Popoola

BACKGROUND

My institution, before the outbreak of COVID-19 believes that technology is an important tool in education delivery as it enhances self-paced, learner-centred education, but less was done to actualise this. When the pandemic broke out, they began to expedite actions on putting in place the necessary resources (human, equipment, skill acquisition) for online studies. A “system” was then developed and we were trained to use some online Learning Management Tools in ways we had never done before, however, the students weren’t really trained. Even though we were trained, more still remained to be learnt in using online mode for education facilitation. I wanted to be able to meet the overall educational needs of my students in the face of current global realities.

INTERVENTION

The intervention was delivering lectures online (both synchronously and asynchronously) to my students while they are actively involved in the process. Even though they were not present onsite, they continued with their education. The planning was such that they had expectations spelt out from the beginning and the course was designed with inclusivity in mind. Both the lecturers and the students were involved in the planning. The implementation was not as planned initially because of some challenges such as power outage and poor internet connection, hence, the frequency of asynchronously sessions were reduced.

RESULTS

I noticed that the learners performed better in their assessments at the end of the session, because their learning was self-paced and they confessed interacting with the audio-visual materials many times over. They became active participants in their learning journey. Also, I was able to accommodate more gender sensitivity in my class which increased participation. The intervention was very useful.

LESSONS LEARNT

I was able to establish meaningful engagement with the learners which stimulated and motivated them to learn. This went well. Using asynchronous sessions and asking them to write in blogs, journals and forum helped achieve a lot. In terms of challenges experienced, shortage / inadequate availability of needed resources such as power and internet connectivity access ranked the greatest.

For others to successfully execute online teaching, they should be trained by ‘institutions’ such as PedaL. Also, because this type of project is time consuming and requires a lot of commitment, they must also be willing and able to devote a lot of time and other resources to it.

AHA MOMENTS

I applied some of the things learnt in PedaL especially in the area of alignment and prioritising acquiring 21st century skills by redesigning my course outline. They love the new outline. I also uploaded videos which learners watched during the asynchronous sessions. The impacts were enormous. My students now learn online at their own pace. A number of them acquired the critical thinking and communication skills. I was really intrigued by this.

FURTHER INFORMATION

https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=T222BC7&sp=true&nocache=1614285006529 https://sites.google.com/view/journeytoproficiencysubmitted/home