators “are becoming real educators” for the best interest of the students. Keep it up, educators. And to the affected students, hang in there and try your best to cope and be a self-directed learner. It’s a tough time for everyone and a chance to be a tougher person.
