Teaching in times of corona
Now that the coronavirus has shut down schools for at least three weeks, individual faculty and teacher teams across the country are switching to online classes, virtual lectures and other forms of distance learning. A small anthology.
Image: Pixabay
Since all schools were closed yesterday, teachers are trying to continue their education from a distance. As good and as bad as that goes: in one school the team is still a little uncomfortable exploring the possibilities, in the other students benefit from the digital experience that teachers had already gained. What all these efforts yield will become apparent later, but the intention is the same everywhere: to enable pupils and students to continue working at home as much as possible.
Reversed
Iris Offermans, chemistry teacher at the LVO foundation and AObtrade union consultant, is busy changing all plans and study guides. "Instead of doing experiments myself in my classroom, I now have to get those experiments from YouTube. Fortunately, there is a teacher with his own YouTube channel who has already put the entire curriculum of havo and vwo on his channel, in bite-sized chunks. Normally I tell the students that they can watch those films as a supplement, now it's the other way around: watch the film first, and then do homework and ask me questions via digital means. I don't quite know yet."
Normally I tell the students that they can watch those films as a supplement, now it is the other way around: watch the film first, and then do homework and ask me questions via digital channels
It is a lot of improvising with the instruments from the digital toolbox. Offermans: "We have agreed that the lessons will continue, but how am I going to do that? I think partly with Skype and It's Learning, SOM2day, with Microsoft Teams and with Slack. Slack is a kind of WhatsApp, where you can add people with their e-mail address instead of their telephone number. This way you keep work and private life a bit separate. Well, it will work: I already have it reasonably in my head. Only I normally plan six weeks ahead, while I am already happy if I have tomorrow's round tonight.”
Crash course
Some of the schools take the first few days to inventory their wishes and possibilities. And to train teachers. Lecturers at Jan van Brabant College in Helmond were given a crash course in distance learning this morning.
https://twitter.com/JvBCollege/status/1239857386741006338
The emergency is also releasing a positive vibe at schools, writes De Gelderlander. Groeisamen, a Gelderland umbrella organization of primary schools in places such as Beuningen and Druten, had set up a system for webcam lessons on Monday afternoon. The supra-school ICT specialist can hardly restrain his enthusiasm. 'There is such a feeling of Wirschijn das here!', he says in the newspaper, who made a tour of the fields.
Interim rector Ton Diepeveen of the Drutense school community Pax Christi College will also speak. 'Teachers prepare work in the digital learning environment itslearning, students know exactly what to do. They can ask questions to lecturers via chat or e-mail.'
The students of OBS Het Klokhuis in Beek en Donk will receive a weekly plan until April 6, in which they can see what they have to do, reports RTV Contact. To ensure that they are not sitting behind the screen all day, they can come and collect materials and other items on Tuesday mornings.
Chest
Meanwhile squeaked and creaked Magister today because of all the hustle and bustle.
https://twitter.com/hetrijks/status/1239885339445116928
Allestoringen.nl at just before two o'clock this afternoon
Compliment
At Hogeschool Rotterdam, we are working hard to offer education digitally wherever possible. Lecturers who are at the forefront share their knowledge and experience with colleagues who are even less advanced. 'The big challenge lies with the study programs, teachers and students. Having alternatives available is the beginning, actually using them is much more complex. Still, I like that we can offer something. The biggest risk at the moment is that education will come to a complete standstill and that we will no longer be able to catch up this academic year. We try to prevent that, 'says IT manager Anjo van Kelckhoven Profiles.
Having alternatives available is the start, actually using them is much more complex.
Professor of Political Science Eric Schliesser at the University of Amsterdam explains at Folia how recordings from last year are taken off the shelf. 'Two more lectures were planned for this week and instead last year's lectures, which were then recorded, are now being put online. We also try to arrange something for the inspection of the first exam, which was scheduled for next Friday, but that is complicated. So you see that even with good internet connections in this world, you still run into a lot of questions. '
No matter how it goes - bumpy or already more streamlined - all efforts do not go unnoticed. Parents and school leaders express their appreciation for the energetic approach. As director Jeroen Goes of Fluvium Public Education already did yesterday.
https://twitter.com/jeroen_goes/status/1239579904448122882
