A teacher’s perspective on online learning challenges
Education is a constantly evolving sector. There is a plethora of challenges to face. Being a teacher for two decades, I have been a witness to a sea of changes over the years but the latest and most predominant has been a paradigm shift in the learning process by integrating technology and giving rise to e-teaching/learning. It has become a crucial aspect of the educational system and is gaining impetus daily. In such a technology driven scenario, it has become a challenge for the teachers to incorporate e-teaching in the teaching-learning process, resulting in a plethora of online learning challenges.
Online learning challenges
There is need for availability of technology coupled with the costs incurred on acquiring, installing, operating and maintaining the devices. This infrastructure is certainly not easily available in the current Indian scenario, moreover smooth functioning of an online class is heavily dependent on network, which is often disrupted, killing the momentum of the learning process.
Issues with online learning
Certain practical-based subjects such as Geography, Biology, Physics and Chemistry cannot be taught in the digital education space, with the current curriculum. Library, Art & Craft and P.T. periods are as essential for holistic development of a child as any other subject. These have been trimmed out of the timetables to suit the needs of online learning. This system is more of a screen-based learning system which restricts the students from performing practicals.
Conducting a free and fair examination is also one of the online learning challenges. There is limitation in the number and type of questions which can be asked through the online platform. One of the most difficult challenges of online teaching is to maintain the mental health and physical well-being without the social interactions. No man is an island, journeying through life alone! Social contact through classroom situations, the satisfaction of taking a meaningful class, to watch the sparkle in the eye of a student cannot be undermined. The paucity of human interactions and accelerated distancing will soon begin to weaken the social fabric.
The value of traditional setup should not be compromised to promote digital learning.E-learning cannot be its substitute, but it can supplement the same. Embracing a blended approach is the key to sustain ourselves in the technology driven world.
Satarupa Bhattacharya
Satarupa has been teaching at Loyola High School, Kolkata for over 15 years. She is a Loretoite and grew up among the lush green campus of the Convent. She completed her education from Loreto and St. Xavier's before started her career in St. John's, Chandigarh.
A lover of nature, Satarupa has stepped into the arena of conserving nature and does that through making of videos to create awareness to save mother Earth, conducting webinars on the same in collaboration with the IndianF orest Department. She is adventurous too, having scaled a height of 3000 feet in Bhutan on foot, paraglided from 5000 feet at Khajjiar and posed with tigers in Pattaya.
- Satarupa Bhattacharya#molongui-disabled-link
