The coronavirus pandemic has enormously impacted many of the world’s infrastructures, chief among them economic and social. Some of the most significant changes due to lockdown have been in the education system. In his article “Responsive teaching: Addressing COVID-19 pandemic-influenced online teaching challenges,” Zhengping Wu discusses ways to adapt to the new learning environment using his experience. First, the article describes the emotional and psychological challenges that students and teachers face during online learning. These difficulties are based on the lack of understanding of the new work system and its fears. Students worry about the progress of learning in the new format. This is especially true for MBA students who also have families and jobs in addition to studying. For them, the transition to the new learning format can be harrowing.
In order to alleviate the emotional difficulties of students, the professor has taken several actions. Among them was sending a letter indicating that he was interested in the student’s success and would do everything to make their studies comfortable (Wu, 2020). In addition, he also held a tutorial to introduce students to the mechanisms of online learning. In addition to the emotional ones, students and educators also faced pedagogical and technical challenges. The pedagogical challenges included course design, delivery, interaction, and assessment. To overcome them, Wu took actions such as making program changes and interacting with students through chat. The author notes that this method is not as productive as live communication but is still a suitable means of communication. To overcome technical problems, such as sudden internet disconnections of students, the author developed special rules. Students who did not have access to the Internet were warned about the patterns of interaction with the instructor. In conclusion, Zhengping Wu says that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown people how to deal with uncertainties in critical situations.
Reference
Wu, Z. (2020). Responsive teaching: Addressing COVID-19 pandemic-influenced online teaching challenges. The Armed Forces comptroller, 65(3), 42-45.