The issue of live teaching and whether or not Scottish schools are doing enough of it hit the news recently.
Young people are confident in the use of technology for social purposes but, when it comes to education, there is still a strong desire for real-time interaction between teachers and pupils;the worst thing we could do just now is leave pupils to their own devices (pun absolutely intended).The reality is thatmost pupils want to be taught, and most teachers still want to teach.
That is why at e-Sgoil - set up in 2016 by the Western Isles Council in a bid to provide equal access to courses and subjects for pupils, irrespective of where they live - our aim is to create real-time classes thatfostera sense of belonging.As active participants, pupils will develop real digitaland collaborative learning skills as well as acquiringtherequisitecurricularknowledge.
Coronavirus: ‘Pupils need live online teaching’
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Another view:Teachers should not live stream lessons
In its first year, reached 61 pupils;so far this year we have reached 645, and have delivered lessons in schools in around half of Scotland’s local authorities. And whilewe are clear that we are still learning, we have developed a certain amount of expertise.
Teachers can feel daunted by the idea of live online teaching, but the reality is the ingredients for a successful lesson taught remotely are not that different from a traditional one.
A good e-teacher will:
- Not over complicate it. E-teaching is basically just what a good teacher would do in their classroom.
- Avoid filling every silence - it is not a TV performance. Give pupils the opportunity to learn, the time to think and formulate their responses and give yourself time to breathe. You won’t be able to keep this kind of teaching going period after period if you feel the need to perform all the time.
- Plan lessonseven morecarefully. As with a classroom, you need to know the starting point and the finishing point but it’s even more important to get the timing right in an online lesson so that you keep the pupils’ attention. Chunk content and activitieson a bite-sizedbasisto ensure that pupils maintain focusand vary activities to include teacher-ledexposition, pupil-led learning,opportunities for individual, paired and group work.
- Don’t be afraid to let the pupils speak. Teachers can feel that they have to maintain control and sometimes they need a bit more experience before they allow the natural dynamics that happen in any classroom to take place. But pupils should be active participants in lessons andtheir voices must beheard frequently. This is best achieved through: posing of well-crafted, high-order questions; setting questions to which pupilshave to respond on a flipped learning basis; encouraging discussion and debate during class; and allowing time forpupilsto prepare extendedresponses.
- Even with all the abovestrategies in place, ensuring that pupils stay engaged in remote teaching and learning sessions is a challenge. (As if it weren’t in traditional classroom settings!) Therefore, it is strongly recommended that short, tightly controlled “brain break” activities be built into lessonplans in order to keep pupilsmentally alert and inject variety and humour into the learning.
Ultimately,there is a huge difference between online learningand remote teaching. Whileonline learningis cheaper, it can often be a lonely exercise, best suited to more motivated students. Remote teaching, on the other hand, provides a more responsive online learning community which appeals toschoolpupils who value human interactionand may not have developed the independent study skills and self-discipline required for college- or university-style online delivery.
The twomodesofinstructionare, of course, not mutually exclusive: when properlyplanned,a blended learning approach works well for the majority of pupils.
Angus Maclennan is headteacher of ,an e-learning project based in Scotland’sWestern IsIes
