Journey of an Online Distance Learning in Pandemic times

By next week a couple of my educationist friends will start their Online Distance Learning journey of the era 😊. I wish them all the very best!

Some have been hard at training, trying to grasp & muster as much new info, knowledge & technology possible before the semester reconvenes. If you are as reluctant as I am before, then Congratulations, because attending these training meant you have taken the first steps towards preparing for what's ahead.

Based on what I've been through these past few weeks (including Ramadan ODL 😁), these are some of the things I have learned so far. This is going to be a long one. But I have not had the time to write for quite some time. Consider this payback time 😁 And please, if anyone else wants to share their tips/thoughts/concerns too - most welcome!

Acceptance

I think if people were to ask me - what would be the first thing we should do when preparing for ODL in a pandemic timeline, I'd say we have to accept the fact that this is a special circumstance requiring intervention with special measures. Accept this, and Insya Allah we can work out the rest of the challenges and make it work.

Plan

Plan! Plan your semester - everyone will tell you that. But between learning new app & tech and turning into a sudden You-Tube sensation, time catches up on you. Suddenly, it's 'game' time. For UiTM it was a 2 weeks break. In the meantime, UiTM churned out like a gazillion surveys & 'peningkeliling', ask for reports after reports like we are flying the campus to the moon bla bla bla, and that is not including my own small survey for my students - so there's a time when we all lost tracks of what is what, what is when and which is which (you get what I mean).

I took almost a week only to plan and do class management. I have 170 plus students this semester. Most of us, mistook the time needed to manage classes online - because we thought everyone can now be reached via soc-med. We can never be so wrong in certain cases. Some of my students took days to respond, due to the almost non-existent internet connection, while others are totally lost for various reason, including losing their phones or stuck with a malfunctioning phone (yes, convenient timing!). So you got to be creative in getting all of them 'connected' to you (not telepathically). I looked for their photos in the uni's LMS - paste them in all the class Telegram groups with the caption: WANTED! And walla - suddenly they are found or rather they found themselves (Ok, I was kidding about the caption).

Then another week was taken to figure out the layout of the Learning Management System (UiTM gave us the freedom to choose our own LMS, if we decided not to use the uni's LMS) and pre-record lecture videos, upload them online along with all the other links, notes, textbooks, and activities that go along with each topic. That was exhausting because mostly I tend to give an impromptu lecture, which has the tendency to be babbles - which requires editing later on. So tips: have scripts ready before recording. Yes, that will take time, but trust me - it reduces the headache of trimming your videos - even if the LOOM video-recording software is great at allowing you to do so.

Be yourself

I know everyone by now knows about Kahoot! and the rest of the jolly game looking quiz app, or whatever lesson games they throw at you, some I can't even pronounce properly 😁. I know of Kahoot when I was doing Post-Grad Diploma in Education in OUM in 2016. Confession: I have never used it since 😄 I don't know - probably I am a no-fun lecturer 😂 I just want to go in class - babbles to my heart's content and leave. I just could not imagine - my Criminal Law lecturers using Kahoot! 🤭 Look, the only reason I actually passed my criminal law papers was that I was scared of them, not because I thought they were much fun 😁

So be yourself. Don't be too ambitious. If all the fancy looking app or tech is not for you, then choose something that will be aligned to your teaching objectives and you are most comfortable with. Probably they are more low tech, but if consistently applied, the students will be able to get on with the class anyway. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing your lecturers grappling with technology throughout an ODL semester that nobody wants. Consider too, the fact that some of your students may not be able to apply this app/tech due to connectivity issues. Doesn't mean we can't be creative, but we just need to be fair in our choice.

Express your concern

I know it's rare for some lecturers to suddenly become Dr Phil's clients in class, but please, if you have concerns, you are tired & stress out too, just express them. Tell your family, your colleagues, including your students. Just say it (type it out) - "I am sorry guys, I am kinda burned out this week, can we pick this one up next time". I am telling you - you'd feel like shedding a tear or two, but it would be such a relieve on you (and them too). The students will be able to relate that as much as they are having problems, you too are struggling like everyone else in the ODL ecosystem - we are but a mere human, and we got to help each other to make this work. Allow the students to express their thoughts & concerns too. Have anonymous polls, surveys, so you can gauge the reality out there affecting your students and make revisions to the class accordingly.

Be flexible

I think if people were to ask me what would be the most important aspect to keep in mind when managing an ODL semester such as this - I'd say flexibility! Yes, we make plans & usually we wanted to stick to it for obvious reasons, but there are times we need to be flexible.

The first 2-3 weeks would usually be a bit chaotic. Trust me on this 🤭 But it's alright. It will get better. Some lecturers would want to 'replicate' their usual timetable online synchronously via Video Conferencing app, while others may not. Just note that a VC is not similar to a physical class. Your VC, if you require video presence to be made compulsory, is now 'invading' into the privacy of the students' home (including yours 🤭). Even if they consented to it, the length of time they need to spend glued to the screen, hours after hours will eventually be exhausting and made the VC less effective. A VC with no video presence can be even less effective, especially if the length of class time is more than an hour. They leave their attendance in the chat and will be nowhere to be seen (pun intended) till you recite Surah Al -'Asr. Tips: Ask them a question from time to time - in the chat to check the class 'pulse' 😎

After a while you will start receiving messages of technicality issues, common ones - I can't hear you (sometimes, I have not even started speaking yet 😂), I can't join the link, I have been 'thrown' out of the class, the video is not clear, your voice is putus-putus & the list goes on... So be flexible! Probably mix-matching a pre-recorded lecture with a VC makes for better management of the need for lectures. Anyway, always record the VC lecture and share them with the class. Convert them to MP3 - so they become a podcast for students with minimum access.

Almost similar messages of technicality issues will be received come task/assignment submission time, common ones - internet coverage problem when submitting, hang!, submitted - but it went missing on the LMS, my once in a blue moon coverage finally appears, and the list goes on...So, again be flexible. Give them time to resubmit. My motto - Better late than no submission at all, but with proper excuse &notification - and my students will always be informed of this policy. Take note of students with connectivity issues early on during class management, allow them to have some additional time for submission but they must consistently inform you of their submission when it's done. Yes, be flexible, but be consistent in your flexibility.

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ODLians

Life As I See It - NFN
May 2020