Teaching in the new normal.
While lecturers are slowly adjusting to remote instruction, there are some teaching
and learning elements that cannot be replicated at home.
After months of campus closures, Assistant Professor Dr Rosemaliza Mohd
Kamalludeen from International Islamic University Malaysia's Kulliyyah of Education
yearns for in-personal interaction with her students.
"We used to do a lot of hands-on activities in the classroom. I miss consultation
hours with my students as they have great impact on student learning. I also miss
on-the-field projects that I assigned to my students.
"Another experience missing in remote learning is the students' feedback and their
emotional reactions when we do exciting things or when they attend lectures. Field
trips, research projects are not doable online." Universiti Teknologi Mara's (UiTM)
Faculty of Education senior lecturer, Dr Hamidah Mohd Ismail, also misses the
"It is the social element of being in a physical classroom — a community that is
working towards a shared goal."
PARADIGM SHIFT
Lectures need to remember that learning must go on, said Rosemaliza.
However, a paradigm shift is crucial to make e-learning a meaningful experience,
she said.
"Some beliefs about teaching and learning have to change so that online lessons will
not merely replicate face-to-face sessions.
"Designing learning experiences require lecturers to really know their students, their
subject matter, the resources and technology they have access to, and learning
outcomes. Lecturers need to use this information to construct lessons.
A lecturer's duty is rather to ensure learning happens for their students. Lecturers
need to redesign assessments and be creative, she added.
"Assessments inform us of where the students are, and what should be done to get
the students to where they should be. Unlearn the notion that assessments are only
for grading.
"Go back to the intended learning outcomes. If students are merely expected to
remember the information, then simple online tests are adequate.
"For higher order thinking skills like apply, analyse, evaluate and create, various
assessment tools can be used in all fields, from social sciences to pure sciences.
"Students can carry out research projects or campaigns to address a certain issue or
apply scientific concepts. There are lecturers who use virtual reality tools in their
technical courses," said Rosemaliza.
Before the pandemic, she has always practised blended learning.
"Priorities have not really changed as I've always spent a lot of time designing my
lessons to make them impactful and meaningful. But the production of online
learning materials, such as videos, infographics, and online interactive activities has
escalated."
Engaging students in a live discussion is a great way to learn, she added. For lower
bandwidth, applications like Whatsapp or Telegram can be used.
"Discussions spark curiosity and trigger debates. The thought processes that
students experience is crucial towards internalising new knowledge
"To retain and apply the knowledge gained, students may be tasked to write a
reflection or suggest a solution to the issue discussed."
NEW PRIORITIES
For Hamidah, her teaching concerns changed with the switch to online learning.
"Now I am committed to making continuous improvement in creative pedagogy."
Hamidah's current priority is ensuring that her online teaching plans are reasonable,
flexible and human-centred.
"I can see that lecturers are now turning to each other to discover a range of digital
tools and learning the design consequences of our choices. We are also developing
creative learning resources.
"The practices shared by others help me plan my teaching tools. I am lucky that
UiTM has been very proactive in training lecturers to shift to online learning."
Lecturers need to understand how challenging it is to be learning in isolation, she
added.
"Students are suddenly left to their devices when they were used to having a set
schedule. They need motivation to become self-directed learners.
"Once, a student was absent from an online discussion. It turned out he had to help
his mother buy packed lunch for his younger siblings.
"I need to respond with more compassion and support at this time. I constantly
remind my students that I am always here for them.
"Grades are no longer the focus. It is now about what students learn throughout this
challenging journey."
The COVID-19 pandemic means education may never be the same again.
Whether it's parents home-schooling their children while working from home,
teachers' attempts to keep 30 kids engaged on a Zoom call or pupils sat at
new socially distanced desks, education's 'New Normal' has arrived at a
blistering pace.
To understand more about how we got to this point and what the future
holds, CGTN Europe has spoken to a teacher, parent and student to discuss
how different the classroom has become with countries at different stages of
reopening schools.
Audrey Desmet is a kindergarten teacher, living in Brussels, Belgium. Though
nurseries remain closed, she has returned to work to help with the return of
elementary school students. Classes for final-year pupils began again on
Monday, under social distancing measures.
Matthew Sankary is a financial consultant who lives in Madrid with his wife
and two daughters, aged six and 11. Some schools in Spain's less affected
areas, like the Basque Country, have started reopening on a voluntary basis.
All education powers in Spain are devolved to its 17 autonomous regions.
Jacob Page is a first-year student at Cambridge University, one of the first
institutions to announce all classes would go online until the start of the new
academic year in the fall. He is reading geography. All education institutions in
the UK are currently closed until the coronavirus pandemic is brought under
control.
What impact has lockdown had on your role in education?
Audrey Desmet (the teacher): Communicating with my kindergarten
students, who are four and five years old, was particularly complicated
because they cannot read or write. The solution we found for the youngest
students was to send challenges by email to the parents and they can then
send photos or documents back to me via WhatsApp.
Matthew Sankary (the parent): It was horrible. The 49-day lockdown was just
an amazing disregard for families in Spain. Dog owners had more rights. My
wife and I both work full-time, so it's been 24/7, teaching kindergarten and
trying to supervise a sixth-grader. It really impacted our younger daughter.
She's gone from a bolt of sunshine to constantly crying and (having) tantrums.
It's given me a completely different appreciation for kindergarten teachers
and their patience.
Jacob Page (the student): It's pretty hard to motivate myself, doing the
whole summer term online from my bedroom. Going from face-to-face
teaching in small groups, Cambridge University's most prized attribute, to
Zoom classes has been an odd change. I'm missing what is dubbed one of
your best terms at university. All the socializing has gone, but the academic
stuff has stayed.
Would you support a return to school and why?
AD: Elementary schools have now returned in Belgium. For my kindergarten
classes, I have a hard time imagining how younger pupils are going to respect
social distancing and the other measures because we need to handle them,
we need to help them and I need to be with them.
MS: We need to start going back to life. Based on what the whole message
was at the beginning to support the health care sector, we've done that. We
locked our kids up for 49 days. We've worn masks. We've tried to protect
ourselves. Now let's go back and start to normalize.
JP: It's safer to continue with the lockdown until we have a better handle on
the situation. Sending back thousands of students to small cities like
Cambridge could have a really damaging effect to allow the virus to spread
more and have a second wave.
What measures do you want put in place to guarantee pupil and teacher
safety?
AD: We already wear masks and have social distancing measures. An
enormous effort has been made to upgrade hygiene measures in sanitary
facilities and toilets. That is one positive side of this crisis. We have separated
classes into two or three groups, which is difficult to manage because not all
classes can return at the same time at the moment.
MS: The better solution is to make the age of the teachers younger, because
they're not getting as sick, and maybe move older teachers into more of a
mentor relationship until we can create a vaccine or there's herd immunity.
JP: You have to take numbers down in classes, but there is a point where you
either run out of space or teaching staff. When education resumes fully,
people have to take more care because there's a limit to how socially distant
you can be.
What should be done for pupils who were unable to sit exams?
AD: It's important to find out where the child is at. In Belgium, sixth graders
have the CEB, the Certificat d'Études de Base, which goes over all skills since
starting school. It's good for both pupil and teacher, particularly the teacher,
to see where they are at the moment in their studies.
MS: There's been such a discrepancy with the Spanish education system, even
within the same school. We have teachers who have had a Zoom class with
the kids but others haven't because they're not familiar with technology. It's
been haphazard, a disaster.
JP: I feel worst for the year 10s and year 12s, who are in the middle of their
GCSE and A-level exams. They're not getting the same safety net that the A-
level students this year have had, which is to cancel the exams completely. In
next year's exams, they could all be damaged by this lost term. Doing your A-
levels provides you with valuable experience on how to work and cope with
the pressures of exams.
READ MORE: The French pupils forced to take classes in the woods
I can see that I am going to be living in
constant stress and saying 'you can't
do that' and that's not l how I see
teaching.
- Audrey Desmet, a teacher from Brussels
How will this change the classroom?
AD: It will be hard to teach with a facemask because you need facial
expressions. Kindergarten involves a bit of theatre. I don't know how we are
going to help children develop if we cannot console them, touch them or
show them how to hold their pencil. I can see that I am going to be living in
constant stress and saying 'you can't do that' and that's not l how I see
teaching.
MS: I don't know where they get these ideas that they can put five-year-olds
into a classroom and there's not going to be touching. The first thing they'll
want to do is to give their friends a hug. It's not the same for older kids.
They've gone online and they've changed their behavior.
JP: There will be attempts to space out desks or leave every other one free,
but I don't see how that would make a difference. You all use the same doors.
Some of our lecturers are older and at high risk. You shouldn't be put in a
room with 100 students of questionable hygiene and risk your life just to
teach them for an hour.
MS: It seems like parents are being ignored. The government needs to talk to
parents at different socio-economic levels, different housing levels, different
situations, different age groups and start putting together surveys so that
they can come up with a plan that is forward-looking and not reactionary, so
we're not all melting in our houses when July comes.
Transitioning to the new normal
in education
https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2020/06/24/ready-for-new-norm-of-
learning#cxrecs_s
Everybody has been urging for changes to be made to education in Malaysia for the
longest time. Reimagining and revitalising education are among the catch phrases
when it comes to mooting 21st century education. But in reality, it is not easy to
imagine, let alone change, unless circumstances force us to.
The new normal for education requires us to unlearn what we have always known:
rows of desks, heavy bags, mass lectures, public exams, and (broken) parent-
teacher communication. Unlearn those, and we can establish the new normal of
education.
While everyone seems to directly correlate online learning with the new normal, it is
not the whole story. Online learning is essential as an enabler of learning so that the
whole business of education will not stall, but there are more facets to pay attention
to in defining the new normal.
I look at four aspects to ease the transition to the new normal.
1) Shift of learning space – from public space to personal space
What this means is instead of going to school and university premises to learn,
learning now happens at home within our personal spaces. The transition of spaces
has been happening since Web 2.0 (the second stage of development of the
Internet, mainly characterised by user-generated content on social media) because
learning can now be done through our personal devices without having to go
somewhere physically.
Along with that comes a shift in our social interactions, from physical to virtual. We
still interact with the learning community we are in. We still exchange conversations
with classmates, teachers and lecturers. We are not cut off from the learning
community, we have merely shifted our communication channels.
2) Shift of delivery (ie, teaching) methods – from one size fits all to
individualised and differentiated learning
In a typical class, all students will be taught the same – they listen to the same
lecture, do the same activities in class, and complete the same homework
assignments. At the end of the semester, all students will sit for the same exam and
will be evaluated based on the same rubric.
Individualised and differentiated means teaching each student uniquely to meet
unique needs and paces. The academic goals may remain the same for a group of
students but individual students can progress through the curriculum at different
speeds and use different resources based on their own particular learning needs.
Some students might learn better through watching videos while some need to read
a textbook. Each student is unique in his or her way of learning, especially now when
learning takes place in personal spaces.
Accessibility varies from household to household, and distributing learning resources
can be challenging for educators. Therefore, educators now can design lessons
according to the individual needs of students and give them the flexibility to master
the materials accordingly.
3) Shift of responsibility in the teaching and learning process – active
participation of household members
Now that learning takes place in personal spaces, most likely in students’ homes,
family members become active agents in the teaching and learning process. The
entire household can act as learning facilitators, providing guidance and assistance
to make the learning process pleasant for students.
Although teachers can always deliver lessons and learning materials online, learning
needs interaction with the physical world. When it comes to the need for references
to the outside world and physical interactions, household members need to play a
role – showing real life examples, giving demonstrations, or even having simple
conversations. Household members need not be professors or a “Guru Cemerlang”
(star teacher), they simply need to be present to facilitate the process.
Support from household members gives students conviction that learning is an
activity that is absolutely imperative.
4) Shift in learning evaluations – from final exams to formative assessments
Malaysians often contradict ourselves when it comes to exams. We remonstrated
when classroom-based assessments were introduced yet we constantly criticise the
country’s exam-centric education system. The new normal does not lend itself to
methods of evaluation like final exams, as exams are laborious to manage in
personal spaces.
Therefore, alternative means of evaluating learning have to used to monitor student
achievement. Formative assessments like science project demonstrations, math
challenge games, and traditional book reports are now more desirable means of
gauging a student’s learning progress.
The purpose of evaluation activities now shifts focus from assessment of learning, ie
grading, to assessment for learning, ie we use the results to know whether the
intended learning outcomes have been achieved by the students or whether they
need extra work to help them master a certain topic.
These four aspects, alongside technology enhancements, must be considered when
the new normal for education emerges in the coming months. Technology is a crucial
enabler and it is the best choice that we have under the circumstances.
The criticism about online learning not addressing equal access and also quality
education is unfounded. Online learning is here to stay, as it enables learning and is
already benefiting approximately six million students in schools and higher learning
institutions during the movement control order period.
While Malaysians continue to guess how the Education and Higher Education
ministries will take on education’s new normal, we must always fall back on the
fundamental purpose of education. When a person is educated, he or she becomes
a better person. Based on our National Education Philosophy, or “Falsafah
Pendidikan Kebangsaan”, our aim is to produce intellectually, physically, emotionally
and spiritually balanced and harmonious individuals who will then contribute to the
harmony and betterment of the family, society and the nation at large. Fall back on
this philosophy and everything will fall into place.
ROSEMALIZA MOHD KAMALLUDEEN
Assistant Professor, Instructional Technology
International Islamic University Malaysia
The New Normal
https://www.oum.edu.my/the-new-normal/#:~:text=The%20Covid-19%20outbreak%
TAGS / KEYWORDS:Education , Remote Learning , Online Classes
On April 10, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin announced that
the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be extended for another two weeks
until April 28. This is an unprecedented and serious disruption for workers,
consumers, businesses and organisations alike.
While at home, we must learn to let old habits go and adopt new ones to
keep safe and healthy. Described by the Prime Minister as “the new normal”,
this shift will influence every aspect of life from how we buy groceries to how
we greet friends and colleagues. New ways of doing things will become the
standard in the future.
The Covid-19 outbreak also compels schools and universities to adopt a new
normal in education. School students will go through home-based learning
while university learners will study online.
At Open University Malaysia (OUM), this means fully embracing a digital
education environment. As the nation’s first open and distance learning
institution with 20 years of experience delivering programmes through e-
learning, OUM believes online learning will become the new normal in higher
education.
For our learners, the MCO does not mean their studies must be put on hold.
In fact, the opposite is true: OUM’s fully online delivery will allow them to
continue learning seamlessly at home.
In essence, their own homes will become their university, as the A-to-Z of
learning at OUM, which includes everything from registration to assessment,
will take place entirely online.
Learners will not have to attend face-to-face classes at learning centres or sit
for examinations in physical halls. When they need to discuss with tutors,
talk to their peers, submit assignments, keep track of schedules or search for
library books, they will do so using their computers, smartphones or tablets.
All this is made easy and flexible through our learning management system,
myINSPIRE.
Our lecturers and support staff will also continue to assist learners no matter
what their concerns may be.
As a response to the MCO, OUM activated the fully online learning mode for
all programmes on March 27. Final examinations for the January semester,
scheduled this April and May, will also be conducted online.
We are ready to take on this challenge as we launched two fully online
programmes in August last year. In March, we also introduced micro-
credential courses, which is a novel approach that allows anyone to try out a
small portion of OUM courses for free through an online platform.
Hence, while you are at home, take the time to browse our website and learn
about the 50 programmes currently on offer.
As the entire world continues to battle a pandemic that has seen millions
being quarantined and adjusting to new routines at home and at work, the
future of online learning may actually become our present.
To find out more about OUM programmes, call or WhatsApp 012-303
9935/019-357 9074/019-266 8234, e-mail [email protected] or
visit www.oum.edu.my.
htLETTERS: According to UNESCO’s observation as of 10th April 2020, 91.3 per
cent of the world’s student population (1.6 billion children and youth) has been hit by
school closures in 188 countries.
In Malaysia, school closures have affected 8 million students nationwide.
Therefore, this is the time when digital preparedness comes in crucial to support the
students in terms of obtaining education. Education institutions have responded by
holding online classes to ensure continuous learning. This is also to avoid the
teachers from having to make time for replacement classes and rushing through
syllabuses once the schools are allowed to open.
While the Education Ministry has listed online learning platforms like EduwebTV and
CikgooTube, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Kahoot, Quizizz, as well as the
list of learning resources provided by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
(MDEC), not all students are as fortunate to get access to these options. They would
need Internet access as well as digital devices such as computer, laptops, tablets or
smartphones.
Despite the improved Internet access rate to 90.1 per cent in 2019 compared with 87
per cent 2018, there remains households which are underprivileged to get access to
Internet at home due to reasons such as high cost of equipment and low level of
confidence, knowledge and skills to use it.
And in line with this data, the government has reached out to the students via
television rather than Internet access. This is particularly so when the access to
television among households is relatively higher than to Internet at 97.6 per cent,
based on the ICT Use and Access by Individuals and Households Survey by the
Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in 2019.
Malaysia has pursued this move with the introduction of television-based learning
sessions through Radio Televisyen Malaysia’s (RTM) new channel named TV Okey,
beginning 6 April this year. The government took this approach with the mindfulness
that not all students have the access to Internet but their households do own
televisions.
Secondly, the government can opt for an alternative, which likely requires direct
spending or cooperation from the respective schools to provide digital devices
particularly for the less-fortunate students in the rural areas.
Based on the similar survey done on ICT usage and access by DOSM, computer
usage in the rural areas appeared to be left behind at only 54 per cent compared
with 77.3 per cent for Malaysians who live in urban areas. Thus, these data show the
need to address this issue.
Like China, the government is assisting students by providing computers to the low-
income families. While in France, digital devices are being lent and printed learning
materials are given to 5 percent of students who do not have access to Internet or
computers.
These are some of the familiar measures that can be refined from time to time or
acted on during the extended MCO period. Nevertheless, communication is also
important between the educators and students or parents in ensuring the learning
transition become smooth sailing.
The teachers have to make sure they tailor classes based on students’ needs and
convenience. By this, they should ask if each student has appropriate devices for e-
learning and if they have stable Internet connection at home. If these are not
possible, teachers could provide suggestions to the students or parents on the
alternatives that are readily available such as television-based learning.
For big examinations, reviews may need to be done on the schedules should the
pandemic shows no signs of recovery in the near future. Lives are more important
rather than having them to sit for exam papers, which can be performed at any time.
Distant learning would inevitably place burden to several households due to lack of
resources or parents having to juggle between their jobs and handling the children.
However, the new reality is happening in such way because allowing students to go
to school or universities would be risky in many ways.
Hence, this is an opportunity to reform our education system by looking for
productive solutions coupled with coordinated efforts from every party involved.
Anyway, we are not alone in facing education challenges caused by the global
pandemic, as there are 187 other countries searching for ways to resolve the same
problem. So, it is important to learn from each other and do our best for the sake of
the children’s future.
NUR SOFEA HASMIRA AZAHAR
EMIR RESEARCH
tps://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2020/04/584165/distant-learning-new-normal-education
https://m.malaysiakini.com/letters/527581
ETTER | The new normal post Covid-19
Lim San Shien
https://www.lifestyleasia.com/kl/living/wellness/wnew-normal-for-malaysia-once-covid-19-eases/
