How to become a digital competent teacher
With schools and colleges closed indefinitely, a viable alternative to classroom teaching has to be evolved. When face-to-face classrooms are not possible, online teaching, especially for higher classes, is an obvious option. Teachers have a new challenge before them. They need to learn the ropes of this technological pathway and update their skills in order to fulfil their role as effective teachers. The teacher’s voice, modulation, pause, emphasis on certain words or statements etc. are all essential elements here. The body language of the teacher, including one’s gestures, facial expression, and relaxed appearance establishes an instant ‘connect’ with the students.
The various social media and networking sites that students participate in have led to the belief that students are all tech savvy. This is a false belief. Recent research suggests that students are not well acquainted with ordinary desktop applications that have been taught to them. This generation of students uses technology to communicate with others frequently. This is quite different from using technology in education. It is more vital to enable students know how to learn than what to learn. Teacher in this e-learning era takes an entirely different role as a guide facilitating them to choose between right and wrong information, to enable them chooses the best and the most appropriate content amongst the abundant information available with technology.
Role of a teacher
One of the major challenges with online education is the changing role of the teacher. Four different roles are identified for online teachers:- Pedagogical role
- Social role
- Managerial role
- Technical role
Responsibilities of a digital competent teacher
Teaching face-to-face and teaching online are both teaching, but they are qualitatively different. In comparison, driving a car and riding a motorcycle are both forms of transportation, but they have enough differences to warrant additional training and preparation when switching from one to the other. The same is true when teacher move from the traditional classroom to the online classroom. With this in mind, consider the following responsibilities of a digital competent teacher.- Making the material engaging
- Encouraging facilitated discussions
- Managing time
- Assessing online learning
- Preventing cheating in an online Exam
- Choosing online teaching platform
- Building student self-discipline
Making the material engaging
In both face-to-face and online environments, it is crucial to engage students with the course. Making the class interesting not only motivates student work, it also promotes student success. Competent teachers do this by intertwining interesting anecdotes, videos, and examples into the lectures. They offer their students variety. Students are different types of learners, so, having this variety will ensure the students get the same opportunities to learn. Varying the activities in class helps teachers keep their students engaged with the content and help them learn better. They create competitions with giveaways and prizes to motivate the students. By placing some multiple choice questions at the end of each lesson, they evaluate student’s engagement.
Encouraging facilitated discussions
Interaction is the backbone of online classes. It helps teachers connect with the students and get them engaged. Most live stream and e-learning platforms have chats. Competent teachers take advantage by using them during their live lessons. Taking polls and asking the students questions during live lessons are great for interaction. Students can also write their answers in the chat. Competent teachers also address students by their names and encourage them to interact with each other.
Managing time
One of the major issues faced by teachers is the demand on their time, as it takes quite a bit of time to prepare, plan, and teach an online class. Here are effective time management tips competent teachers use to effectively manage their online classes.
- They develop a routine to begin and end work at the same time each day. A routine will enable them to effectively utilize their time, as well as serve as a signal to students that they are not available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
- They set office hour to assist students with questions or review feedback on assignments.
- They always follow a specific order of importance in the class that ensures all tasks are completed timely and efficiently.
- They simply reuse what they have posted in previous semester/quarter, as long as the course material does not change, and as long as the previous announcements and posts are tailored to fit.
Assessing online learning
Assessing student learning is an essential component of effective teaching and learning in the online environment. Competitive teachers use assessment tools allow for both formative and summative assessment of student learning. Formative assessment tracks student understanding and areas of weakness during the learning process and allows the teachers to adjust teaching accordingly. Summative assessments are a test of learning, typically conducted at the end of the learning process (i.e. midterm or final exam).
The following are examples of assessments that have been shown to be effective in the online learning environment.
- Written Assignments
- Online Discussion: Asynchronous discussion activities
- Presentations
- Test/quiz/exam
Preventing cheating in an online exam
Taking online tests increases the chance of cheating in comparison with paper testing. What competent teachers do to prevent students from online cheating? Totally preventing students from cheating seems to be impossible with all the advanced technology out there today. Here are some tips and tricks that competent teachers use to prevent cheating.
- Do not allow selection and copy-pasting
- Randomize the questions
- Set a timer
- Use problem-solving questions, when possible
- Use secure browser to prevent screen sharing or mirroring
- Display one question at a Time
- Allow only one attempt to take an exam
Choosing online teaching platform
Finding the right online teaching platform is just the first step. Learning how to use the various features correctly is important. But using a platform and its features to teach effectively and ensure that all students are indeed learning is paramount. Many want to know which platform to use. Is it Zoom? But aren’t there privacy issues? What about Google Classrooms? Is that better than Zoom because it is an LMS? What’s an LMS? What about Microsoft Teams?
Competent teachers check the following features that help them choosing the platform that best fits their learning needs:
- Easy Access
- Friendly Interface
- Effectiveness of Teaching
- Interactivity and Live Sessions
- Content Security
Building student self-discipline
Self-discipline is the way to keep students focused on their study. Self-discipline is a learned behavior that not every student has. In fact, students with high self-discipline are also known to behave differently, have fewer absences, and do more homework than that of their less-disciplined peers. Self-discipline is not only found to be related to a student’s academic success, but to their behavior as well.
Competent teachers use the following tips to develop self-discipline in their students:
- They help students eliminate distractions
- Reward the students when they perform better in the class or on the tests
- Support the students with timely reminder
- Turn “must do” tasks into “want to” tasks
- Instill the right mindset for tackling challenges and learning from failure
- Encourage students to practice planning
Read More:
Personalized learning is the secret to student success
Teaching philosophies in education
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