Although I have been in the teaching profession for over 25 years and prided myself in the skill of designing an interesting course with engaging content, the pandemic turned my world upside down.
Never before had I had to rely solely on digital resources and electronic devices nor had I thought about the challenges I was to face one day. Things that I had always taken for granted suddenly became an issue. Unreliable electronic equipment was the least of the problems, though eagerly used by some students as an excuse to justify absence or poor performance. One of the most serious challenges, though, turned out to be the tools that my university adopted and mandated to use. The oppressive and controlling system of the institution required all the classed and activities be tracked down in the logs, making me feel I was a cheat looking for an opportunity to skip my work. Even the testing tools had to be governed by the institution. It did not really matter that they were absolutely unintuitive and unattractive and it took ages to absorb how they worked. What did matter was that the records were available for the authorities and that they were stored on the university servers. It goes without saying that support from the university was second to none. Nevertheless, this rigid institutional framework severely limited the spontaneity of choice and the attractiveness of the way the content was delivered.
The next serious issue was the students. Many of them had trouble recognizing the situational register and confused the bed with the lecture theatre. They considered staying at home to be tantamount to free time, which deprived them of internal discipline. The ability to hide behind an off-camera, which was encouraged by the institution’s policy, often fostered student laziness and lack of engagement in class work. Of course, they also had the ordeal of learning new tools and ways of working. Many did a tremendous job and got just as much out of the classes. Nevertheless, there were individuals who, with the permission of the institution, misused the opportunities given to them despite repeated encouragement and efforts to involve them in the learning process.
The pandemic exposed how bureaucratic the institutions are and how disconnected they are from teaching itself, depriving lecturers of basic tools or support and, on the other hand, granting unlimited freedom to students, which many misused, and which reinforced the belief that, despite unethical behaviour, they would still get away with it.
The problems that occurred and the inefficiency of the institution, however, had a brighter side. It was balanced and partly compensated by increased cooperation of the teachers themselves, proving their commitment, selflessness, and willingness to share their expertise and resources.
To sum up. I wasn’t surprised to see all those elements: teachers, students, engagement, tools, competencies, commitment, etc. on our PBL Journey (https://view.genial.ly/619cb8cc4c5ffe0dfdfc70da/interactive-image-design-learning-process). Making this trip with my PBL group let me see them from a different perspective. All these elements are connected by a network of internal links and are crucial for the success of a course. Each of them impacts all the others. And you can skid off the road at any time.
