If you can, join @Jessifer ‘s webinar earlier on Feb 25 as this will be the basis for our chat (but not essential): https://asuevents.asu.edu/content/design
Below is a recap of the January 26 chat written by #CdnELTchat moderator Jennifer Chow.
It’s been almost a year since many ELT educators have had to make a sudden shift to online teaching. Students and teachers have had a range of feelings and experiences from being overwhelmed and exhausted to finding resilience and compassion. For the past year, we’ve experienced challenges, changes and opportunities. We’ve learned to use new ideas, perspectives, methods and technologies. As we move forward, we should consider how we want to harness the positive changes. What changes have we made that we should continue to do and build on post-pandemic?
Thank-you to the educators who shared their thoughts about the things we should keep doing in #ELT post pandemic. Here are the questions that guided the #CdnELTchat we had on February 9:
Q1: Are there tools and approaches that you used to use in the F2F classroom that have been successful in the online environment?
Q2: Are there new tools or approaches that you have tried during the shift to online that you will definitely continue going forward?
Q3: What new knowledge have you gained that you will carry forward in your practice? What would you say is the most important part of teaching and learning in online spaces?
Q4: What has been your most profound learning during the shift to online?
Q5: What have you learned about doing assessments online that you want to continue to do post-pandemic?
We’ve collected the tweets from our chat in Wakelet, but here are some of the highlights from our discussion:
Students have been able to practice digital skills through blended teaching/learning, and that will be more important as the nature of workplaces change. Students will want to continue studying and collaborating online post-pandemic.
- Integrating #UDL guidelines by giving students the choice of text, audio, or video responses should continue.
- Using instructional design by laying out outcomes, inputs, learning activities and assessment for each chunk of course strengthens f2f classes as well.
- Spending more time establishing relationships and building rapport are important in any environment.
- Attending to cognitive load for teachers and students by choosing a few versatile tools that work for a range of purposes is something to keep in mind post-pandemic.
- Continuing to teach with compassion is key. Being fair doesn’t mean treating everyone the same. What’s fair is not having the same due dates, but that everyone has a due date that takes into account the differences in unchosen realities.
- Teaching/learning online has allowed us to create more flexibility in how we assess, when we assess and what to assess, which allows students to discover their strengths and weaknesses.
- Covering everything in the curriculum doesn’t mean rushing through everything to cover all the material. It’s more important to focus on learning outcomes.
- Building on the ideas that emphasize learning over assessing, trust over proctoring and effort over achievement is important.
We hope #CdnELTchat can provide the space for #ELT educators across Canada and beyond to continue to reflect on what we’re learning, what we’re finding challenging and what solutions we’ve tried, especially during this time. Use the hashtag #CdnELTchat anytime to connect and to share information of interest to the #CdnELT community.
#CdnELTchat is a collaborative effort that we hope will lead to more reflective practice for all of us involved in ELT. If you are interested in joining our team, or have any ideas for topics, please send @StanzaSL, @Jennifermchow, or @ELTAugusta a tweet. Our Padlet is also always open for your questions and comments.
