Online teaching #3: How different or similar is the teaching online to in-class teaching?

Online teaching #3: How different or similar is the teaching online to in-class teaching?


The online-teaching is different than in-class teaching because of the adjective"online". On the other hand it is similar because of the verb "teaching". I will first focus on the similarities and then on the differences from my perspective, each of us can learn our own lesson from them.

Similarities

1. 
What stays the same in an online lesson are the people: teacher and students. In todays' situation this is for sure an advantage, as they know each other from the in-class time. That is why they can assume how the lesson will look like even though it is online, they can feel quite safe and calm.

This argument is not valid if the classes are all online since the first lesson till the last one.


2. 
Even though we changed our way of teaching we still teach the same curriculum. In case of teaching English, we just continue teaching vocabulary, grammar and all linguistic skills. Till the end of the year each institution aims to finish planned material. In my case, teachers from my school just need to continue and finish units from linguistic books that is what we would have done in-class as well.


3. 
Some teaching materials are the same. We just share the screen and the worksheet we would have printed is there for everyone. Moreover, we can show it in the right quality, with colors. I believe it is one of the biggest arguments for teaching online. Other materials like videos, recordings or online games are even easier to share because we use the computer anyway so we do not need to switch our brains from "writing on the board" mood to "using a computer" mood.


Differences

1. 
Environment where the teaching and learning takes place is different. Because of that teachers need to adjust the exercise and activities to the possibilities they have on an online lesson (e. g. breakout rooms). In my opinion crucial part of the learning is missing- the senses. We still have the auditory and visual but they are different than before. Looking at the screen is not the same as looking at a person who is in front of you and I believe it is a disadvantage. Moreover, we cannot use the sense of touch. The distance between teacher and students is palpable and clear.


2. 
Communication and interaction have changed on the lessons. We still talk to each other but it is different. The people we talk to seem to be closed in our computer, we can easily stop the conversation by just shutting the computer down. Only the subconsciousness of this fact can change the way we approach the conversation. Other channels of communication like "giving reaction" or "writing on the chat" have their advantages, like: they are faster, you can communicate with few people at the same time. But the disadvantages are there as well, the communication is extremely limited. For me "thumb up" can mean "I like it", for someone else it can be the statement "I agree", which are not the same.


3. 
Relying on the technology is another difference to mention. During in-class teaching we can still conduct the lesson without any technologies. When it comes to the online world, with a poor internet connection or lack of the electricity we are automatically disabled to function. Especially if this is the teachers problem, without him the lesson cannot be conducted. It is really big responsibility, nowadays teachers have a new profession: IT specialist. Moreover, there are unpredictable difficulties which are extremely annoying and leave us helpless. The same thing about students and their parents, even more, if they do not have enough computers at home they need to choose who works or learns today.


Can you think of other differences? Share in the comments!

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