My imaginaries of online teaching were a little bit like the photo above. A tidy space with everything you need around you, including a warm cup of coffee and a lovely background to create some sort of cosiness for the students to feel warmly welcome to our homes. On the other hand, I imagined a group of students engaged with their computers, eager to try new online platforms and tools, more active in the class since the online space might mitigate fears of judgement and shyness. And specially, I imagined lots of open cameras showing students smiling and nodding at the lecture (facepalm)…. These months of hearing my colleagues complain have quickly made that picture change into a rather messy scenario with family members walking around demanding attention, pets walking over the screen, unstable internet connections and not so tidy kitchen counters for background. Also, black screens, lots of them. 

These weeks reflections on online learning and how to prepare for it, reminded me that, more than a content giver, we are also designers and creators, and online teaching and blended learning demand more of that second role. Therefore, it is ok if the cat walks around, or if you had no time to tidy up the kitchen table and had to improvise a zoom background (which I’ve found, doesn’t work very well with me, as zoom chooses to replace me instead of my background randomly). What I understood, however, is that I cannot think of online the same way I think of face to face teaching, we have had this whole year to learn it doesn’t work the same. I shall make more efforts in creating engaging, creative content, be aware that students might require more attention and more frequent checking, and a very clear structure for the class to easily engage in other activities apart from the lectures. Also, this is a call for institution to increase the support on teaching staff, since online teaching takes much more of the teachers time. 

Photo by Aleks Dorohovich on Unsplash