6 Years Online
Another blog from Will Shook about his experience of teaching internationally, this time online
6 Years Online: Advantages, Challenges, and Discoveries
These reflections come from my experience, which is considerable, but still only represents a fraction of possible iterations of teaching online. I started teaching online in 2018 with a Chinese company, working mostly with individual primary students, sometimes pairs, and very occasionally groups of 3. I helped them to develop their language and communication skills in the evening, after they finished school for the day. After a couple of years, I broke out on my own and joined a popular online platform. Suddenly and excitingly, I had access to students of all ages from around the world. I went from strictly teaching language to helping people develop confidence in their language abilities and communication skills, and later to practise their creativity and ability to think critically. Here is some of what I learned from this experience:
Advantages:
-Working with individuals allows one to create a plan tailored to their specific needs and interests. There are fewer compromises and the attention is solely on the student. This is optimal.
-I tended to attract long-term students, which allowed me to build long-term relationships, get to know students better, and build better rapport. I believe these provide better results than in most schools, where students may face a new teacher (or teachers) each year.
-Technology has mostly removed physical and geographical barriers. I’ve worked with students living and working in dozens of countries across six continents over the past few years. It’s easier than ever before to communicate and share documents and resources. There will certainly be more and better options in the future.
-Challenges:
-Numerous factors have to align for working with pairs or groups to be successful. The students have to be available at the same time. They should be of a similar level and ideally share some interests. Even if they are a perfect match in theory, in practice, it rarely works so smoothly. Students talk over each other. They don’t always interact with each other directly, so communication may have to go through the teacher, which means less time for students to talk and practise. One student almost always dominates the interaction, which means the one who could use a bit more practice does not get it. The gap between them widens, and they become a more unequal match over time. These problems are compounded with each additional student added to the equation. It’s difficult for me to imagine trying to teach an entire class online, especially one that’s student-led and focused.
-Technology is an advantage, but presents challenges also. It can take time for students to become comfortable with meeting software. Parents aren’t always familiar with it themselves, and may not be able to help troubleshooting issues, especially on the fly. It’s best to have students write and draw on the screen to keep them engaged, but it’s not always easy for them to navigate the software and its increasingly complex tools, options, and settings. Also, many of my students were from China, which is mostly its own entity when it comes to technology. There are loopholes and gaps, but not everyone in China is able or willing to use these. Things can change overnight. An app that worked yesterday may not be available today. Basically, anything I wanted to do with Chinese students (host a meeting, share documents, send messages, etc.), eventually required me to find a parallel Chinese app or program. Each country has its own unique apps and programs which are popular, but in a globalised world, China is largely isolated when it comes to technology and social media.
-Students have a lot going on these days. Aside from having a full school day, many have activities and clubs after school. They may see other teachers and tutors in person or online. Homework, the value of which is often dubious, is still extremely popular globally, and students often have a lot of it. Many students seem stretched too thin. They often lack motivation or interest for extracurricular lessons online because they simply don’t have the mental bandwidth for it. There are too many other classes and teachers demanding their attention. They don’t have enough time to be kids, play, explore ideas, and develop their own interests. The rise in prominence of the ‘playdate’, a term I have heard from international students and parents, as well as my own sister for her children, worries me. If children don’t have enough time to develop their own friendships and brand of play, I’m sceptical that scheduling mandated ‘fun’ time is the solution.
-Online classrooms are not physical spaces. Sharing the same space with students generally better enables teachers to help, motivate, monitor, and encourage students. Occasionally, some degree of discipline is necessary. Generally, all of this is more challenging through a computer screen.
-Parents are challenges in themselves. They are not always on board to help monitor, motivate, and encourage. Some seem to think that hiring a private tutor absolves them of any responsibility for their children’s education. I highly value communication, and was often less than satisfied with what I got from parents. Some of this can be attributed to language skills, but not all. Also, some parents have very specific ideas about what their children should be doing and how, Fair enough, these are their children, but I didn’t always agree. Aside from keeping children entertained, I also had to keep a keen eye on the parents to make sure they were satisfied. They were the ones paying me after all. Sometimes I found myself wanting a bit more affirmation from them, rather than just another payment or a referral.
-I work from home, for myself, by myself. I find this situation to be extremely isolating. It’s difficult for me to find peers whom I can commiserate with, exchange ideas with, and draw inspiration from. I allowed myself and my own mental health to become negatively impacted by my work.
Discoveries:
-For many students, especially adults, their problem is not a lack of skill, but a lack of confidence. This observation comes from a non-native language perspective, and might not be applicable to other subjects.
-There is a glaring lack of ability to think creatively and analytically worldwide. Students all around the world are not getting adequate opportunities to develop the ability to think and develop their own ideas and interests. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from young students. Maybe it’s impossible to build a house without first constructing a solid foundation, but I see this as a major failing of education systems around the world. In some cases, emphasis on passing standardised tests appears to supersede that of developing the ability to think analytically or creatively. In the mid-21st century, when creative solutions are needed more urgently than ever to address global challenges for the good of humanity and the planet, I question whether this is the best strategy. In other cases, I question particular nations’ commitment to education (I’m looking at you China and Saudi Arabia). In these cases, perpetuation of the socio-political status quo seems to take precedence over maximising brain power of their student citizens. I worry whether this limited, fractured, nationalistic viewpoint will enable the world’s students to adequately address global challenges. This realisation is how I came to find the OST, and why its vision resonates with me so strongly.
