Let’s think ‘Outside the Box...’

I am not sure if I would have been a happy or frustrated student, as this unsettled educational year takes yet another turn with the phased reopening of schools and classrooms, but if I think back on the many ways of filling in my childhood and my youth, I probably would have seen the whole COVID-19 ‘thing’ as another kind of opportunity, and become even better as a sailor, fisherman, tramper and woodsman, given the many opportunities of my New Zealand environment and society.

However, I can certainly sympathise with the thousands of young Omanis who did not have such a temperate environment in which to practice their outdoor pursuits, at any time, let alone during the pandemic, especially as the most severe restrictions were imposed as the summer temperatures rose.

Teachers have been challenged, not in terms of their classroom expertise, or ability to teach, but in coming to terms with a teaching scenario that has been totally and completely foreign to most. They have had to learn to present lessons from the privacy of their homes, shared offices, or alternative environments where intrusions are commonplace, to supervise and teach classes of individuals in individual response scenarios who have their own interruptions, trying to identify and respond to questions with the distractions of screen and microphone failures. It must have felt sometimes like a never-ending nightmare!

I have so much sympathy for their plight and circumstances simply in teaching, and that does not consider the number of difficulties involved in the teaching itself, or the assessment of the student’s learning. Teaching itself, I have found to be a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding vocation, and implementing educational theory, whether through the psychologies or the practicalities of teaching and learning can be a remarkably social event, with learning classrooms ‘buzzing’ with questions, answers, discussions, even arguments, as there is a ‘cross-pollination’ of knowledge and understanding among the students.

It is just so difficult to get that same level of engagement in online learning, and I have found myself continually frustrated in teaching online, and it must be said, mainly because of the factors I have little or no control over. Internet service has been a massive issue, and I have no doubt that service providers are doing their best to provide a level of service for all learning platforms, whether Zoom, Teams, Meet, or any other, but it is just not happening, and especially away from the capital.

It is human nature for students sharing screen to be distracted when another screen goes ‘mute,’ ‘off video,’ or an unplanned event occurs, such as another family member coming into the room. Even their apology and departure has distracted and caused a reaction like a pebble on a pond. No matter where every participant is, they must ‘rewind,’ and start again, and in terms of teaching and learning, it is a ‘killer.’

I do understand that everyone has just tried to ‘get through this,’ with as little harm done to the overall learning experience as possible, however there is no way that the educational experiences of millions of students around the world have been affected, and there is no hiding from that. My opinion is that ‘blended learning’ is not something that should be pursued as a viable, first choice, educational mainstream alternative, but that there is a place for it as a means of further and higher education.

The 28 research studies that have taken place reviewing the Sultanate’s educational experiences, and their future recommendations should feature socially distanced classes and lectures, temporary satellite campuses, mobile faculty, and be more about responding to the student’s needs than the institutions.