EFFCTS OF ONLINE LEARNING ON TEACHERS
Online Education has really caught on in the past few years. It has become a trend as it allows people to easily catch up after picking up from where they left off or to others it allows them to keep up with their busy schedule and still acquire some proper education. However, no one ever thought what would happen if this became a mandate rather than an option.
The initial thought seems fine, doesn’t it? Win-win situation, teachers get to work from home, students get to learn from their comfort zones but let’s think deeper. The still water of this beautiful river runs deeper than most of us can imagine.
Students and parents have been complaining about how the no-choice online mode of study has affected their lifestyle but what about the ones who suffer in the shadows?
Teachers have had to adjust to a lot too on their side as well. You can imagine the strain that they have to go through to plan lessons online. Whilst students have the option of shutting their screens after they are done with their classes and take a break, teachers on the hand have to still go on staring at their screens planning their lessons and attending to other formalities. That strains their brains and eyes a lot hence causing serious health issues.
Some people may argue that since this is an online class, teachers have the option of taking the class of hundreds of students at once rather than as different sections as in the case of in-class experiences. Well, here’s the thing. Have you imagined the load of paying taking a class of such a huge group at once? Especially when the students are creating a ruckus all the time and denying them that peaceful environment for taking a proper class.
Online learning may seem like such a privilege but not when you have one the best students with a mastery in the art of mischief. Teaching becomes a nightmare in such situations. It also very disturbing to know that students on the other side are not paying attention at all or aren’t even there.
Anything done online faces a great deal of limitation from its greatest liability, Internet Connectivity. Sometimes it is very frustrating when you have to accomplish a task before a given time but you are not able to do so due to a very petty but genuine reason. These tasks may be anything such as uploading assignments, uploading marks or conducting classes. The worst is not being able to take a class due to poor internet and not having the time to take it later on.
On the bright side, the online system of education has been beneficial as well. Due to online procedures paper work has become nearly nil and online processing of information has become really fast hence saving a lot of time. Taking for instance you assign an MSQ through a form. Students get feedback on their performance immediately and marks are assigned immediately as well since all the processing is done electronically. This also helps easily keep a track of who has submitted the assignment on time and who hasn’t submitted at all.
A glimpse on the teachers who aren’t so competent with modern technology and have had to suddenly switch to digital platforms without allowance of transition time for shift. It is very hard for such teachers to be able to teach properly on a computer screen. They may be good teachers but get limited due to using online teaching aids that they are not familiar with. In this case even the students are disadvantaged as they are not able to grasp anything from the sessions.
Finally, there is a limit in physical interaction between the students and teachers hence this limits the teacher’s reach to their students and explain to them properly. This proves to be a great limitation when it comes to explaining practical classes or classes such as Math.