Two sides of the same coin

Teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin: on one side, the students, and the other side is the teacher. Everything that is meant to happen in a face-to-face classroom or online class is determined by the teacher, as it always has been. However, the teaching outcome depends on a teacher as well as a student. The students’ learning outcome differs depending on the student’s ability to learn, motivational level, and commitment towards learning. The teaching outcomes also differ depending on the lecturers’ ability to influence the students and knows how to encourage, and enrich them.

A few qualities of an effective lecturer:

·      Caring, fair, and respectful

·      Enhance teaching by using different teaching strategies, activities, and assignments.

·      Teaching by using a student-centred approach.

·      Explain the topic contents in a meaningful way that encourages understanding.

·      Provide meaningful feedback for improvement.

Effective from March 2020, due to the pandemic, unexpectedly our F2F classes become online classes. It was a real nightmare both for students as well as lecturers. The challenges of students’ engagement in learning have been intensified. Some of the lecturers have expressed their concern that no matter how they try the students are hesitant to engage and reluctant to discuss. Getting our students to contribute in online classes takes some work from our lecturers. The students need personal support, scaffolding, and care. Technology is a learning tool, not a human. They need a personal touch.

Here are some of the teaching strategies to enhance students’ participation in my virtual classroom:

1.     Know your students by name: I print out the student names list and call out their names to become familiar with their names and know them personally. It is important to know your online students by name because it builds a good relationship with them. Using their names in the explanation of the topic is one of the sweetest experiences for them.

2.     Using chat box to check for understanding:  In the first week, after explaining the lesson, I usually use the chat-box to type thumbs up or thumbs down or yes, no to show whether they understand a lesson. It is a kind of scaffolding. During a first lesson, by their nature and culture, they (especially Asian Oriented students) are hesitant to answer the questions and to add their voices. They are afraid to make mistakes in front of others. They don’t want to lose the face in front of other students and they are so used to passive learning.

3.     Flip the classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: In week 2 forwards, I flip the class into a deeper discussion. Spend 10-20 minutes of teaching time for discussion. Divide the students into breakout rooms to solve related issues in small groups. Then I joined the breakout rooms to listen to students. In small breakout rooms help me to identify the students and this allows me to clarify the students who are struggling and eventually I can better assist them.

4.      Attend short courses for online teaching. Online teaching requires new skill set, such as being confident and personable self and able to communicate and encourage students. I recommend attending short courses for teaching online if you are not familiar with online teaching,

5.     Prepare for the delivery of the lesson: Update your teaching materials and contents with the latest trends and practices. Above all, the teaching materials should be relevant, current, and useful for their future.

6. Give students opportunities to make their voice: Most of the universities send a survey for feedback on their learning experience at the end of the course. It is too late to wait till the end and to make adjustments along the way. I ask for their feedback after the first lesson, to know the areas of improvement.

7.     Use personal experience and true personal stories to engage students: I usually open up my classes with real-life stories to inspire and motivate them. These true personal stories pique students’ attention and they become more engaged, connected, and feel more comfortable learning. However, the true stories should be related to the topics and must be appealing to students. Always speak your feeling to accept that teacher is also a human being just like them.

Dr. Philip Maw 

Lecturer

Torrens University- Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School