IDP
( INTER - DISCIPLINARY PROJECT)
GROUP REPORT
TOPIC - IMPACT OF COVID 19 ON TEACHING
PROFESSION
SUBMITTED TO - ANURADHA TIWARI
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INTRODUCTION
The pandemic threw life out of gear for everyone, including school children. Their
happy world within the safe confines of their schools came to an abrupt halt with
the announcement of a total lockdown in March 2020. After the initial jolt, schools
brought in a new era of online teaching to tackle the situation, though the move
came with its own issues.
Making a shift from traditional to online teaching was a challenge to the
educators as the suddenness with which they were plunged into this new mode
of teaching meant that they went into it with little preparation. Even so, the valiant
teachers tackled the situation with unmatched dedication and dexterity.
Lack of appropriate materials and resources, technical problems, and lack of
internet facilities and constant power cuts were some of the challenges that
teachers faced during their virtual classes. Thus, they went ahead to invest in
upgraded systems, high-speed internet, and power backup to ensure
uninterrupted power during online classes. All this cost money but resolved the
problem. Schools upgraded their own systems and permitted teachers to use
their facilities as convenient.
Teachers who were unfamiliar with the use of technology had to struggle with
tools such as videoconferencing, prepare presentations and learn to be tech-
savvy together with their regular teaching job. It was a monumental haul up, but
teachers pulled together as schools organized online courses to aid their staff in
handling the situation.
It is not technology and training alone that posed a roadblock. Many teachers
discovered that students don’t actively engage as much as they do in a real
classroom. Students turn off mics and teachers are met with an uncomfortable
lull in class when no one answers a question or responds. But for shyer kids, this
environment is ideal. Online classes made those who are more withdrawn open
and forthcoming with participation. Teachers make use of various tools like
discussions, blogs, quizzes, presentations, activities, and projects to encourage
active participation.
Furthermore, to curb issues related to minimal attention spans, teachers learned
to plan frequent breaks which are used for interaction or fun activities like model
making, debates, group discussions and role play. If students know when the
breaks are scheduled, they are more likely to concentrate and remain focused
until the next break.
Flexibility is one technique that many teachers employ to try and compensate for
the monotony of an online class. Assigning less work and using objective
assessments and fun quizzes, help in assessing student knowledge, guarantee
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some entertainment and diminish fatigue and monotony. These methods bring a
comfort level into an online classroom.
Another technique that some teachers use is to randomly select groups of
student moderators for different sessions. Their job is to initiate discussions and
exchanges. This engages the whole class and puts the onus on the students to
eradicate distraction and indiscipline.
Being friendly and communicative establishes understanding with the students. It
makes a teacher more approachable. Setting aside time for pleasant chats and
problem solving, calling on every student in the class from time to time and being
flexible regarding the submission deadline and giving space for lapses helps to
build a relationship of trust and camaraderie with students. Nothing works better
for a child than personal attention from the teacher who then becomes a person
rather than just a voice behind the screen.
In a world that eats, sleeps, and breathes tech, there’s still a certain degree of
stigma that’s attached to online learning. People believe this form of learning is
more ‘casual’ and not space where you can reap the limited benefits of the
education system. While this is true in a sense, on the other hand, innovations in
the teaching approach can make online classes memorable and rewarding for
both the students and teachers and motivate students to be much more
responsible and take ownership of their learning, which indeed is the aim of
every teacher.
Classroom learning is interrupted for 9 out of 10 children worldwide, 191
countries closed their schools at all level halting schooling for 1.5 billion students,
and about half of the affected students have no access to online learning while
the schools remained closed. Again the scenario is gloomy for Sub-Saharan
Africa: “89% of learners 216 million do not have a household computer”; “82% of
learners 199 million do not have household Internet”; “26 million learners (or
11%) are not covered by mobile networks”; and “64% of primary and 50% of
secondary teachers have received minimum training and this frequently does not
include basic ICT skills” (UNESCO, 2020:1-2). In reaction to the closure of
schools following Covid-19, various international authorities issued guidelines to
teachers and all other stakeholders. Among these authorities are UNESCO,
International Task Force on Teachers, Commonwealth Secretariat, African
Union, and UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
1. NAME - THE COVID -19 PANDEMIC AND ITS EFFECT ON TEACHING
PROFESSION
AUTHOR - ANJA SWENNEN
DATE - 19 SEPTEMBER 2020
The covid 19 first took place in the city of Wuhan and spread all over the world .
because of this lockdown many countries shutted down their educational
institutions
This article talks about how covid 19 has affected the education system worstly in
human history, this pandemic affected nearly 1.6billion learners in more than 200
countries.many policies and rules like social distancing and restrict policies have
disturbed the traditional educational practices. Many schools and colleges
conducted their classes online which was giving fear of losing 2020 academics.
But this covid has provided an opportunity to come in contact with digital
learning.Many Research highlights certain deficiency such as the weakness of
online teaching infrastructure, the limited contact of teachers to online teaching,
the information gap, disturbing environment for learning at home, equity and
academic excellence in terms of higher education. The education system and the
educators have adopted “Education in Emergency'' through which various online
platforms and are connected to adopt a system that they are not prepared for.E-
learning or online tools have played a crucial role during this covid , as they help
schools and universities to facilitate student learning during the lockdown which
led to the closing of universities and schools. Some of the online platforms used
such as Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Canvas and Blackboard, which
provide the teachers an opportunity to create educational courses, training and
skill development programmes . They include options of workplace chat, video
meeting and file storage which keep classes organized and easy to work.This
covid 19 Badly affected the economically backward children who are unable to
afford online learning devices, which poses a threat to those children and they
were not able to attend the class online and also as many of them were going
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through hard situations for example taking their relatives to the hospitals which
affecting them mentaly as well as physically. Therefore, it has become important
for students to engage in offline activities and self-explanatory.pandemic has also
reduced the contact hour for learners and lack of consultation with teachers .But
covid also have its positive impact on teaching such asi This has created the
strong connection between teachers and parents. Teachers are actively
collaborating with one another at a local level to improve online teaching
methods.
Conclusion
From these two articles I came to know how badly covid pedemic has affected
educational establishment and how new technologies help in promoting good
quality of education. This pandemic also have its positive points such as because
of this educters learn new way of teaching and become technology friendly .
From this I also came to know how different software companies launches their
app for making learning easy. From example Google has launched its Google
classroom which provide single platform for teachers and students where they
can interact .
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NAME - TEACHERS COLLABORATION DURING GLOBAL PANDEMIC
AUTHOR - EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
DATE - 6TH DECEMBER 2020
Classic traditional universities, which have resisted new changes in the education
system for quite a long time, have actively participated in the transition to
distance education in the context of a pandemic and did not stop their activities,
having successfully completed the 2019-2020 academic year. the reasons why
many universities in recent decades have resisted the new form of education are
related more to philosophical, political and power problems than to technical and
financial difficulties. Technical difficulties, the high cost of development and
implementation of projects, their high riskiness, etc., were often cited as formal
reasons for resistance to the development of distance education. However, these
objections are based on resistance to radical changes in the education system
associated with the development of distance learning. The evidence that the
adopted teaching standards in higher educational institutions surpass the
recently introduced methods of distance learning are the results of a study of
teachers' attitudes towards distance education, which was carried out by the
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation jointly with the
Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting of the Russian Presidential
Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, according to which
87.8% of the surveyed teachers believe that classes in their courses are best
conducted in the full-time format.
As part of the preparation of this scientific article, a sociological survey was
conducted among students of the Financial University under the Government of
the Russian Federation about their attitude to online learning in the context of a
sharp change in the form of education and organization of personal life in the
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conditions of coronavirus infection. Students of different courses of study at the
Financial University took part in the survey.
Among the survey participants, 40.3% answered that it was convenient for them
and they even liked the new format of education, about 30% indicated that it was
convenient to study, but encountered minor difficulties.
Among the problems that students had to face, most often were indicated:
- some get distracted and do not catch the material when watching lectures;
- there is no working atmosphere at home;
- it is inconvenient to use an online board for solving problems and illustrating
graphs;
- a large amount of assigned materials.
Among the advantages of online learning, most students indicated:
- flexibility of the educational process (61.3%);
- the ability to combine work with study (50%).
15.3% of the respondents did not see any advantages in the new form of
education. Most of the surveyed students (61.3%) felt an increase in the study
load when switching to the distance form. MS Teams was recognized as the
most convenient and effective learning service, noted by more than 80% of
surveyed students.
Half of the respondents (50%) indicated that it is advisable to conduct lectures in
an online format. At the same time, the majority of students (62.1%) would like
distance technologies to be used for educational purposes in the future.
Thus, based on the opinion of the majority of students, we can conclude that
online learning was quite effective in the current situation of the forced transition
to a remote form of work and study in the context of the spread of coronavirus
infection.
To wind up: The transition to online learning in the spring of 2020 has become a
real test for the entire education system. In a short time, teachers had to adapt to
the new working conditions using technical means not within the walls of the
university, but remotely from home, which disrupted their usual lifestyle and
routine and led to stress. For students, the difficulties of learning in a distance
format were to a greater extent associated not with technical problems, but with
the lack of the possibility of interpersonal communication with teachers and
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classmates and the lack of a working atmosphere at their location. This form of
training, due to its flexibility, makes it possible to successfully combine work and
study at a university, which was an undoubted advantage for working students,
especially senior students.
The processes taking place in the framework of the development and active use
of distance education require deep scientific understanding and the creation of a
methodological base in the field of didactics and pedagogy for teaching a new
generation of students. At the same time, the transformations affect not only the
field of pedagogy, since the changes are not limited to educational processes
alone but extend to the organization of the entire system of human knowledge
and forms of human capital management.
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NAME - The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online
Learning
AUTHOR - Charles Hodges, Stephanie Moore, Barb Lockee, Torrey Trust
and Aaron Bond
DATE - March 27, 2020
the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a large-scale socio-pedagogical
experimental work. This involved remote learning by means of digital educational
environment backed by distance learning technologies which was a new factor
introduced into the educational process. In this context, the pandemic has turned
out to be a kind of litmus paper for identifying pressure points of distance
education, which we have systemized by the main components of the
educational process.
There is the need for new didactics, i.e., digital didactics which require a range of
problems to be solved: the development of intrinsic motivation for learning, the
organization and psycho-pedagogical support for students’ independent work
while combining traditional and distance education formats. It requires the
development of students’ skills of self-organizing educational and research work
in the decline of control over their educational activities by university teachers
and design of high-quality content of online courses based on well-grounded
criteria and technologies, etc.
Online education provides students with many new opportunities that attract
attention and increase their interest in learning. These opportunities are not the
same and differ depending on the subject domain and selected learning
technology. In the system of formal education of all levels and areas of training,
full-time distance learning can be considered as a form that supplements and
enhances the socio-pedagogical, organizational, psychological, and managerial
potential of the traditional (face-to-face) format of education.
In modern higher education, there is an objective demand for a reasonable
combi- nation of forms, methods, and means of the traditional (face-to-face) and
virtual, distant interaction between participants of the educational process. Thus,
in modern didactics the combination of interaction forms in real and virtual
environments should be considered as a common didactic pattern and a relevant
principle of education, aimed at identifying and fulfilling the psycho-pedagogical
potential of the information and educational environment and distance learning
technologies.
In the post-pandemic world, the role and place of digital educational platforms is
likely to increase. However, the effectiveness of their application will be
determined by such factors as reliability, usability, information security, and ease
of interaction between participants of the educational process.
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NAME - Teachers’ mental health during the first two waves of the COVID-19
pandemic in Poland
AUTHOR - Tomasz Daniel Jakubowski
DATE - September 23, 2021
At the same time as we look towards more positive future and hope for the best,
it would be unconscionable not to acknowledge the situation in which the
humankind now finds itself, and to consider the terrible toll that the covid-19
pandemic is having on people’s lives throughout the world. Teaching work is
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stressful as it is, moreover during the pandemic teachers’ stress might have been
intensified by distance education as well as by limited access to social support,
which functions as a buffer in experiencing stress. I have taken three articles
which show us the conditions of the teachers in New Zealand, Australia and
Poland. In New Zealand, the Coronavirus pandemic struck in full force during
March 2020, affecting the day-to-day delivery of programmes of study, in a
manner not previously witnessed since World War I and
II. Educational establishments were closed for on-campus activity, and lecturers
were advised to provide “blended and online
learning opportunities”. While the number of infectious cases in New Zealand
was small with less than 1,500, the decision to “go hard and to go fast” had
unexpected and unprecedented impacts on teaching and learning at all levels of
the education sector. It is assumed that the problem many educators face, when
seeking to optimize remote online learning while themselves, concurrently are
learning new technologies and IT systems. Education systems and educators
have been forced to adopt “Emergency Education”, transitioning from traditional
face-to-face learning pedagogies to remote virtual platforms, Challenges inherent
in sudden, reactive rather than anticipated and planned e-learning responses to a
global pandemic, include accessibility, affordability, flexibility, learning pedagogy,
life-long learning, and educational policy. While many countries have substantial
issues with a reliable internet connection, others report an inability to afford
online learning devices. Another challenge identified by recent publications on
the impacts of Covid-19 on teaching and learning globally, include providing
comparable assessments and examination conditions to the pre-Covid-19 face-
to-face provision. Reduced contact hours for learners and a lack of consultation
with teachers when facing difficulties in learning/understanding, resulted in
lowered performance on year-end examinations and internal assessment
outcomes. While in Australia, Teachers and teacher educators are transitioning
through a particularly uncertain time in terms of their
professional lives and work. The rapid move to online modes of delivery in order
to keep students engaged in learning – from early childhood through to the
tertiary sector – has led to significantly intensified workloads for staff as they
work to not only move teaching content and materials into the online space, but
also become sufficiently adept in navigating the requisite software. The impact
on staff and students is uneven – in some contexts, for example many
universities, there are already established online and mixed modes of course
delivery. In others, particularly many schools, the move to the online space is
presenting considerable hardship as teachers struggle to adapt to what might
well be the “new normal” for quite a period of time. In Poland, teaching profession
has high social prestige in Poland, teachers’ work is perceived as stressful and
responsible. Education in Poland is conducted mainly in face-to-face contact,
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however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, following the regulation issued by the
Minister of National Education, March 11, 2020, the functioning of primary and
secondary was temporarily restricted until the end of the school year 2019/2020.
At that time teachers, like teachers in other countries, were held responsible for
moving education to the virtual space, although only 15% of Polish teachers had
any experience of distance education. Stress experienced by teachers is
between a medium and a high level, which has been largely caused by the
transfer of education to the virtual space. However,
it should be stressed that teachers’ adaptation to distance education has
happened relatively fast. That is why, after the initial increase of exhaustion and
cynicism, the increase of the effectiveness and sense of educational activities
was observed, while teachers noticed both advantages and disadvantages of the
solution. The problems are largely caused by lack of knowledge and skills
necessary for distance education, as well as by
time-consuming character of the process, and by blurring the boundaries
between private and professional lives. Distance education requires the
cooperation between parents, teachers and students, however parents are not
always able to get involved in the education of their children, they try to contact
the teachers beyond the work hours, which contributes to the increase of the
teachers’ stress and frustration. Polish teachers also signal such problems, as
experiencing exhaustion and isolation and not being paid for working overtime.
Conclusion:
To conclude what I learned from these articles is that covid has affected the
education system severely, although it has brought new technologies in the
education establishment, it still has caused greater issues, due to distance work
the distinction between professional work and family life might have been blurred,
and as a consequence teachers’ well-being could have been worsened. The
rapid change to online mode was a lot to deal with for the teachers and the
students of each and every country facing this. Getting familiarized with these
online practices in such little time wasn’t easy and some of the teachers and
students are still suffering from this big change.
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Survey
To know the challenges faced by our teachers we conducted a survey in which
the questions were related to covid and teaching
questions and their result
conclusion - according to this question most of the teachers spent 1-3 hours on
each day during pendemic.
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conclusion - responses in this question conclude that teachers' experience on
distance education was not that good as there was less interaction between them
and students .
conclusion - according to the responses schools / university was moderately
helpful for teachers in the covid time.
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conclusion - during online classes 53% of the students were cooperative and
supportive to their teachers , which means that there was clear understanding
and good relations between the teachers and students.
conclusion - according to teachers remote teaching was moderately effective as
there was less interaction with students and also there were also going through
stress because of the covid and in learning new way of teaching.
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conclusion - the total attendance of the class was 50- 70% which means that
according to physical classes the strength of the class was not good during
online mode.
conclusion - during remote learning in covid pandemic the students were
slightly stressed which could be because of family financial problems ,study , lack
of support , etc.
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conclusion - the biggest challenge faced by teachers was workload and lack of
internet connectivity.
conclusion - change in the grading policy was not cleared by the management
staff to them and because of the miscommunication they faced challenges in
teaching and in grading.
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conclusion - according to the teachers responses almost 60% of the teachers
were able to cover their course during the pandemic.
conclusion - according to this institution was able to carry out the exams for the
students but they used new measures like - exam on google meet , change in
pattern like including viva in the theory exams .
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conclusion - there was a communication gap between the teachers and
students as that was not physical set up . and because of issues like internet
connectivity , family problems , lack of time management , stress, etc. they both
were not been able to connect with each other .
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conclusion - the institution changes the curriculum for some specific courses
like hotel management , fashion designing , pharmacy and many more because
of the theory and practical courses
OBJECTIVES :
The proposed project will aim to :
1. Examine the impact of COVID -19 pandemic on the teaching profession.
In general, or specific terms, how else did the Covid-19 pandemic affect
teaching as a profession?
2. Examine the exposure of teachers to Covid-19, with the statistics of
teachers who contracted Covid-19 in the course of official duty.
3. Understanding the factors made it possible for teaching to go on, and how
can continuity of Teaching and learning be strengthened.
4. Explore the challenge faced by other university faculty
5. As college and Universities resume, what are the prospects of smooth
teaching and learning
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PROPOSED METHODOLOGY:
1. Review of Literature
2. Mixed method
- Consultation of organizational Records
- Interview of Key Informants (via Skype, etc.)
- Focused Group Discussion (FGD) involving 10-20 persons (faculty,
head deans, and other key stakeholders)
- Site visits (where feasible)
3. Data Analysis
4. Validation of Report by the research team collectively
5. Final Report
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